Energy and Engineering
On November 18, EHS will host our sixth annual Alumni Leadership Day. This event gives seniors an opportunity to hear from a variety of alumni regarding their respective careers.
Based on their occupation, each alumni member sits on one of eleven panels. Every senior rotates through two panels in the morning, and the day concludes with a roundtable lunch.
Read about our Energy and Engineering alumni panelists below.
- Melissa Cross '89
- George Jackson '02
- John Kerns '06
- Riley Mundinger Landry '07
- Cesar Lovo '11
- Raleigh Wooldridge '13
Melissa Cross '89
Global Account Manager, AVEVA
Bachelor of Engineering, Vanderbilt University
Many days start with regularly scheduled internal meetings like a huddle where we all get on the same page and discuss our current priorities for the day and week and if we need to utilize time of other coworkers. We also share information, insight, advice and lessons learned to each other. There are various meetings at different levels of our company and different connected departments.
The priority quickly turns to completing proposals for new projects. I find new projects through existing and new contacts, listen to their needs, ask good questions, and discuss how we can help them at a high level. We have additional meetings that I set up where I bring in our Subject Matter Experts to dig deeper into the challenge and start to frame up a solution. The next step is to create a plan in writing with people, tasks, time, costs, and deliverables. This Statement of Work is refined until it becomes a sign able legal document. I work to create the team, get them up to speed, and hand over the technical tasks to the experts. I then monitor the progress of the project from a high level and look for more ways in which we can add value and help the client.
It takes listening, problem solving, innovative thinking, very good communications skills, and advanced negotiating skills. The proposal has charts, graphs, schedules, diagrams to explain the workflow and goals. There is a detailed financial model with the payment fees. All of this also includes a full written text of the same information. At the end, it all needs to become a legal contract which both sides can sign. I also lead the financial and contract negotiations. The biggest challenge is taking the complex discussions and translating that into a simplified plan then creating a document that can be agreed upon by all parties.
George Jackson '02
CEO, Alliance OGPUniversity of Mississippi
Alliance is a young company and we all where multiple hats. A typical day could include working with our controller to see how much we invoiced last week and then go through payables. Check in with field operations managers to see how operations are running.
I am typically very involved in new business opportunities which include many customer conversations discussing their particular needs and putting together proposals that detail our scope of work for a particular project.
We are looking at starting an internship program in our engineering group. We would be interested in students that have mechanical/chemical engineering backgrounds.
John Kerns '06
Gasoline Broker
University of North Carolina
I start each day on the trading floor and it does not end until trading is over. That requires me being present and alert all day not even being able to leave the trading desk. Being able to do this job requires elite level math skills, customer service experience, and being able to communicate on both of those levels to my customers at a rapid speed.
After being on the desk trading, it requires me taking my customers to happy hours, dinners, off market hours entertainment. The customer service level skills I was speaking about.
In order to get an internship in this business you need to know someone who works in Brokerage shop. However, I would not recommend an internship with a brokerage shop as all you will do is watch. I think experience is better gained by actually getting out there and doing an internship where you develop those skills needed.
Being a broker, in any type of field, is basically a sales role. Yes you need to gain the knowledge of whichever field you are in, but the sales job background is key.
Riley Mundinger Landry '07
Senior Manager - Sales and Customer Success, Wood Mackenzie
rileymundinger@gmail.com
Political Science/ University of Texas
Mornings are filled with meetings as I sit on a global team. These are focus mostly on people development and strategy. Mid Morning is focused on Sales and Retention within my region. My team covers From Canada all way to Argentina and we cover the entire Natural Resorces chain. Then my afternoon is all about my team. We have 121 discussions strategies, development, and the accounts they are trying to grow and retain. Wood Mac offers internships every summer, just need to watch their site to apply.
Advice! If your leading a meeting have an agenda, and don't be afraid to speak up in meetings it's how you build your brand internally and get noticed!
Cesar Lovo '11
Project Manager/ Aldridge Electric
Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering/Northwestern University
My morning starts off with a walk of the project to check on work progress and touch base with the field. After that I go into our job site trailer where we have various coordination meetings with subcontractors, vendors, or the general contractor to update our project schedule. In the afternoons I work on various financial, quality, productivity reports and tracking to make sure we are completing our contractual obligations to our customer while limiting our risk and hopefully making a profit.
Raleigh Wooldridge '13
Senior Analyst / Renaissance Strategic Advisors
Mechanical Engineering / University of Texas
My day changes very often based on the type of client or project I am working on. My activities may consist of research, expert interviews, financial analysis, or presentation building.
Someone gets an internship by being active in school and proving they can be a problem solver.
The trait I think that makes entry-level analysts successful is self-reliance. Being able to take a responsibility and attempt to figure it out / problem solve on your own before asking for help. Even better is approaching your supervisor with a suggested path forward to accompany your question. You never want to ask how to do something without trying to solve it yourself first. You never know, you may think of a new approach that your supervisor has never tried before.