Traci Cook

Traci Cook joined the oil and gas industry in 1994 at Chesapeake Energy, where she was at once taken by the entrepreneurial spirt of the industry.

“No matter what role you played, there was an element of being a ‘wildcatter,’” she said. “Every day was a new day.”

On one of those new days, Cook was tasked with building a tax division for the fledgling Chesapeake. It was a particular challenge because she had no prior experience in the tax field. What she did have was the confidence of Chesapeake founder Aubrey McClendon and CFO Mark Rowland.

“They trusted me and gave me opportunity after opportunity,” Cook said. That trust paid off for the company.

“I learned a lot about myself and my ability to build a quality team over that next five years,” she said. “This led to me being promoted to vice president of accounting, responsible for financial reporting, tax and forecasting.”

The opportunities would keep coming for Cook in her career because changes in the company and industry kept coming and she was open to handling them.

“Between the evolution of the science guiding the oil and gas industry to the never-ending market cycles, you learned quickly to be versatile and open to change. I quickly realized that I possess a remarkable capacity for change,’” she said. “Over the years, I have told many young people: you will either love or hate this industry. Those that loved it are survivors, in my opinion.”

Cook estimates that Chesapeake employed about 300 when she started in 1994, of which about 30 were in accounting. By the time she left to join Ascent Resources 20 years later, the company had 12,000 people on its payroll, of which about 500 were in accounting.

The speed of growth led to changes in her career goals. When she began at Chesapeake, her main goal was simply to “keep up.” She wanted to learn all she could about the industry so she could become a good leader. She also recognized that she couldn’t do it all alone.

“Many of the challenges I faced were the result of rapid growth at Chesapeake which required building a strong team to support the growth,” Cook said. “Along with the years of experience at Chesapeake and the confidence of Ascent’s CEO Jeff Fisher and CFO Brooks Shughart, we have been able to build a top tier accounting team at Ascent. I think it is important to build a team that includes members who don’t all think alike and those that you consider smarter than yourself. It is productive to not be intimidated by others’ intelligence. There is always going to be someone who knows more than you. Bring your skills to the table and learn from theirs.”

A quote often attributed to President Theodore Roosevelt (“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”) is relevant to Cook’s leadership philosophy.

“I think it is very important for your team to know you not only care about the company, but you also care deeply about each one of them,” she said. “It has been important to me to build an environment that is energetic and positive where we celebrate each other. I feel strongly that if your team is happy and challenged at the office, they will have positive energy to love and cherish their families at the end of each day.”

To that end, Cook believes in setting the bar high and letting each individual’s energy fuel the team. The results reflect on the department as a whole.

“We want to have a seat at the table and this requires building a great deal of knowledge in not only the company, but the industry as well,” she said, adding that she feels joy when she sees her team members building bridges with the other disciplines in the company.

Check out the rest of Hart Energy's 2025 Women in Energy here.