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Rosalind Kainyah & Arlene Chow: CFI Women Influencing Change
by Donna Ramsammy
Women belong in all places where decisions are being made” and in today’s world, some of the most important decision-making places are in the top 100 global financial institutions.
In July of this year, female leaders from the Energy Sector held their first Women-in-Energy Breakfast at the Brix Hotel on Thursday, as they hosted Ms. Rosalind Kainyah MBE who is a distinguished advisor on sustainability and socioeconomic impacts of business on society. The Breakfast was a collaboration between Donna Ramsammy and Sheldon Daniel, founders and consulting coaches of the popular Communicating For Influence (CFI) workshop series, and the Atlantic LNG Company.
Ms. Kainyah who was in Trinidad for a conference on ESG was special invitee at the gathering of some 25 executives and senior-level leaders from several companies including NGC, Atlantic, BP, Nutrien, Kenson, Heritage, Proman and DeNovo. Also present at the exchange were Pt. Fortin Mayor Ms. Saleema McCree-Thomas and members of her office who were special guests of Atlantic.
Ms. Kainyah explored the opportunities for women in energy to lead the way in creating a regional voice in the global discussions and decisions that impacted the future of Caribbean peoples. She urged the gathering to leverage their place at the table to influence policy and action within the sector. She also described her mission as “simplifying sustainability for businesses”, stressing that “sustainability initiatives must be tied to an organisation’s core business to ensure longevity and impact”.
Ms. Kainyah is an experienced professional non-executive director, chairing Governance, Remuneration, Nominations and Sustainability Board committees, and serves on Risk and Audit committees. She has over 30 years of international, legal, operational, executive and board experience in a variety of sectors, including energy, oil & gas, mining, infrastructure, private equity, financial services and manufacturing.
Kainyah has worked at a senior level for several international companies and organisations, including Linklaters, Anglo American, De Beers, Tullow Oil plc, the United Nations Environment Programme, University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Unit and ERM across Africa, Europe, the Americas, Asia and the South Pacific.
Last March, in recognition of International Women’s Day, Rosalind was among 21 women recognised by Reuters as leaders in the area of Sustainability, and who were “working to change the world of finance to better serve people and planet, inspiring the next generation of female leaders.” The agency also noted that “When it comes to high-level discussions on climate, studies show that women are significantly less likely than men to get a seat at the table”, despite the fact that women often shoulder the burden of climate inaction more than their male counterparts in society.
Kainyah told Reuters that she is motivated by three core beliefs. “Firstly, prosperous societies are achieved by pursuing justice and fairness for the marginalised. Secondly, by being good stewards of the environment and natural resources, we can meet our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. Finally, she believes in the transformative power of businesses to be successful and profitable whilst acting on her first two beliefs.
Her advice to the top 100 global financial institutions was "to avoid tokenism! Go beyond quotas and targets and focus on women as decision-makers and active agents in the global economy." When asked: "how can financial institutions get there?" she advocated "creating a culture of respect, equality, and inclusion that values diversity of thought and experience". The business sense (not that "one needs to make a business case for having half of the population equitably represented in any organisation"...) is simple: "In the words of the late Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Ruth Bader Ginsburg: “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made” and in today’s world, some of the most important decision-making places are in the top 100 global financial institutions."
At the Port of Spain Breakfast, specialist consultant in Strategic Communications and Ethical PR, Ms. Donna Ramsammy anchored an exchange of ideas on a number of topical issues including the future of hydrocarbon economies in the region, making ESG investments relevant to societal needs, and climate adaptation.
The women also honoured recently retired CEO of Heritage Ms. Arlene Chow who spoke passionately about the nature and quality of leadership needed for this phase of sector development.
In commenting on Atlantic’s involvement in the event, Toni Sirju-Ramnarine, former VP Corporate Operations & Transformation said, “This event was intended to take the discussion beyond the rhetoric of gender balance. It was about our work in the industry and creating the space for a real conversation about the developments in the sector and leading through the changes of climate impact, managing finite resources and bringing our perspectives to initiatives in ESG that need to be heard.”
