As SLB celebrates its 100th anniversary, I’m celebrating a similar milestone of my own: my 100th U.S. patent! 

None of that work, from the first patent to the most recent, would have been possible without the incredible teams I’ve been a part of over the years.

29 years this May 🤯

To innovate consistently is not an easy task—more glorified than glorious. Much of what we do as inventors (be it lithium extraction, electromagnetic levitation, oilfield equipment, or X-ray densitometers) is never seen by the public. A fun exception was when Fortune featured a two-page spread about our CT Express in “How Great Machines Are Born”. I still have that reprint on my office wall, signed by everyone involved.

But while recognition is nice, bringing a vision to life is even nicer. And it’s rare to find a place that allows you to do that, truly and without hesitation.

We’re all aware of the classic tension between managerial and technical career paths, but SLB is unusually good at supporting the latter. Around 2008, when our department head went on maternity leave and I was asked if I wanted to run things while she was out, my immediate response was essentially, “Please, don’t make me do that!”

And it worked!

If I’d wanted to move into management, it would have been a great step. But I’m a technical person at heart. My joy lies in creation: ideas, machines, and technology. And in creating together.

Larry Welch, my most influential mentor at SLB, deserves a special shoutout here. He’d already had an incredible career when we first met and yet was so generous in sharing oilfield stories and knowledge.

Over time, I built my own library of stories as we tried, and sometimes failed, together. It’s especially fun to revisit ideas from decades ago and realize that recent tech advances have finally moved our dreams into the realm of possibility.

And it’s not only the patented learnings that gets me. Just last year, the vehicle training I received in my first year ended up being a lifesaving skill as our truck went into a serious skid on the snow outside Tonopah, Nevada. As I got us lined back up and slowed down to full on “crawling”, I couldn’t help but feel grateful!

Experience is experience, and we all must gather as much of it as possible; you never know where else it might apply. Yes, I’m working to improve how we recover oil and gas, but all of that knowledge is now being applied to New Energy. And I’m thrilled. I’m thrilled by SLB’s decision to blaze a path into the energy transition and proud to be part of it!

P.S. I may have been granted 100 patents, but that still only makes me the 8th most prolific inventor in SLB’s 100-year history. Can you imagine?