WIOG is an organisation committed to promoting diversity, and the career advancement of women, in the Oil & Gas industry.

Veena Mendez is currently the Category Team Leader for Logistics at Chevron Australia and the Founder and Chair for Women in Oil and Gas (WIOG) – an industry forum. Veena graduated with a B.A (Hons) in International Business Administration (U.K) and has subsequently obtained a Master of Business Administration (U.K) and a Master of Logistics in Supply Chain Management (WA). Veena holds a board position with the Society of Petroleum Engineers WA- the largest individual-member organisation serving managers, engineers, scientists and other professionals worldwide in the upstream segment of the oil and gas industry. She is involved in the AWRA initiative of the Australian Minerals and Metals Association – that uses the funding provided by the Federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) through its Critical Skills Investment Fund to implement strategies and services that support recommendation 5.5 of the National Resource Sector Workforce Strategy. Veena has also been voted as one of the Top 20 Gas Leaders of Australia 2015 , the winner of 2015 AMMA Young Professional Award and has been inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015 as one of Australia’s ‘100 Most Influential Women’.

DR. BERNARDO A.
LEÓN DE LA BARRA
Advisory Council Members

DR. LINLEY LORD
Advisory Council Members

DR. SALLY MALE
Advisory Council Members

Dr Bernardo A. León de la Barra has been one of the main driving forces behind the Integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education movement in Tasmania. His Integrated STEM education work has been funded locally, nationally and internationally, and seeks to highlight and promote the importance of STEM education for Tasmania and Australia’s future. Bernardo’s research interests include K-12 Integrated STEM education and its role in attracting more girls and students from low SES, regional and rural communities to the STEM fields.

Linley Lord is an Associate Professor and the Chair of Academic Board at Curtin University. She is also the Academic Director for the Curtin Leadership Centre and the Director of the Maureen Bickley Centre for Women in Leadership (MBC) at Curtin’s Graduate School of Business. The MBC was established in March 2008 within the Curtin Graduate School of Business to promote and enable the increased representation of women in leadership roles. Linley’s current research interests include women in non-traditional areas of employment, women’s experience in leadership roles, new models of leadership, and women on boards (corporate and university boards). Linley has presented her research at key international conferences in Europe, the UK and the US. She is a member of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy (WA) Women in Resources Reference Group and has been a sessional member of the State Administrative Tribunal since its inception in 2005.

Dr Sally Male is a Research Associate Professor in the School of Electrical, Electronic, and Computer Engineering at the University of Western Australia (UWA). Sally undertakes research in two related fields: 1) engineering education with a focus on closing the gap between engineering education and engineering practice and 2) gender inclusivity in engineering. Sally has written over 20 refereed publications. She combines her background in electrical engineering with a PhD on competencies required by engineers in the workplace and extensive experience improving the status of women in engineering. In her research Sally uses qualitative and quantitative methods. Sally is an experienced workshop facilitator, having held workshops for students, academics, engineers, and managers. Sally is Western Australian Convenor of the Women in Science Enquiry Network.

BERNADETTE CULLINANE
Board Member

MEGAN HOLDT
Board Member

MELISSA GROVE
Board Member

Bernadette is Deloitte’s Australian Oil, Gas and Global LNG Leader. She has more than 25 years of experience across the oil and gas value chain and all stages of the capital project to operations lifecycle. She has worked with companies in the upstream, downstream, midstream, LNG and trading segments as well as in conventional and unconventional oil and gas.

Bernadette is focused on supporting Australian and international companies transition their world-class integrated assets from capital project to operations phase and reduce cost, improve business performance and grow.

Bernadette is a Fellow of Engineers Australia. She is an active presenter at oil and gas industry conferences and frequently writes about the competitiveness of Australian oil and gas industry. She is a Director of METS Ignited, the Industry Growth Centre for the mining equipment and technology services sector and Chair of the METS Ignited Audit Committee. She is the co-founder and leader of the Energy Industry Collaboration Group, an organisation comprised of more than 30 service sector and operator companies focused on increasing collaboration and the competitiveness of the Australian oil and gas industry.

Throughout her career Bernadette has held a number of senior roles in the oil and gas sector including with Exxon Company International, Esso Singapore and Accenture.

Bernadette has an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York City, and has BS and MS degrees in Chemical Engineering.

Megan is an Earth Scientist in the Wheatstone Subsurface team at Chevron Australia. She has six years of experience in the oil and gas industry and has worked in both exploration and development roles.

Together with a dedicated committee, Megan manages the events for WIOG, including panel discussions, networking and workshops. These events create a dialogue to promote diversity and inclusion, and support women to reach their career aspirations.

