Ali Rizvi

Journey: Rizvi moved to Houston from Karachi, Pakistan, when he was 14 years old.

Career path: Rizvi began as a summer intern at PLS while still in college. He joined the company in 2006 after graduating. He worked in sales and business development before becoming senior vice president, and he also became a partner.

Rizvi’s love of networking has helped PLS differentiate itself from other information data providers in the industry. He has built client and industry networks by attending conferences. “I enjoy meeting new people, earning the trust and business of new clients, and learning something from these relationships,” he said, noting that enjoyment of learning “gets me up in the morning.”

Rizvi said PLS was able to innovate and thus overcome the challenges posed by competitors’ “army of sales teams and resources.” He added that, “in the data business, you must stay on top of competition; you must be innovative with respect to sales strategy, pricing and marketing.”

Goal: Rizvi said that one day, he would like to start his own oil and natural gas company. He sees opportunities in both oil and gas, and so aims to have a business that handles both. “Using the extensive network that I have established over the years, I plan to target non-marketed deals, exercise a strict financial discipline acquiring them and then use professional expertise to develop and ultimately monetize the assets.”