Donna Ramsammy shared that the idea was actually seeded by Sheldon Daniel, who is also an Executive Coach with Myler-Campbell UK. She said, “This is an extension of the CFI training programmes. It is about creating intimate spaces for meaningful conversations, collaboration and cooperation among business leaders on important societal issues.”
Arlene Chow gave a moving speech on her experience in navigating roles within the sector, overcoming biases and the importance of resilience and collaboration as critical characteristics for success.
Arlene Chow – Sterling Stewardship
With over four decades of sterling contribution to the energy sector, the geologist and scientist Arlene Chow has had an exceptional leadership career in the industry. Prior to her retirement in 2023, she steered the state enterprise through its organizational rebuilding immediately after the closure of former Petrotrin.
The first and only woman in Trinidad and Tobago to head a national energy company, Arlene’s knowledge and significant contribution to the industry is shaped by an extensive career that began in 1982 as an Operations Geologist in Exploration and Production at Petrotrin, immediately after graduating with a B.Sc. (Hon) in Geology and Chemistry from the UWI, Mona, Jamaica. She quickly moved up the ranks to a Development Geologist, and Technical Specialist in Mapping and then Well information Systems, before moving on to energy major AMOCO Energy Company (T&T) Limited as Database Administrator, Gas Asset Management in 1998.
By 2000 she was promoted to the position of Head, Exploration & Production, Computer and information Systems prior to the company being acquired by BP plc. In 2001 Ms. Chow assumed the role of Subsurface Team Lead for Teak, Samaan Poui (TSP) in a historic recommissioning of a mature reservoir and ultimately sale of the asset. During that period, she developed Reservoir Management plans and a portfolio of prospects with a team of geoscientists and Engineers, to arrest field decline by applying new thinking and innovative technology to optimize performance for mature fields. This experience proved to be good preparation for her recent work at Heritage where she has led interventions in field decline and secondary recovery methods.
In 2005, bpTT appointed her Vice President Corporate Operations with responsibility for strategy, compliance and performance management for HSSE, Facilities Management and Information Technology and Services for Global operations, Infrastructure and Exploration & Production.
In 2009, Ms Chow moved to BP Alaska, first as North Slope Infrastructure manager, then as Head of Project Management and then to Area Operations Manager where she was accountable for leading 300 persons and 4 facilities in safety, compliance and operations efficiency. Her sterling performance in Alaska led her to the role of Chief of Staff for the Production Division, as Advisor and key support to the Executive Vice President’s Office in performance delivery in the areas of Standards/policies/processes, safety & operational risk.
On return to Trinidad in 2014, Ms. Chow was appointed to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Atlantic LNG, where she directed the organization through safe reliable and efficient operations, managing annual operating, production and capital expenditure budgets of over $300M USD annually and delivering revenues of over $1bn USD. She retired in 2018 from that position.
In 2019, then Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, the late Franklyn Khan had a vision for HPCL and urged Ms. Chow to come out of retirement to transition the organization to a profitable, lean and high-performing company. Initially committing to one year, she stayed for an additional three years to execute on a strategy to “Stabilize, Strengthen and Optimize” the company’s assets.
Distinguished by her low-keyed, straightforward and straight-talking management style, she is known to put the work and her people first. Throughout her career, she has maintained a deep commitment to her country, an unwavering connection to her home community of Sangre Grande, and a love for the simple life.
Speaking of her contribution to HPCL, chairman Michael Quamina said of Ms. Chow, “Arlene has been instrumental to the turnaround at Heritage. We have relied heavily on her industry knowledge and expertise in managing mature fields to actualize our vision for a viable and sustainable business. She has played a major role in shaping our plans for integrity upgrade and decommissioning of aging infrastructure, while at the same time leveraging technology and innovation to optimize production. She has delivered immense value to the company and, in doing so, has provided sterling service to the country as we seek to maximize value from our hydrocarbon resources.”
In September 2024, the CFI will hold its second Womenin-Energy Breakfast, bringing another international speaker into this influential circle of contributors to the energy sector.
