Ready to rebuild

His knack for building relationships, together with an undergraduate degree in business and entrepreneurship and an Executive MBA from the University of Calgary, propelled Casey to become Perma-Pipe’s General Manager of Canadian Operations and Sales in seven years with the company.

“For me, its about building a team environment and coaching so that people enjoy coming to work and feel challenged,” he says.

A key steppingstone to his role with Perma-Pipe came in 2009/10. During the slowdown in the pipeline market, Casey and his wife, Jennifer, who also works in the oil and gas industry, came to an unusual agreement: “We said, whoever offers us an ex-pat assignment first, let’s take it.”

Most people would end up waiting for a long time to get such an offer, but not the Casey. Jennifer got the offer first. The assignment was in Doha, Qatar. Casey became the “trailing spouse.”

Casey recalls this as an interesting period in his life, allowing him to experience different lines of work. The Doha Film Institute, for example, hosts a giant film festival every year, which Casey helped set up.

“My job was to help organize the chaos,” he says.

But oil and gas was never far away. Aegion (Insituform at the time) asked him to represent their products in the Middle East. A year later, when Jennifer’s assignment ended, Perma-Pipe in Calgary tapped him for a management job. “It was a challenging role. I was managing people that were significantly my senior in experience and age. I was about 31 at the time and had to make some tough decisions and restructure the department a couple times to improve the team’s experience level and ability,” he says.

But each time he recast the sales department the company gained market share.

“It was a matter of aligning the right people with the right customer, the right channel and the right focus,” he says.

In his home neighbourhood of Marda Loop in Calgary, Casey also puts his sales skills to work for its community association. When he was director for sponsorships, the community had a record fundraising year. That money provided more seniors’ programs, kids' summer camps and events than ever before, including cash reserves for much-needed upgrades to the community hall and tennis courts.

“It’s exciting to see the direct impact you can have in the community,” he says.

United Way is an important charity for the Casey. At the corporate level, he acts as a match-maker, making introductions, setting up meetings and connecting United Way staff with companies that could help the group raise funds, put on events and find volunteers.

“One thing I’ve learned about the United Way is that each chapter focuses on the local community. So it's great to see those positive impacts close to home,” he says.

Several certainties marked Moore’s journey. She knew from grade 10 that she wanted to become an engineer. After training in the Rocky Mountains as a provincial-level downhill skier during high school, she knew she wanted to live in Calgary. And she always knew that her Metis heritage would remain an important dimension of who she is and how she gives back to the community.

Moore didn’t see herself as an “engineer in a cubicle,” so she chose Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Calgary (that discipline no longer exists at U of C).

“It’s like mechanical but more focused on processes and procedures of things – not so much technical,” Moore explains.

Her first job during summer break was as a heavy-haul rock truck and earth-moving operator. She interned with Kiewit Energy on Canadian Natural and MEG projects after her third year.

Upon graduation, she stayed on with Kiewit at Imperial Oil’s Kearl froth project, both in the module yard and on site.

After that, Moore decided to gain some client experience and took a job with Laricina Energy but eventually realized that she preferred the contractor side. Her next move brought her back to energy construction services in 2013, this time with Radium Technologies.

“It took me about 10 years to get from field engineer—which is kind of the bottom of the barrel, working in the field, taking shifts no one else wants—to this point where I’m comfortable managing projects between $50 million and $300 million,” she says.

Moore describes managing construction projects in terms of a balance between safety, quality, cost and schedule so that “no one is too angry about anything.” Open communication, “being personable” and tenacity are her go-to skills for ensuring that balance.

Having just completed a Masters of Management degree at the University of British Columbia this summer, Moore has set her sights on becoming a manager of project managers.

Moore leverages her Metis heritage to help strengthen the communities in which Radium works. Oil and gas projects in remote areas across western provinces increasingly recognize the value of working with local Aboriginal communities. Radium Technologies puts the emphasis on developing work skills and providing meaningful employment.

