Lindsey Mersman

A self-proclaimed “ultimate melting pot,” Lindsey Mersman has a passion for traveling and experiencing different cultures. From moving around the Midwest and Southwest U.S., she has accrued a vast network of friends and family who helped influence her style of leadership and drive to be successful.

“I have a blended family and extended friend network that means the world to me,” Mersman said. “We are a mix of civil servants, IT nerds, international travelers, and oil and gas junkies (some of which have mixed together at the same time). The people I am blessed to be around have helped shape me into who I am, and I could not be more grateful for each one of them.”

Mersman now lives in Houston and serves as chief revenue officer at EAG Services and EAG 1Source.

Early influences

“Growing up in Ponca City [Oklahoma], everyone had some level of exposure to the oil and gas industry (e.g., ConocoPhillips [COP]headquarters and refinery), but my parents were not involved. Both my mom and dad were in completely unrelated industries. Fast forward to the late 1990s, early 2000s, that all changed. Through my dad’s IT business, he started his own company investing in non-op deals and later expanding into operated wells and field services. Around the same time, my career-driven and influential stepmom came into the picture; [she was] a long-time COP employee. Between those two occurrences and growing up in Oklahoma, oil and gas was all around me, all the time.

With the exposure to oil and gas, I did not immediately jump into the industry. My intent was to leave Oklahoma with interest in pursuing hospitality and sales. Through my hospitality program at Oklahoma State, I was introduced to Chesapeake Energy. That was the first time the oil and gas industry and I truly intersected. I was a part of the first round of Chesapeake hospitality interns, and it was great! Natural gas was over $8 per MMBtu, oil was at $100+ a barrel and nothing was off the table. As a hospitality student, where everyday food cost and profitability is driven into your studies, and at CHK you were told to make a zero profit, your brain explodes. Everything I learned there 100% went against what I was taught in school, but I loved it! Not only did this internship introduce me to oil and gas, it exposed me to the corporate side of the world.”

Highs and lows

“Becoming chief revenue officer was reached a lot sooner than expected, and what helped me was a never give up attitude, willingness to adapt to changing environments, industry downturns, competitive threats and everything in between. Persevering through all of that as a sales manager into director and vice president all while driving extensive growth from both a revenue and headcount standpoint lead me to this career milestone.

Bringing EAG 1Source to life has been the most challenging and rewarding achievement of my career. Since its founding in 2017, we have dealt with unlimited challenges, unstable oil prices, evolving corporate structures, government regulations and more. Through it all I have remained passionate about growth—growing our industry presence, client base, internal resources and revenue. 

Through that time I have been responsible for doubling our organization each year and have continuously expanded both sides of EAG.”

Planning ahead

“[My] short-term goal is to further commercialize our offerings and make sure the energy industry is knowledgeable of all of the things EAG does, not just the specific project or activity we may have executed in the past. In the last four years our experience and internal skill set has grown dramatically. My team and I strive to make sure that growth is not a secret.

My long-term goal is to grow EAG 5X by 2028. This will include expanding our core offering into energy like industries and potentially non-energy for specific business lines. Success of that goal will not only be measured by pure growth but more by our ability to keep the EAG culture intact and employee satisfaction high. In doing this, my goal is to further make EAG a household name with a reputation of being industry experts and building long-term valued relationships with our clients.”

New generation of energy

“My department, business development, started as an organization of one. Over the past six years, we have expanded, now sitting at eight resources plus third-party vendors. Within my part of the organization, I provide guidance and support but really allow my team to own their responsibilities, bringing their ideas and approach to the table. I then provide leadership around strategy and support on organizing work and task execution.

I really enjoy the people [in the energy industry], both internal and external, that I get to work with. The energy industry is made up of a lot of really smart, driven and down to earth people. They work hard but also like to have fun. That approach 100% aligns with how I like to live life!

I think a very unique thing to the under 40 generation is their mindset to ask questions, challenge responses and find alternative ways to execute tasks. The days of taking five days to do something just because that is how it was done before are over. With this generation, efficiencies will be infused back into day-to-day work processes, and they will embrace leveraging on demand data points and systems to make decisions. In the long run, this will help the energy industry become more efficient, effective and in the end successful.”