Petroleum engineering former student Janeen Judah ’81 was recently appointed to the board of directors for Jagged Peak Energy. She is also a director for Patterson-UTI Energy, Crestwood Equity Holdings and Aethon Energy.
Judah was named to the Top 25 Influential Women in Energy by Hart Energy/Oil & Gas Investor Magazine, was the president of Chevron Environmental Management Company, general manager of Chevron’s Southern African unit and president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). She is a longtime member of both the Texas A&M University College of Engineering and Petroleum Engineering advisory boards and in 2015 was named outstanding alumni of the College of Engineering.
Judah discusses her recent accomplishment as well as the rest of her illustrious career, and how her story could encourage young engineers entering the field.
Q: Why did you choose petroleum engineering as a degree?
A: My dad is an engineer, and many of the women engineers in that very first wave in the 1970s and 80s that studied engineering were daughters of engineers. It was still a pretty unusual career choice for a girl at the time. I grew up in Houston around the oil business and it always fascinated me. I knew I was either going to study chemical or petroleum engineering, and I have no regrets. I’m one of the few people who never actually changed their major while in school. I came in to study petroleum engineering and I left with not one, but two degrees in it.
The oil and gas industry is always fascinating – but the up/down business cycle frightens people. It’s high stakes, technology-intensive and constantly reinventing itself. I am still learning in my new role as a corporate director.
Q: Jagged Peak Energy will be your fourth company for whom you are on the board of directors. What does being a director for a public company look like?
A: Being a director is a different role than management. The board hires the CEO and
Q: You have a total of four degrees, two of which are in business and law. Why did you choose to study these things?
A: I did my MBA and law degree at night while working during a downtime in the oil industry. I think that an MBA is an excellent complement to an engineering degree as you move up the management ladder. Both have come in handy during various points in my career. They were good insurance policies!
Q: Do you have any advice for graduating engineers or undergraduate students in general?
A: The three E’s – excellence, endurance and empowerment. Be good at your job and solve your boss’s problems, be resilient and creative in the face of setbacks, and help those around you, especially those who come behind you.
Q: As someone who’s climbed every rung of the corporate ladder, what are some things that people have done, earned accreditation for or developed within themselves professionally that impressed you?
A: Well, as a collector of college degrees, I’m a little biased. Really though, I think that extra degrees are good to have. People say, “I’ll get a certificate in x,” but the problem with certificates is that they aren’t universally recognized and quality can vary widely. Everyone knows what a master’s degree or an MBA is. I think if you can go through the trouble, get a degree that you can take with you wherever you go. There are so many options now with online and executive programs from quality universities and most large employers will pay for most of the degree.
Also, I would say it’s important to keep learning because technology is constantly changing for engineers, I recommend learning more about data science as an alternative to an MBA, and there are many universities offering quality data science/data analytics M.S. programs.
I have been very involved in SPE for 40 years -- since I was a student at Texas A&M. Professional organizations like SPE are a great way to stay in the know about current trends and upcoming tech breakthroughs. Also, it extends your network beyond your own employer. It’s easy to stay in your bubble at a big corporation. Keeping my antennae up and getting out of my office once a week was a goal I had, and it greatly helped my professional development.
Q: What else are you up to these days?
A: I retired from Chevron a little more than a year ago and joined my first corporate board the next day. Board work is periodic, with a busy month followed by two months of mostly quiet, giving me time to do things I wasn’t able to do while working full time and managing a large team. My husband Dave and I are taking some longer fun trips. We just returned from a trip to the Utah national parks and the Grand Canyon and will go to Iceland and China later this year, and have two trips planned for 2020 with the Traveling Aggies. I am also on some nonprofit boards as well.
I am a certified instructor for both scuba and yoga, so much of my time is spent pursuing those things. Also, I enjoy cooking and playing pickleball or very bad golf.
Q: How often are you on campus and do you enjoy coming back?
A: We have homes in Houston and at Traditions, so we stay pretty involved with campus events. I am on campus often for sporting events and usually have the honor to speak for different classes or organizations once or twice a year. We are season ticket holders for football and both men’s and women’s basketball. Still waiting on those baseball tickets.
Q: You have a lot of accomplishments. What are you most proud of?
A: I was just thinking about this, and I think it’s being SPE president. It’s a big deal in our world and I’ve been involved with SPE my whole career, ever since I was a student officer at Texas A&M. As its international president, I was able to travel to 40 countries and speak to about 15,000 people. It was a lot of work, and made me perpetually jetlagged for two years, but how many people can say they’ve been to Kazakhstan or Kalimantan? It’s something that I’ll look back on in my 80s and think, “Yep, that was a highlight.”
Office of Alumni Relations
The Texas A&M College of Engineering is proud of our former students, such as Janeen Judah, who demonstrate Aggie core values like leadership and are committed to empowering young engineers to fulfill their potential. If you know an Aggie who is celebrating an accomplishment and would like them to be recognized by the college, please contact the Office of Alumni Relations.