Uwem Ukpong

Executive Vice President, Regions, Alliances, and Enterprise Sales at Baker Hughes

Ukpong boasts 27 years and counting in the energy industry. Having started his career as a reservoir engineer and petrophysicist at Schlumberger, he knows the business from the inside out. Since then, Ukpong has gained plenty of experience managing operations on a global scale. Regions in his scope have included North America, Europe, parts of Africa, and Latin America. The volatility and unpredictability inherent in some of these places make a steady hand paramount. “If you’re in the oil and gas industry, you have to … be ready to adapt and change when volatility comes,” Ukpong said in an interview with CNN. He added that volatility bolsters innovation —  when conditions shift rapidly, you’re forced to think differently about how you do things. The numbers back up his expertise: In 2018, Ukpong skillfully managed a massive $32 billion merger between GE Oil and Gas and Baker Hughes.