2016 Chairmanship dedicated to advocating for the workforce, enhancing IADC member value

Serving IADC as Chairman in 2016 is a great honor. I am proud to represent an organization that has a rich history of advocating for the interests of drilling contractors and serving as a force to positively impact the industry.

This year, I hope to continue the work that has been carried on by my predecessors over the last 75 years.

It is undeniable that we remain mired in a difficult business environment here at the start of 2016. Our industry faces tough challenges as the market correction continues, and the landscape certainly looks far different now than it did three years ago. Rig counts are down, and many drilling contractor companies have shuttered.

And, yet, history has shown that a recovery is inevitable. There is a tendency when times are tight to save money on training and underinvest in our people, our workforce. In past upturns, we have seen the disastrous effects of this practice in the form of a dramatic increase in incidence rates. The best way to guard against this is to continually invest in our people, ensuring they have the correct and proper training to optimally perform their job duties.

Investing in our workforce is a theme that I will touch on throughout this year of my chairmanship. Managing the costs of training is absolutely paramount right now. IADC’s accreditation programs provide the industry with top-notch, appropriate training that, compared with similar programs from for-profit companies, offer exceptional value, particularly because IADC training is industry-developed and vetted.

In addition to beating the drum on safety and training, I’m also focusing attention on how our association can add value to you, our members. We will be looking at ways to engage members in all geographies and will be investing even further in our policy, government and regulatory affairs (PGRA) activities. There is particular interest in looking at ways in which we can guide and serve as a resource for what makes sense and what does not when it comes to regulation, and IADC has a strong team in place to facilitate this work.

We are also focused on member service, ensuring that our programs, committees and chapters are run efficiently and add value by offering a place where you can come together to share ideas, knowledge and lessons learned.

During difficult times, people and companies can tend to be insular, but our association needs participation to function optimally. Over the past three years, IADC has made great progress, particularly with regard to the PGRA function and newly upgraded accreditation programs, which include WellSharp. Our priorities are driven by you, our members, who alert us to the critical issues facing our industry. Your input, your thoughts, ideas and expertise, are crucial if this association is to achieve success.

It’s a tough time to be in our industry, but our association has weathered innumerable tough times, and we will be here when the upturn comes. We are a tight-knit community of drilling contractors, with IADC protecting our interests and advocating on our behalf. I am proud of our legacy and look to continue it in 2016. I will be traveling to many IADC conferences and chapter meetings and hope to have the opportunity to meet with many of you, to hear from you and to learn from you. I remain optimistic for our industry’s future, and am honored to be entrusted to serve as your 2016 Chairman. DC