Leader in the Field

Coming to the University of Oklahoma I had no idea what I wanted to major in. After discussing my strengths with other students and talking to other people about what I am most interested in, I have decided to have a triple business major in energy management, accounting, and financing. I am very good at math and a career is any natural gas company has a very stable and bright future. 

A prominent leader in my future career field is Lisa Owens, Chief Operating Officer for the oil and natural gas company Clearwater. Clearwater is located in Oklahoma City and is recently building a new office building located near Penn Square Mall. Mrs. Owens is responsible for all financial reporting for the company, she oversees the contract department, gas control department, and accounting department. She describes it as the "day-to-day" operations of the company. She started working in this career field directly out of high school while attending college in the evening. The industry had the most employment potential at the time in the state of Oklahoma. She started working in the field when she was only 18 years old and has now been working in it for 25 years. 

Being such a prominent figure in the company, there are many qualities that allow Mrs. Owens to be a successful leader. She considers her most important leadership quality as her desire to have things done on-time and correctly. She lets her employees clearly know her expectations she has of them. Trying to meet with them one-on-one is also very important to her so she can be on a personal level with them to better the company. The employees give her important feedback that allows Mrs. Owens to make better changes to how Clearwater is run. Mrs. Owens also emphasizes the importance to each of her employees of understanding what and why they are performing each task and not just knowing how to carry out the task to get it done. She said "if you understand your job, you can perform it in less time and more accurately." One other important quality is organization. Having expertise in many different areas allows a small company like Clearwater to run smoothly. 

When asked about her view on leadership, Mrs. Owens responded by saying communication is the foundation to running her company. Using not only communication with her employees, but with customers as well allows the company to meet deadlines required with marketing natural gas daily. Electronic communication also provides a document verification of transactions between parties in case of any misunderstanding that may occur. 

Since the gas marketing industry is constantly changing, it is important to be able to apply different types of leadership and using what works best for the company at the time. Lisa Owens has used her organizational and communication skills, along with her experience in the field to lead Clearwater to be the successful company that it is today. Mrs. Owens is an inspiration to the leader I one day hope to be in my career. 

Lisa Owens (left) with her mother

The Clearwater Enterprises company logo

For more information on Clearwater, click here.