This year’s speaker at the ConocoPhillips C.J. “Pete” Silas Program in Ethics and Leadership in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering tipped his hat to the alumnus for whom the lecture series is named.
“Pete’s life is an inspiring reminder of the lasting contributions that engineers make to social progress and economic opportunity in our world. This lecture series is also a reminder that professional integrity plays a foundational role in engineering excellence,” Mike Dolan said of Silas, ChE 53, the retired chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips and the 2006 recipient of a Georgia Tech honorary doctorate.
Dolan, senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Corp., joined Mobil Oil in 1980. When the companies merged in 2000, Dolan, who earned a chemical engineering degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Drexel University, became the Middle East and Africa regional director of ExxonMobil Chemical Co.
“Engineering shapes countless aspects of modern life,” Dolan said during his September speech on campus.“Because of the widespread impact of our contributions across society, those of us who choose engineering as a career have a huge opportunity. I would call it a special obligation. It is no exaggeration to say that our way of life could not exist without the contribution of engineers. It is up to us as individual problem solvers, creative thinkers and innovators to ensure that professional integrity and excellence drive everything we do.”
Dolan encouraged students to seek employers that set high standards for personal conduct and reward ethical leadership.
“It is important for us as engineers to integrate into our professional goals not only a relentless drive to solve engineering problems in an efficient, innovative and cost-effective way but also a responsibility to solve these problems in a way that is safe, secure and environmentally responsible. Nowhere is this twin challenge of ingenuity and responsibility felt more than in our energy industry,” he said.
Dolan said over the next two decades energy demand is projected to increase by about 30 percent, and the energy industry must manage financial, technological, market, operational and geopolitical risks as well as environmental concerns. While supplying energy is key to improving the standards of living for people, especially in developing nations, he said that ExxonMobil also is researching ways to further minimize the environmental impact of energy production and use.
He said ExxonMobil has built “a corporate culture that supports ethical leadership beginning from the very first day a new hire joins our company. One of the most important ways ExxonMobil communicates our values to our new employees is through our standards of business conduct.”
New employees at ExxonMobil, the world’s largest publicly traded energy company with about 80,000 employees, receive a copy of a handbook on their first day and are required to review it annually, he said.
“ExxonMobil takes the issue of climate change very seriously, and we believe that the risks of climate change warrant action. That’s why our engineers must integrate environmental risk planning into our projects and into our operations. We believe that the best way to mitigate environmental risks is by developing and deploying new integrated technologies.
“To give you an idea how seriously we take this responsibility, consider that since 2005 we have invested $1.3 billion in activities that improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, ExxonMobil is now a world leader in co-generation,” Dolan said.
He told of a ceremony in Canada for new engineers to impart the impact and importance of what they do.
“When an engineering student graduates in Canada, he or she takes part in a special ceremony called the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer. … The engineering graduate receives a simple ring to wear on the little finger of their working hand,” Dolan said. “The ring was designed to rub against the drawings and designs of the engineer, serving as a constant reminder of the ceremony and of the ethical obligations of our profession.”
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