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never a bad thing. What are the most recent steps you’ve taken to broaden your revenue streams? GG: When the oil price crashed, we went in four directions with our port- folio. We were concentrated in deep- water projects. The oil companies put almost a 100 percent hold on all new projects and they changed their con- tracting strategy. We decided to diver- sify our revenue into operations and maintenance, services, geography, and downstream. Thus, we started work- ing for pipeline operators, fertilizer plants, refineries, shale oil production, overseas and shallow-water produc- tion. Our goal was to have a balanced portfolio of 50 percent OPEX and CA- PEX. We achieved that goal by the end of 2017. TZL: The list of responsibilities for project managers is seemingly end- less. How do you keep your PMs from burning out? And if they crash, how do you get them back out on the road, so to speak? GG: While PM burnout hasn’t been a concern for the past three years, we manage this risk with a flexible vaca- tion/time off policy and ensure that staff has access to leadership so they can communicate any stress or frustra- tions associated with long work hours. We also compensate our employees for longer hours worked with bonus mon- ey or equity options. To date, we have never had a PM burnout from exces- sive hours worked and we plan to re- main proactive when supporting our employees’ work-life balance. TZL: What is the role of entrepre- neurship in your firm? GG: It’s critical for us. Our team needs to recognize when they are in the right place at the right time to capture op- portunities. We train our team of fu- ture leaders through our GATE Excel See CONFERENCE CALL, page 8 “To date, we have never had a PM burnout from excessive hours worked and we plan to remain proactive when supporting our employees’ work-life balance.”

❚ ❚ GATE University: A technical syllabus ❚ ❚ GATE Excel: Develops business acu- men ❚ ❚ Five Levels of Leadership: Develops servant leadership culture TZL: As you look for talent, what po- sition do you most need to fill in the coming year and why? GG: We need to fill the next level of leadership, so our current presidents can continue to expand their busi- nesses. “Our team needs to recognize when they are in the right place at the right time to capture opportunities.” TZL: While plenty of firms have an ownership transition plan in place, many do not. What’s your advice for firms that have not taken steps to identify and empower the next gen- eration of owners? GG: Ownership is the key ingredient for our business. We do this via re- stricted stock grants and options. The plan was developed more than five years ago and is still in progress. We are just coming out of an oil price crash and that has presented an opportuni- ty for us to issue options to our staff that will see more upside. My advice is to start early and hire some advisors to help you make good decisions. TZL: Zweig Group research shows there has been a shift in business development strategies. More and more, technical staff, not marketing staff, are responsible for BD. What’s the BD formula in your firm? GG: This depends on each of our af- filiate businesses. For engineering/ consulting, business is generated via relationships, referrals, and techni- cal reputation in the industry. For large integrated projects, which have a large field component, reputation and past project history bring us into be- ing part of bid requests or sole source awards. For our service business lines, they require dedicated sales teams to interface with the client and ensure we are on the bid list. TZL: Diversifying the portfolio is

YEAR FOUNDED: 2000 (After completing his Ph.D. in corrosion science and engineering from the University of Manchester in the U.K., Gibson founded GATE.) HEADQUARTERS: Houston, TX OFFICES: 2 offices in two states: Texas and Louisiana NO. OF EMPLOYEES: 300-plus THEIR EXPERTISE: A mid-size upstream oil and gas engineering consulting company, GATE’s expertise includes: ❚ ❚ Materials and corrosion ❚ ❚ Commissioning and initial startup ❚ ❚ Waterflood ❚ ❚ Flow assurance ❚ ❚ Subsea engineering ❚ ❚ Chemical systems engineering THEIR MISSION: “We make it work right the first time.” THEIR COMPANY CULTURE: Company culture

is based on five pillars: ❚ ❚ Servant leadership ❚ ❚ People development ❚ ❚ Employee ownership ❚ ❚ Respectful place to work ❚ ❚ Empowerment

une 4, 2018, ISSUE 1251

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