Jim Pumper

Derrick Valve

CFO (Strategic and Tactical)

Upstream
 
United States, Africa

1. What is your profession? Or if you are retired, what was your profession?

Finance Professional

2. What are your areas of expertise?

Upstream: Drilling, Project Management, Commercial 

Upstream Areas: Offshore, Onshore

3. Current employer:

Mogas Industries

4. Previous employers:

Alcoa, Cobalt, Kraton, Parker Drilling, Sherwin Alumina, WEDGE Energy Services

5. How did you end up in the Energy Industry?

Started out of school with Alcoa (alumina - commodity) with stops at WITCO (chemical manufacturing) and Kraton (highly engineered thermoplastic elastomers) before finding my way to Parker Drilling, Cobalt and WEDGE Energy Services (Energy).

6. Why do you like working with Start-Ups?

New and better ideas, a team with entrepreneurial spirit, quick growth potential with a chance to build efficiencies in from the very beginning. What an advantage!

Okay, now for some fun things about Mr. Derrick…

7. What are three of your interests outside of work?

  • Travel

  • Charity work

  • The outdoors

8.  What are your top 3 accomplishments (personal or professional)?  Don’t be shy!  Give ‘em to us.

  • Marrying a woman far too good for me with two daughter's that turned out to be a lot like her

  • Making it from a lower income upbringing to a C-suite executive at a couple of solid companies

  • Sold a company headed for bankruptcy in a down-market for far more than the owners expected

9.  If I were a superhero, my superpower would be               .

Time travel. I would be able to travel back in time to observe the mistakes made by society (in general) and businesses (specifically) to better understand what to avoid going forward. Couple that with the ability to travel to the future to see what ideas worked, and which ones did not.

10. When I was 5, I was pretty sure I'd be a                 when I grew up.

Radio DJ (which I was from ages 17-22)

11. If I weren't so damn good at what I do now, I'd probably be                 .

A college professor (also was an adjunct professor for a year at The University of Houston/Victoria in 1999)

12.  My favorite song is               by            .

"What a Wonderful World" by L. Armstrong

13.  If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd          .

I would start a charity-based company

14.  The best piece of advice I've ever been given is                        .

"Don't let where you come from determine where you are going to finish" (First boss at Alcoa, Mr. Everett Brown)