There are a host of issues facing the midstream industry and GPA Midstream has an abundance of volunteer committees to tackle everything from technical issues to advocating in the halls of government.
There are more than a dozen committee meetings scheduled during the GPA Midstream Convention Sept. 22-25 in San Antonio, with most open for any member to attend.
G.K. Chesterton wrote, “I’ve searched all the parks in all the cities and found no statues of committees.” While Chesterton likely intended to disparage committees and boost the role of the individual, his line points out the humility it takes for people to together to solve problems while leaving egos and titles at the door.
“It’s worth the knowledge you get from speaking with people from different viewpoints,” said Brandie Disbrow, GPA Midstream Director of Midstream Activities. “You get that camaraderie or meeting of the minds. You’ll be in the committee with like-minded people and it’s educational.”
Getting involved is easy. Disbrow said members can show up to a committee meeting during the convention, listen in, learn, ask questions and share thoughts. Members also can go to the GPA Midstream website and select “Committees” from the dropdown menu under “Membership.” Each volunteer committee has a staff liaison to contact, information about the role of the group and a list of its leaders.
There are a handful of elected or appointed committees, but most are volunteer based including five advocacy committees, seven technical, as well as committees for communications, safety and the annual convention program. GPSA also has advocacy, membership and mentor/mentee committees.
Disbrow, who is staff liaison to the Safety Committee, said almost every member company has a representative on the committee along with several from GPSA companies for a total of more than 80 members.
Some just come to listen and keep up with developments and best practices, while others are more deeply involved in the process and attend February and May meetings along with the convention meeting, she said. Members also can send in questions anonymously in advance of the meeting so the roomful of professionals can put their heads together and deal with things like exhaust levels.
While it can be good for a new committee member to sit in, participation in the work groups on the committee are vitally important, said Martin Erne, GPA Midstream Vice President of Technical Services. “Some committees have more ideas for work than people to do the work,” he said.
Erne said active committee members often recruit new members from other companies and vendors and ask specific operators to get involved in a group.
Erne and Disbrow both said GPA Midstream members should set aside reluctance to join committees because they feel they’re new to the industry and worry they’ll be out of place among people with decades of experience.
“We need people of different levels involved, so a document produced by the committee can reflect more than just a subject matter expert with 20 years of experience,” Erne said. “The committee is supposed to be a resource for everybody.”
Rick Seaver, chair of the Integrity Committee and Mechanical Integrity Principal Engineer at Williams, said he finds more interest in getting things done for the industry at the GPA Midstream Convention than most organizations he is involved in.
The Integrity Committee, which spun out of the Facilities Committee to address long-term safety and asset longevity issues, has grown from nearly 40 members when it launched five years ago to about 100 members who show up for the meetings.
“We get good attendance, but one of the big problems we have is that some people get intimidated because they have less experience,” Seaver said. “But we can mentor people, and I still learn something new from people even if they’ve been out of college for a year. They look at things differently.”
One benefit for younger professionals: when people new to the industry join a committee “they get 50 mentors instead of maybe one or two at their company.”
Disbrow said midstream professionals approaching retirement are reaching out more to younger colleagues in their companies or others in the industry to encourage them to join committees. It’s all a part of being a mentor, getting involved for the sake of the company, career and giving back.
“Whatever your role is within a company, you should really join a committee in that area,” Disbrow said. “It’s helpful for you, the committee, and for the industry as a whole.”
Click here to register for the GPA Midstream Convention. Don’t wait — registration fees increase on August 21.
