Member under the Microscope - Colby Hauser, our newly appointed President
The member under the microscope this month is our very own Colby Hauser. After being a Petroleum Club member for nine years and a Governor for three, Colby was named as President at our Annual General Meeting in September.
It's been said that playing sports at an elite level requires commitment, humility, perseverance, and other attributes similar to those of great leaders.
“Everyone needs to fill a role, take pride in performing that role well, and team success will follow. It takes contributions from an array of team members to take home the win," said Petroleum President, Colby Hauser.
Being from Canada, Colby used to play collegiate and semi-professional Ice Hockey starting on the left-wing but also spending time in defence.
"I have an identical twin brother that I played with, and it was cool to play defence together. Others somewhat humorously dubbed us the twin towers,” said Hauser with a chuckle.
These days Colby has been promoted to a 'captain' of sorts taking the reins as General Manager of Upstream Production Solutions. He manages profit and loss and directly employs about 30 people ranging from maintenance technicians and engineers to cost controllers and operations managers.
Not comfortable with sitting on the sidelines, Hauser still gets to score a few points for the team as he takes care of most of the business development activities across the business.
Despite the differences in landscapes, locations and geology, Colby can see similarities between the Canadian and Australian oil and gas industries.
“Alberta has a lot in common with Queensland in that there is a huge volume of onshore wells. The mentality of the people is virtually identical, and thus it was the smoothest of transitions working in Australia,” said Hauser.
The similarities extend to how accepting the populace is of the energy industry stating that the community in Canada – like here - is still somewhat divided.
Like Australia, the Great White North has pristine environments and landscapes, causing some hesitance and criticism amongst the public,
“The coastal provinces in Canada aren’t particularly accepting of oil and gas development. But as we know, with proper governance, procedures and techniques, there is very little risk of an environmental incident.
“No matter in Canada or here in Australia, the industry as a whole needs to get better at telling this story. This is why I am a fan of APPEA's current Bright-r campaign. When industry and advocacy groups come together, the greater public will have a more of a well-rounded understanding of these issues,” said Hauser.
Many would be happy to leave the advocacy to others; However, Hauser is happy to take matters into his own hands through his role as President of the Petroleum Club of WA.
“I had been attending PCWA events for years and wanted to be involved in its stewardship for the future.
“We have an outstanding group that come from different areas of the oil and gas value chain, and with that diversity, we feel that we are taking the Club in the right direction. In the future, I have aspirations of being on other boards. My involvement with PCWA has given me an excellent knowledge base in the area of governance and operations in the nonprofit arena," said Hauser.
After recently finishing an MBA at UWA and having a little more time on his hands, these days Colby has swapped the hockey puck for a golf ball, trying tee off most weekends. If he can't get out on the green, Colby also enjoys taking his boat out on the Swan River or out to Rotto. In either scenario, it's guaranteed that he will be eating great food and socializing with close friends while he's at it.