Andrea Wescott Passman

Andrea Wescott Passman grew up about 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Alaska, where her family operated a gravel pit and a gold mine.

“Growing up in Alaska, women did the same work as men, so I was never dissuaded from being an engineer,” she said. She was, however, dissuaded from being an environmental engineer.

Environmental engineers don’t “run the show,” her grandfather, a civil engineer, told her. Choosing petroleum engineering would open up more opportunities for her. Also, the weather may have had something to do with her decision.

“The television show ‘Dallas’ also convinced me that working in the Texas oil fields sounded better than freezing in the gold mine or gravel pit in Alaska,” she said.

Wescott Passman quickly warmed to the oil and gas industry.

“I love that what we do is tangible,” she said. “You can put your finger on it, it impacts people’s lives and has benefits far beyond the people you work with and all the people who use our energy and products. I love the technology and how fast and forward-thinking the industry moves. I love the people who turn wrenches in the field.”

Not that the job has always been easy.

“The failures are the most memorable because those are the moments you learn the most, like when I managed a blowout with CNX in 2019, and I had to inform our public investors about it on an earnings call,” Wescott Passman said. “Learning to lead in a crisis is one of the most important lessons of my life.”

She’s absorbed other lessons as she’s advanced in her career, even in ways she didn’t expect.

“Earning my MBA probably accelerated my career by 10 years because it immediately gave me a whole new language and skill set,” she said. “But when I ‘made it,’ the accomplishment of becoming an executive felt flat. There was no ticker tape parade. A mentor advised me to quit making it about myself—that’s when I realized accomplishments as an executive are actually about pouring yourself into supporting everyone else.”

At that moment, she said, she started feeling more successful and her perspective about the purpose behind her career changed.

Wescott Passman advises young professionals to take care of their network.

“Pour yourself into it and build real relationships, starting early in your career,” she said. “Use your Friday afternoons to pick up the phone to call and text to build and maintain relationships. Engage whenever you can when somebody reaches for help with their job search or to connect with someone else in your network. Building a massive spider web of connections is truly the key to success, and for women it’s easier than you think because usually if you ask someone to help you out, they will.”

Wescott Passman has found mentors at all stages of her career. One of her first was a company man named Russell on a rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

“He taught me how to push back when people were overstepping or might have been speaking inappropriately, but how to do it in a way that was firm and respectful,” she said. “Much of his advice was about the little things—like to drag a mattress into the electronics room so I didn’t have to sleep in the men’s (also the only) quarters—but they were huge for me as a 20-year-old woman on a rig.”

Wescott Passman identifies three trends the industry must acknowledge to thrive:

• The pivot to ESG is real.
• AI is already here and, if you’re not embracing it, you’re already behind.
• If you’re not engaging your workforce so that team members feel appreciated, you won’t make it much longer in this industry.

“Look how many companies aren’t around anymore,” she said. “If you’re not embracing these things, you will miss the boat.”

Check out the rest of Hart Energy's 2024 Women in Energy here.