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Donald D. Humphreys, WG’76
Don Humphreys, senior vice president and treasurer of ExxonMobil, returned to Wharton this spring as a part of the
School’s Leadership Lecture series. In his talk to students, he spoke of three pillars of leadership in the energy industry:
effective partnerships, technological innovation, and long-term investment.
Today’s energy industry leaders are enmeshed in far
more than fuel production: Energy figures into issues of climate change, energy security, and international economic
development, said Humphreys. “I often say it is almost like
working for the State Department at very senior levels, because of the various government interfaces we must maintain and our long history in many countries.”
Malaysia, for instance, a country Humphreys and his
family lived in for four years as part of his long career at
ExxonMobil, has a 115-year relationship with ExxonMobil.
That kind of long-term, carefully maintained partnership
is built on consistently ethical, open dealings and mutual
awareness, he stressed.
Humphreys has deep roots in the energy industry.
His father was in the oil business, on the finance side,
in Tulsa, OK, then known as the oil capital of the world.
Humphreys started his career as a plant engineer for a
year after graduating from Oklahoma State University in
industrial engineering and management. He then entered
the Army, where his commanding officer, a Penn alumnus,
encouraged him to attend Wharton after his service.
“The practical work experience Wharton offered was
immensely valuable,” Humphreys told students. An independent
study assignment, he recalled, was a logistics modeling
project for an international shipping company — work
that gave him experience in finance and technology.
In 32 years with Exxon and ExxonMobil, Humphreys has
had 16 different assignments and moved 10 times. He says
he loves the variety of his work, which includes overseeing
fuels and lubricants marketing, global services (IT, procurement,
real estate), controllers, treasurers, and tax, human
resources, and aviation operations.
Looking ahead, Humphreys cites access to hydrocarbon
(i.e., oil and natural gas) resources as the key near-term
challenge for his industry. Politics can be a barrier, which is why strong partnerships are vital, but there are technological
challenges as well, since many of the world’s
remaining reserves are difficult to access.
Humphreys says that for the time being ExxonMobil is
more focused on continuing to work with hydrocarbons (including
creative new conservation solutions such as clean
coal and carbon sequestration, lithium ion batteries for hybrid
automobiles, and onboard hydrogen separators), but
that the company sees a larger role for renewables long
term. ExxonMobil is exploring hydrogen, solar energy, biofuels,
and other technological studies through a large investment
in the 10-year Global Climate and Energy Project
(GCEP) at Stanford University.
Long-term leadership in a cyclical business such as the
energy industry requires disciplined financial investment,
Humphreys says. But he believes that developing future
energy industry leaders is another important way to invest.
This is one reason Humphreys and his wife, Cathey,
who helped put him through Wharton by working in North
Philadelphia for a job-training organization, have endowed
numerous scholarships and fellowships, both at Wharton
and at Oklahoma State. “It’s our very firm belief that investing
in education is the best — capital B — investment
you can make, whether you make it for yourself or you
make it for your children or you help somebody else with
their education.”
— Scott Shrake
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