Megan is passionate about increasing the diversity of students choosing careers in STEM and is involved as a mentor in the Women in Future Leadership Program and the Aboriginal School Scholarship Program at Chevron.

Melissa Grove is a qualified Chartered Accountant registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (ICAANZ) and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). She completed her degree at the University of Western Australia majoring in Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting and Corporate Finance.

Her experience is broad, completing her Chartered Accountant training at Deloitte Australia and subsequently worked with Deloitte South Africa. Within her role at Deloitte South Africa, Melissa was an active part of transformation initiatives for the organisation. She was the Manager responsible for initiatives such as ABASA (Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants South Africa), and as part of AWCA (African Women Chartered Accountants) where she was a Board Member from November 2009 to June 2010, and remained an Active Committee member thereafter as the Western Cape Regional Leader. Melissa enjoyed a period experiencing the commercial environment in South Africa before returning to Deloitte Australia as Client Manager in Assurance & Advisory.

Melissa joined the energy industry in 2013 as part of Chevron. She has had several Finance roles across the organisation including for the Wheatstone Project and more recently Barrow Island Oil (also known as WA Oil). She is passionate about people and development, with a keen interest in supporting diversity. At Chevron, she has contributed to the development of the Aboriginal engagement strategy and is a member of the Boola Moort Committee, which promotes understanding of the Aboriginal culture.

During her downtime, she loves to spend time with her family and travel.

DESIRE FERREIRA
Committee Member

KATIE GOTHARD-LEIGH
Committee Member

EMMA BRITTON
Committee Member

Desire is a qualified Chartered Accountant (CA) registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (ICAANZ). She completed her bachelor degree in International Business Management (Ecuador) and Masters in Accounting (WA). She has a diverse background and expertise spanning over 6 years combined experience in financial management and analytical support in a project-based environment. She is currently employed at Energy Developments as a Project Accountant for the Project Delivery team. Her industry experience includes oil & gas, energy and ship building.

Desire manages the membership team focused on bringing together like-minded professionals in the industry to exchange information, ideas, solutions as well as promoting fellowship and a better understanding of inclusive workplace cultures. Being from a diverse cultural and linguistic background, Desire is an active advocate for a working environment that values skills and expertise over gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation and other differences.

She is also an emerging oil artist specialising in impressionism.

Katie is a Construction lawyer working in the Global Disputes Team at Jones Day. She has over 6 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, having been involved in disputes on a variety of major projects throughout Australia. Katie also works closely with a range of clients in the oil and gas industry, providing strategic advice in relation to commercial and legal issues.

Katie is a member of the mentoring subcommittee for WIOG. Mentoring is an area about which Katie is extremely passionate, having gained great benefits from formal and informal mentoring arrangements over the past 10 years (both as a mentor and a mentee). Katie believes mentoring is of particular importance for young women working in typically male-dominated industries. She is keen to be involved in advancing career opportunities and creating positive networks for women working in oil and gas, through their participation in the WIOG program

Emma is a public relations consultant at leading strategic communications firm Cannings Purple, and provides high quality and personalised communication advice to clients across resources, corporate and professional services sectors.

She assists Women in Oil & Gas with ongoing marketing and communication support and manages the WIOG social media accounts, with a vision to spread WIOG’s message and further promote its great initiatives.

Emma is a strong advocate for gender diversity and inclusion across the business sector and works with the WIOG committee to champion change in oil and gas related businesses across Perth. She believes that everyone has the power to implement change in the workplace no matter how big or small, and that it takes all of us to truly change the status quo.

EVELENE RAJ
Committee Member

SARAH BLYDE
Committee Member

Evelene is a Subsea Engineer at Woodside Energy. She has been in the oil and gas industry for three years and is currently working in the Development Planning environment.

As part of the committee, Evelene assists in organising events for WIOG and ensuring the events run smoothly on the day. WIOG events provide a platform for conversations around gender equality and they support women in the industry by enabling them to form networks with other WIOG members.

Evelene is passionate about equality and inclusion in the industry. She is involved in the Gender Equality Matters committee at Woodside and is also part of the Women in Subsea Engineering committee. Being part of these committees allows her to contribute to the equality movement on different fronts.

Sarah Blyde is a graduate engineer at Woodside Energy, currently working in the Browse Subsurface team.

Sarah has been on the Women in Oil and Gas committee for the past two years and is responsible for managing our social media platforms and website. Sarah is passionate about diversity in the workplace and has a particular interest in promoting STEM in schools.

Sarah moved to Perth from Auckland, New Zealand in 2016. She enjoys the active lifestyle and warmer weather, but misses the lakes and mountains back home. She is a keen runner, budding triathlete and recreational water skiier.