On Feb 28, ConocoPhillips hosted students from four schools participating in the Girls in STEMM program at its Beijing office.
The morning started off with a live video welcome from Bill Arnold, President of ConocoPhillips China and 2021 Winner of the Male Ally Award. Arnold emphasized ConocoPhillips’ own efforts to support women in STEMM and gender equity initiatives such as offering flexible work arrangements, supporting multiple CSR programs on health and education, creating women led employee resource groups and committees, hosting DEI workshops, and its involvement on the Women Empowerment Council (WEC).
Students then heard from Yumin Yang, VP, Commercial & Government Affairs, Lydia Zhou, VP, HR & Communications, and Wang Qian, GGRE Team Leader about the values and core business models at ConocoPhillips. Students were inspired by the dedication to SPIRIT: Safety, People, Integrity, Responsibility, Innovation, and Teamwork, in addition to ConocoPhillips’ pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
After hearing about ConocoPhillips’ services and the industry in general, students had the chance to interact more closely with three female leaders: Susan Gou, Staff Completion Engineer, Sara Zhang, Project Engineer, and Helen Lang, G&G Growth Coordinator. Students were broken into three groups and rotated, each group getting to ask the female leaders more in-depth questions about their lives and career paths.
To wrap up the visit, students had a chance for Q&A with Bjarne Rasmussen, VP, Finance & IT, Chris Isenberger, VP, Subsurface Development, Wang Qian, GGRE Team Leader, and Mia Chen, Senior Commercial Analyst. Students asked some great questions and the panelists responded with meaningful advice in return. For example: stay curious and open-minded because your career path may change, embrace difference and diversity because it means you’re always adding value to a group, and find your own passion because it will motivate you throughout your career.
Thanks again to all of the volunteers from ConocoPhillips for sharing their personal stories and inspiring the girls from the Canadian International School of Beijing, Dulwich College Beijing, Keystone Academy Beijing, and the International School of Beijing.
To learn more about Girls in STEMM and how your school or company can get involved, reach out to us at info@womenempowermentcouncil.com.
About ConocoPhillips China
ConocoPhillips is one of the world’s leading exploration and production companies based on both production and reserves, with a globally diversified asset portfolio. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ConocoPhillips had operations and activities in 14 countries, $91 billion of total assets and approximately 9,900 employees at Dec. 31, 2021.
ConocoPhillips has been a committed partner in China since the early 1980s and continues to be one of the largest foreign investors in China’s upstream oil and gas sector.
ConocoPhillips is committed to developing energy responsibly, while creating lasting value for local communities and stakeholders. In China, ConocoPhillips initiates multiple CSR projects through four focus areas: Conservation, Education, Health and Disaster Relief. Since 1997, its total donation exceeds RMB 78 million and benefits thousands of people and families.