An Exciting Way to Make Your Mark

Innovation is a process — a people-oriented process that gives you the thrill of creating something new and useful. As long as your brain is still working, you can experience the excitement of being an innovator, whether that is making small improvements in a system or coming up with a completely new product. The process is the same, starting with ideation, naming, drawing, feature design, prototyping, and marketing. Jeanne will share some of her own innovations and will help you get started on your next fabulous idea to bring it to fruition.

Jeanne Perdue grew up in LeRoy, NY, where Jell-O was invented. She was Salutatorian of the Class of ‘76 and editor of the school newsletter. She received a BS degree in chemistry from the State University of New York at Albany. She started her career as a chemist at the Texaco Research Laboratories in Bellaire, Texas. Before Google was invented she conducted research and literature searches at the Texaco Library. Jeanne then covered drilling and information technology as an oil and gas journalist for Hart’s E&P magazine. She launched the award-winning magazine: Upstream Technology. She is now a technical writer at Occidental Petroleum, preparing field development plans, maintenance and operations procedures, technical papers, and concession proposals for the Middle East Support Team.

A Distinguished Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Jeanne has been an active volunteer and was Chair of the SPE’s Gulf Coast Section in 2014. Today she serves on the SPE Distinguished Lecturer Committee and the Business Management and Leadership Committee. A staunch supporter of education, Jeanne was elected to the Alief ISD school board in the 90s and was president of the Alief ISD Education Foundation for 10 years. Today she serves on the board of the Houston Community College Foundation, the UH Petroleum Engineering Advisory Board, and the FHPW Educational Foundation. She is a past president of Houston Focus on Concerns for Women.