Women in Energy: Le'Ann Pembroke Callihan, AAPL, NAPE

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[Editor's note: Influential Women In Energy 2023 is a supplement to the February 2023 issue of Oil and Gas Investor magazine. Subscribe here.]

A “Horned Frog,” Le’Ann Pembroke Callihan, vice president of the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL) and NAPE, earned her degree in journalism, cum laude, from Texas Christian University in 1990, as well as completed a study abroad program at Oxford University. Joining AAPL as an intern in 1989, she served on the first NAPE advisory committee and assisted with the inaugural NAPE event in 1993. Today, Callihan oversees NAPE expos as well as AAPL’s strategic initiatives in innovation and excellence.

She has spearheaded innovation at NAPE, launching NAPE — The Magazine for Dealmakers, adding the Renewable Energy Pavilion, implementing the NAPE Network online platform and raising more than $5 million for the NAPE Expo Charities Fund. She was recently named an inaugural inductee into the NAPE Hall of Fame.

Callihan is active in the North Texas Chapter of the Women’s Energy Network, where she has served on the board of directors and is currently an executive member, leading a mentor/mentee group for the organization’s Fort Worth circle. She joined the board of advisors for the TCU Neeley School of Business Ralph Lowe Energy Institute in 2021, was appointed vice chair of the Valley View Education Foundation and was a D CEO magazine 2021 Energy Awards finalist in the Energy Services & Technology Executive of the Year category.

Energy family

“Although I was not pursuing a career in energy, my PaPa had worked for Sun Oil Co. and through his success purchased our family ranch, where we now live, and the legacy he built continues to bless his grandchildren, great-grandchildren and now even great-great-grandchildren.

“After I started working for AAPL [in 1989] and meeting the wonderful people in the association who worked in the land and energy industry, I began to realize the importance of energy and loved learning about it and seeing the positive impact E&P players have on our economy and our American quality of life. Once I began serving the AAPL membership as a staff member, I knew I had found my work family—and to do that so early on in my career is something for which I am very grateful.”

Helping to build NAPE

“I had the privilege of being on the advisory board when the North American Prospect Expo debuted in 1993. Against all odds, we launched the first oil and gas prospect expo, creating a central marketplace where buyers and sellers could come together in one location to make deals happen. Our first NAPE hosted about 100 exhibitors and 800 attendees. Today, NAPE is the world’s largest prospect expo serving more than 12,000 energy professionals each year.

“After I started working for AAPL [in 1989] and meeting the wonderful people in the association who worked in the land and energy industry, I began to realize the importance of energy and loved learning about it and seeing the positive impact E&P players have on our economy and our American quality of life.” —Le’Ann Pembroke Callihan

To be a part of the NAPE phenomenon has been an incredible journey. We have added many components to the original show including the NAPE Expo Charities Fund, which has donated more than $5 million to veterans’ organizations supporting our American military heroes. I personally am proud of fostering two deals with a group of anonymous energy producers for a total donation of $2 million to our NAPE Charities Fund.”

Experience and wisdom

“I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with 30 different presidents of AAPL and chairmen of NAPE who are all leaders in the industry. They all have different leadership styles and ranges in career paths, from independents to majors, and each one taught me valuable lessons about leadership and business. Specifically, Leon Hirsch, Steve Wentworth, Harold J. Anderson, Mike Curry, the late Jan van Loon, Jeanine Piskurich and Hellen Reasoner Hutchison have all mentored me in my journey. I also view Barry Russell, who recently retired as president of IPAA, as one of my mentors. … [Additionally], AAPL’s Linda Wirt took me under her wing and was always willing to share her experience and wisdom with me.”

‘Energy expansion’

“The importance of the industry to the American economy, our national security and the quality of our everyday lives keeps me motivated and passionate. We are the industry that helps power the world! I believe we should approach the ‘energy transition’ as an ‘energy expansion’ and embrace all energy sources and the benefits from them. We must be inclusive and work together for the greater good of our industry, country and world.”

Three more things

1. I love sports, and when our boys were young, I coached their pee-wee basketball teams to undefeated seasons.

2. I play the piano and ukulele and tap dance—but never simultaneously.

3. My favorite movie is “Jaws.”

View the full list of this year’s honorees at Hart Energy LIVE.