“We do specific on-the-job training with First Nations communities around our projects. What we don’t do—if they just want a check– is say, ‘Here you go.’ We want them to work. We arrange their transport. We put them through a new mentorship program called the Green Hard Hat Program. They get an experienced tradesman to mentor them so they can figure out if they want to be a welder, or pipefitter or, if they want to stay as a labour—that’s cool too. We do that with probably four or five nations,” she says.

Moore volunteers with Alberta Metis, doing workshops, presentations and career fairs. She is also active in her home community of Inglewood in Calgary, where she helps out with good-neighbour initiatives and cleanups.

“Because that’s what’s going to set you apart and provide that foundation for moving up the ladder,” says the president of RJ MacLean Tank Cleaning, a high-tech company that gets people out of what is arguably one of the most dangerous environments in the oil and gas industry—oil storage tank cleaning.

Cleaning storage tanks is how MacLean started after finishing a business degree and in debt with student loans. She was the only female on a crew of 40 men.

“I just loved the job. I got to be outside, pulling wrenches, really seeing how things were done,” she says. MacLean worked her way up to project manager and, by the end of the year, she was running jobs and crews of 20 people. Then she was promoted to business development manager for Canada.

Despite her passion for fieldwork—and also because of it—MacLean recognized that there had to be a better way to clean oil storage tanks. It didn’t make sense that, in an era of self-driving cars, people were still climbing into these hazardous environments.

So at age 23, she started pulling together the resources to build a high-tech company for robotic tank cleaning. In 2015, she became part owner of RJ MacLean Tank Cleaning, along with her father , with the financial backing of oil and gas services veteran, Jack Sequin.

“We started building equipment, came up with new patented designs. We continued to innovate with water treatment technology for recycling water and reducing the amount of waste for disposal,” she says.

A key milestone was securing the first major customer to champion RJ MacLean’s technology as a safe, environmental sustainability and economically viable alternative to manual cleaning.

“When we first started, nobody really understood what we were talking about because the process is so different with our robotics. But we’re now at the point where we have multiple master-service agreements to help our clients plan their 10-year tank cleaning program,’” says MacLean, who also managed to earn a Masters in Project Management while building the company.

Continual innovation characterizes this high-tech operation. The robots are built in-house, which allows employees to provide input on design. The company now has 80 employees during peak activity.

Given the newness of the work, RJ McLean couldn’t go to the market looking for “experienced robot operators,” so it became good at working with people with little or no the oil and gas industry experience.

“We link this training to our Indigenous engagement program,” MacLean says.

RJ MacLean and its leadership have earned the recognition of several industry awards. MacLean eagerly shares her experiences and learning with other entrepreneurs through a program called Futurpreneur. She provides support to women in leadership initiatives. And she is active in industry conferences and events. She has also contributed to the Senate discussion on Bill C68.

“But what I’m most proud of is the impact that we are having on this industry. Everyone says this is the way tank cleaning should be done,” she says.

But even in 2011, STEP’s founders knew what they were getting in Edillon, from having worked with him in other service companies--a loyal and talented engineer who was up to the challenge of establishing an engineering team and developing STEP’s coiled tubing engineering practices and standards, which the company uses to this day.

As one of the early employees, Edillon had the opportunity to help develop the company’s mission, vision and core values.

He co-authored a paper with the National Association of Corrosion Engineers and (NACE] by partnering with University of Calgary’s Petroleum Microbiology Research Group. This research led to the redesign of coiled tubing corrosion management in the field, reduced mechanical failures and, importantly, improved safety.

More recently, Edillon’s role at STEP has changed. After completing his MBA, he switched from the engineering team to the finance team. This new direction takes him deeper into management at STEP. Among his tasks, he is guiding the company’s digital transformation, starting with the collection and analysis of data that will serve as the foundation for machine learning and further automation.

“We need to find every possible avenue for a competitive edge, not only to differentiate ourselves from the competition but to save costs for our clients and the industry as a whole,” he says.

Edillon’s work ethic and commitment to the company was modelled by his father, a chemical engineer, who worked for Saudi Aramco for 20 years.

Consequently, Edillon grew up partly in Saudi Arabia until high school. In the absence of a local high school, Saudi Aramco sponsored the education of their employees’ children by sending them to the boarding schools of their choice anywhere in the world. Edillon chose Saint Michael University School in Victoria, B.C.

