Jeremy Ham
Greenfield, which is backed by EnCap Flatrock Midstream, was initially formed in the summer of 2017. Just months after formation, Greenfield struck deals allowing it to deploy all its initial $300 million commitment, which has been upsized to $450 million with EnCap Flatrock. Ham doesn’t see it stopping there. “I am proud of our team and all we have done alongside our partners and customers to create value in such a short period of time,” he says.
Career path: Ham began his career at Enterprise Products Partners LP. He left Enterprise to help start up Hoover Energy Partners LP, as its first employee. More recently, he worked for NuDevco Midstream Partners LLC and Marlin Midstream LP before forming Greenfield.
Early in his career, Ham was often giving presentations to C-suite executives. He was tasked with analyzing and communicating complicated financials, and mid-level management gave him the opportunity to present the financial variances firsthand to the C-suite executives. He then grew into a commercial role, which required being back in the boardroom to pitch deals.
“All it took was that little taste of the boardroom in my 20s, and I was hooked! Forevermore, I had a burning desire to always be ‘in the room’ where the big decisions were made,” he says.
Advice for young professionals: “Don’t sell yourself short.”
Ham says that a mentor told him this when he was considering the next step in his career prior to forming Greenfield.
“I pitched an idea that would have me working for someone else who knows me well.” Ham thought the advice “was just to avoid a straight answer but … his advice energized me to finally throw my name in the CEO arena. Shortly after that, I put plans in motion to get Greenfield Midstream off the ground—one of the best decisions I ever made. Most times, the advice you receive that you don’t really want to hear at the time is exactly the advice that you really need to listen to most at that time.”
On mentors: “I have many mentors. I seek them out. I nurture relationships with my prior bosses, friends, my pastor and anyone willing to share their wisdom with me. I will let them fight over the order, but my wife, Sabrina, and my older brother, Slade Ham, are definitely my No. 1 and No. 2 confidantes, and I cannot imagine not having their support!”