Christina's H&P Journey
Christina Kelly attended Oral Roberts University and earned a degree in management. She went on to get her MBA from Northeastern State University – Broken Arrow in business management. Both of those degrees have served her well in project management roles.
Before joining H&P, she was in a project manager role for a small business in Tulsa that conducted flight simulation modifications for the military. Project management encapsulated all the fun parts of what she learned in college, she said.
As someone from the Tulsa area she had always heard good things about H&P. When she first interviewed, she was curious about the fact that so many people enjoyed working at H&P. After a month of working at H&P, she understood why it is such a great company.
“I’ve never worked someplace that is so supportive especially from upper leadership levels,” she said. “Nothing is ever perfect, but H&P employees by and far are invested in the success of the company and their colleagues. It’s rare to see this type of collaboration and interest across teams.”
Two of Kelly’s managers have been foundational to her experience. Kim Mulligan, senior manager of portfolio projects, and Miya Boyken, director, enterprise program management office, have both been influential mentors to Kelly.
“I’ve learned so much from them over the last four years - more than the rest of my career combined,” she said. “I have learned different insights from each one, but they have both been so influential to where I am today.”
She started at H&P in July of 2019 as an enterprise resource planning (ERP) project manager. She has recently been promoted from a principal project manager to program manager but much of her day-to-day will remain familiar.
“My job is to help tackle complex tasks with a lot of moving people and parts,” she said. “I’m in a lot of meetings throughout the day to connect with stakeholders on project teams. My goal is to try and make sure whatever projects we are working on as a company are moving toward the finish line.”
Kelly is also the president of the Women of H&P Employee Resource Group (ERG) group this year. The group started two months before she joined H&P, which really piqued her interest.
“I remember that first meeting,” she said. “My previous company was also a very male-dominated field, so I was used to being the only woman in the room. During that first meeting, Cori Nell talked about drilling 101 and what H&P does, as well as our products. It was great because I was new to the oil and gas industry.”
The best part for Kelly however was the fact that there were so many women socializing. In that room she was validated by a built-in support system for her journey at H&P.
In June 2021, she applied for an officer position for the Women of H&P and accepted the administrator role for the group in 2022. The same year she also attended the Women’s Energy Network of Greater Oklahoma conference.
“I walked away (from the conference) with so many ideas and inspiration to advance the Women of H&P,” she said.
Originally, she was to act as the vice president this year but due to some personnel changes she is now the president. This year, the group expanded the officer team because of the participation from the search of finding a new vice president. Future plans for the group include an overall group refresh, creating a Global Women’s Council at H&P and tying in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion counsel.