between things
thirteen years across energy, finance, and policy. then a deliberate pause.
03-Jul-25
For thirteen years I moved between engineering, finance, and policy. I got good at each one. Then I left, because getting good at things is not the same as knowing what to do with them.
My career started underground, in upstream oil and gas. I worked on reservoir recovery techniques, won an industry award for a research paper, and spent years testing new technology in the field. I was always chasing whatever was newest. That’s how I ended up spotting lithium wells on mapping software before most people knew the industry existed.
Then a mentor changed the plan. I was enrolled for a Master’s in Engineering when they saw something I didn’t. That conversation ended with a sponsored MBA, and it shifted my entire trajectory: from understanding how things work to understanding how things get funded. I landed at an equity research firm covering oil and gas. Long hours, but I was locked in. Publishing research at midnight and watching executives act on it by morning is the kind of work that doesn’t feel like work. Then I watched capital flee the sector. That taught me more about markets than any textbook.
A connection led me abroad. A private equity role with a fund building solar and wind projects in emerging markets. Coming from oil and gas, I had to earn my way in. I learned how large energy projects actually get financed: the debt structures, the investor models, the mechanics that turn a concept into a power plant. Working on utility-scale solar overseas opened my eyes. Canadian pension funds were investing in the green economy abroad. Why did I have to leave Canada to work on this?
I wish I’d stayed longer, but the pace caught up with me. Years of long hours, constant travel, and back-to-back career moves had compounded. Family needed me present, not just productive. We moved back to North America. Even as one chapter closed, the relationships stayed. The work you do with people outlasts the work itself. Back in Calgary, I was still unsure whether I was an oil and gas person or a renewables person. Turns out that was the wrong question.
An economist posting caught my eye at what would become my longest role: the energy advocacy organization I’d eventually leave to write this post. I was one of the few quantitative thinkers in a room full of policy people. I helped build a research and data function, discovered Python as a force multiplier for lean teams, and learned how to translate technical complexity for policymakers and board members. When sustainable finance became a priority, I co-led initiatives that put me at the table where disclosure standards and investment frameworks were being shaped. After five years, I’d gained what I came for: the ability to work across operations, finance, and policy. It was time to figure out how to put all of it together.
Every role I’ve had followed the same pattern: find the newest thing, figure out how it works, make it useful. That instinct shows up outside of work too. Woodworking, 3D printing, Python, open source. It’s all the same muscle.
I’m interested in the space where energy, capital, and technology overlap. I think there’s room for sharper tools and clearer thinking there.
One question keeps coming back: why did I have to leave Canada for renewable energy experience? A country that builds autonomous haul trucks and pioneered some of the world’s most advanced extraction technology should be leading, not losing ground. There’s more to this story, and I want to help tell it.
I’m being deliberate about what comes next. I want to be in a room where technical depth and commercial thinking aren’t separate conversations.
This blog is where I’ll work through it: energy transition analysis, carbon market mechanics, the tools I’m building, and the questions I can’t stop asking. If any of this resonates, I’d welcome the conversation: [email protected].