“It was one of the highlights of my life. It was a beautiful place to go to school where I developed close friendships with people that I’m still friends with today,” he says.

Edillon’s 13 years in energy services have led to significant contributions to the oil and gas industry. He was a Canadian Chapter Board of Director of the ICoTA (Intervention & Coiled Tubing Association). His work with Drilling and Completions group of Energy Safety Canada enhanced safety standards for services company field workers through improved Industry Recommended Practices for coiled tubing operations.

Each year, Edillon also organizes an annual company poker tournament that has helped raise thousands of dollars for charities during STEP’s Spirit Christmas Campaign.

He is cochair of STEP’s United Way Calgary Campaign Committee, responsible for new fundraising initiatives, encouraging others to participate and executing well-attended events.

He rounds out his busy career and community involvement with raising a family. With two young daughters, Edillon volunteers at their school and performs the unsung parental heroics of endless driving to gymnastics and track-and-field practices, art classes and other activities yet to come.

Edillon and his wife are also active members of the St. Michael’s Catholic Community parish.

It’s a big change from her former role as a Facilities Integrity and Reliability Engineer. For three years she addressed critical operational issues, delivered optimization programs, improved reliability and implemented automation upgrades at TC Energy’s Canadian pipeline facilities.

“I wanted to get a really good fundamental technical understanding of the business. In this role, I learned to be a mechanical engineer,” says Beckel, who actually graduated as a management engineer from the University of Waterloo in 2013.

Beckel enjoys technical challenges. She has been recognized as a Global Petroleum Show Emerging Leader finalist in 2019 and received a Young Women in Energy Award in 2018.

But this experience will do little to prepare her for the business side of the operations in Ontario. So why did TC Energy roll the dice to move her out East?

“I also do a lot volunteer work with the Young Pipeliners Association [of Canada (YPAC)]. We negotiate with various companies in the pipeline space to secure funding and support, and we work on a lot of industry initiatives,” she says.

Last year, YPAC kicked off its first government engagement initiative. A delegation travelled to Ottawa to introduce MPs and senators to the group’s message, that YPAC believes in pipelines for technical, social and environmental reasons, that it sees a future for pipelines and for oil and gas.

YPAC also testified to the Canadian Senate on Bills C-69 and C-48.

All this extracurricular activity provided TC Energy the confidence to give Beckel an opportunity to expand her horizons in Ontario.

Giving back to industry [through YPAC] is really rewarding, but it’s actually what launched me into my next opportunity. I would have never had the credibility that I have now without that work with YPAC,” she says. And how successful was the YPAC mission to Ottawa? Beckel says the group was received with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

‘The MPs and senators seemed confused by the fact that we’re young women and young men,” she says. “We’re also a very diverse group of people, so we were not what they expected.”

YPAC’s nonpartisan message also raised some eyebrows upon hearing that pipelines are critical not only to oil and gas but also to a low-carbon future for carbon capture infrastructure and some renewable energy projects.

“We probably didn’t change their minds, but it was good for them to hear. At least, they know we exist and need to be part of the consideration,” Beckel says.

Beyond her involvement in industry committees (she’s a member of the International Pipeline Conference Young Engineers’ Engagement Committee and represents YPAC on the board of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association Foundation), Beckel has also been coaching Special Olympics for five years.

“I coach soccer, snowshoeing and we did floor hockey last year. It’s super fun. It’s only one hour a week. Honestly, you just have the best time. The athletes remember you and they appreciate that you’re there,” she says.

During her tenure as leader of a team of technical experts and PhD microbiologists, OSP has opened a full-service Technical Centre that includes inhouse DNA microbial testing, reporting and recommendation services.

“We’re one of the only oil and gas service companies to have full DNA sequencing and bioinformatics processing in-house. No other single company permeates the market with as much high-level genomic (DNA) testing offerings as OSP, which is reflected in the global client-base we support everyday”, Wornstaff says.

A lot of service providers make a run at controlling the souring effects of microbes in wells but providing technical solutions for microbial challenges is OSP’s primary business. But business is growing because of the preponderance of hydraulic fracturing in today’s oil and gas fields.

