Bill Bird

Background

About Bill Bird

My career as a cartographer (maker of maps) with Shell Oil in Bakersfield, CA, began immediately upon my graduation from college. Shortly after, I realized the art of drafting with pen and ink was being replaced with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). To be successful in my chosen profession, I decided I needed to become good at the “IS” part of “GIS.” My professional transition to information technology and data management was put into motion.Fast forward several years, Shell Oil Company forms an LLC out of its California operations and within a year, this LLC is merged with Mobil Oil’s California operations to become Aera Energy LLC. Exxon then merges with Mobil to become ExxonMobil. Aera Energy is now co-owned by two of the world’s largest energy companies, Shell and ExxonMobil. This merger resulted in a multitude of duplicate processes and data/information systems.Aera decided to implement EA to get a handle on processes, technology and people. The EA process became more valuable than anticipated and was a major enabler for the company of 1,200+ employees to generate billions of dollars of earnings back to the parent companies. A new term became popular within the Shell and ExxonMobil vocabulary, “The Aera Way.”Due to the knowledge and expertise gained from my involvement in the EA implementation at Aera, I was loaned to Shell to work with upper management and stakeholders on the EA implementation for the Onshore business within Shell. I was then re-hired by Shell and helped lead the effort, which is now generating value, enough that Shell’s new world-wide digitalization initiatives are built on the same framework.