John Donachie, Senior Petroleum Technologist with Helix-RDS, won the Leadership Development Award, which recognizes efforts to attract students and graduates to the oil and gas industry, at the first Offshore Energy Achievement Awards. The event was held in December in Houston.
Before his current position with Helix-RDS, Donachie worked for Schlumberger for 7 years, initially as a design engineer. He held positions of increasing responsibility, leading to the role of business development manager. Donachie started SPE Aberdeen’s Emerging Leaders Program and cochaired the inaugural SPE Young Oil and Gas Professionals Workshop, developing a repeatable and successful format to promote professional growth beyond an individual company’s training program. He currently is SPE Continuing Education Chairperson for the Aberdeen Section and the spe.org Young E&P Professional Network Chairperson.
“I was surprised and delighted to receive this award,” Donachie said. “There is an old Irish saying: ‘Praise youth and it will prosper’; and given the demographics of today’s industry, this is especially important. The youth represent the future leadership that will carry our industry forward. The investment of praise, support, and development opportunities for young people will prepare them for the challenges ahead.”
Besides the Leadership Development Award category, eight other awards were given. Other finalists in the Leadership Development category were John Barker (ExxonMobil Development Co.) and Steve Holditch (Petroleum Engineering Dept., Texas A&M U.).