When Gretchen Watkins was 15 and applying for a study abroad programme, she had a decision to make.

Facing an array of countries to choose from for a summer exchange, she could go anywhere.

So she did. Instead of a specific country, she checked the box for “I’ll go anywhere”.

The decision landed her a three-month homestay with a host family in Sri Lanka, a formative experience she says was nothing less than “mind-blowing”.

“I had two host sisters who were about the same age as me, kind of understanding how 15-year-olds on the other side of the planet are growing up and what they do for fun,” Watkins tells Upstream.

“So when I came back from that I was like, yeah, I definitely want more of that in my life.”

That keen interest in travel and culture drove her to the energy industry, says Watkins, who now is Shell's US president and executive vice president of its Global Shales business.

In her 30-year career she has lived in six different countries and worked for some of the world’s biggest players, including Marathon, BP and most recently Maersk Oil, where she was chief executive from 2016 until it was acquired by Total in 2018.

Think global

Watkins’ global perspective and experience running an international business made her a natural fit for her current role at Shell.

As Maersk's chief executive — she previously served as chief operating officer — Watkins navigated the company through a depressed oil price environment and the Total acquisition.

“I think I learned probably more about my personal leadership and some of the things that I hold very close and very dear in terms of my values,” she says.

“The importance of transparency, the importance of being authentic, the importance of making sure I spend the time I need to develop my team to really be a team that trusts and collaborates and holds each other accountable.”

Following the transaction, Watkins found herself at a career crossroads, with options ranging from the role at Shell to another chief executive position at another company.

“I wound up here at Shell because I found the strategic drive to really create the future of energy so compelling,” she says.

Shell unveiled plans earlier this year to become carbon neutral by 2050 and in June said it was embarking on a programme to reshape its business, which includes a head count reduction of 7000 to 9000 as the company aims to become more focused.

Climate goals

For energy companies such as Shell, she says, meeting climate goals means producing hydrocarbons more efficiently, offering customers products with little-to-no carbon byproduct, and finding new ways to offset emissions.

Carbon capture will be key, Watkins says.

She and her industry counterparts "are strongly advocating for some government support for a carbon market, a price on carbon, because we very much feel that that would unlock a tremendous amount of investment capital, but also really accelerate innovation in that space in terms of just bringing the cost down.”

Watkins lives in Houston with her husband and three teenaged children. Because she travels a lot for work, she likes to be at home as much as possible, attending sports and school events for her kids.

Covid-19 has upended that routine and Watkins admits the adjustment has been tough.

“I really get my energy from people, so this has been difficult for me, doing work over the video, and over the phone, and sort of sitting in the same room every day,” she says. “I’ve found that really hard, honestly.”

She balances that by scheduling more small-group and one-on-one meetings with her team, and has found a small blessing in quarantine: the ability to spend the lunch hour with her kids.

“That’s something I would never under normal circumstances be able to do,” she says. “A little bit of silver lining there, but overall, I’ll be happy when all of this is behind us.”

Watkins is active in the Greater Houston Partnership, a business group that aims to attract companies and talent to the US oil hub. She was recently appointed co-chair of the organisation’s new Racial Equity committee.

The topic has generated a good bit of “passion and energy” inside Shell, she says.

“I’ll take that outside of Shell, really look at how we can, as a company, impact the communities where we live and work.”

Diversity issues in the energy industry came to the fore over the summer amid unrest in the US spurred by police killings, with many companies around the world issuing statements in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Watkins says the industry still has far to go in diversity and inclusion.

“I think the industry is changing,” she says. “I don’t think it’s changing nearly fast enough."

Watkins says: "I think we need to really continue to hold ourselves accountable for this, and how do you do that? I think providing mentoring, providing sponsorships. I’m a huge proponent of setting targets and still making sure we make hiring decisions based on merit. But man, if you don’t set targets... I believe we’re going to continue to make very slow progress.”

Shale

Shell's Watkins puts trust in energy future