“Increased dependencies on fluid recycling, diverse water management strategies, and geological factors within plays introduce large volumes of microbes that have never been put into reservoirs before. They are souring these reservoirs, or some are already sour from geological factors, making them substantially worse—more so than people realize. So the problem continues to evolve despite the efforts of throwing some chemicals at it,” she says.

A better understanding of the problem is OSP’s competitive advantage. And the company continues to innovate and deepen its water quality and microbial control services.

Wornstaff’s success at OSP might seem as though it came over overnight, but it also stands on 13 years of work experience with Baker Hughes. Baker hired her before she even graduated in 2003 from NAIT’s Chemical Engineering Tech/Petroleum Engineering Tech Honours programs.

As part of Baker’s integrity management services group, she had the good fortune to work under a manager who said, “I’m going to throw you in the deep end of the pool. I’m not going to let you sink, but you’ll learn how to swim.”

Wornstaff learned everything from facility process to managing clients and was made manager of the Integrity team after four years. She was one of the youngest female field managers in that role at age 27.

Today Wornstaff practices a similar leadership style that allowed her to flourish. She provides her team with the tools, resources and support to succeed.

Growing up in a family of four kids on a farm outside the hamlet of Fort Assiniboine in northern Alberta, where she attended a small school that couldn’t provide biology and physics in the same year because there weren’t enough students or teachers, Wornstaff appreciates the importance of personally contributing to the community.

Most of her giveback is currently through OSP’s support of children and families—Christmas giving, local sports teams and the children’s hospitals.

“We also have two intern programs through the U of C. I really love being part of bringing younger people into the private sector and giving them a taste of what they can do with what they have learned,” she says.

Beyond this mentorship, she flies across North America delivering presentations and sharing industry-leading insights on microbial issues to educate peers, clients and colleagues.

A rotation through a Toronto commercial building firm gave him a glimpse of a low-margin, cut-throat business where he was made to feel more like a competitor to the firm’s existing engineers rather than a new team member.

In stark contrast to this, he also worked for Fluor in Calgary for two terms. There he found an open and helpful culture that supported him in learning the ropes and developing as an engineer. Fluor was also impressed with the potential they saw in Sidiropoulos and offered him a permanent position after graduation, which he gladly accepted.

“I have a thirst for learning and this company and the people that work here foster that,” he says.

Sidiropoulos’ high watermarks at Fluor include achieving his P.Eng. certification and learning how the company executes complex projects. He has coordinated between construction and home office engineering and management teams across multiple projects of varying size. He has worked in everything from project proposals to construction support for LNG, SAGD and petrochemical development.

Sidoropoulos’ leadership is evident in his work ethic, attention to detail and his desire to see projects through to successfully delivery as agreed and promised.

“I feel I’ve transitioned from just bringing together and regurgitating the knowledge I’ve acquired to where I am now in a position to influence. People are now looking to me and saying, ‘What should we do here?’” he says. The guidance and mentorship Sidiropoulos experienced in Fluor now informs his giveback to the profession and the community. An expression of this is his work with youth, encouraging them to pursue engineering as a vocation.

“We have a mentorship program with a school just down the road that I’m involved in, where we go into classrooms during Engineering Week with some very simplistic tasks. For example, we build a car from straws, lifesavers and a balloon to demonstrate propulsion or some other aspect of physics and math and science by making it real,” he says. In high schools, Sidiropoulos is part of a Fluor pre-engineering program that provides guidance to students who have already made the decision to become engineers. This involves coaching, helping with courses selection and offering practical advice.

“Each year, we also bring students [to the south Calgary Fluor campus] for a day. We show them how the workspace is laid out and try to give them a sense of what an engineering career involves. They ask questions. There’s a presentation. I’ve done the construction portion of that presentation for a few years,” he says.

Sidiropoulos also harnesses his passion for bicycling for the United Way’s Ride to Conquer Cancer. As a member of Fluor Canada’s “Tour de Force cycling team, he rides in a two-day, 200-km fundraising event that has helped raise $120,000 for cancer research in Alberta.