Meet YP, our avid volunteer and YP Board member, Danny Marquez

1. Meet SPE GCS-YP
1. Three things most people don’t know about you?
I have had the opportunity to visit 40+ countries (this didn’t begin until my junior year of
college), I lost the 4th grade spelling bee, I’m an avid reader, and I speak English, Spanish,
and French.
2. If you could meet anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be and why?
I would really enjoy sitting down with Jack Welch and getting into the details of his journey
at GE. What he did for that company is nothing short of extraordinary, and the part that most
fascinates me is how he made GE a powerhouse for producing great leaders and managers.
His leadership philosophy permeated throughout the company, and he cultivated the culture
that exists there today. I’d love to hear about his story and any advice he has for someone
who wants to develop more as a leader.
3. What book, movie or video have you seen/read recently you would recommend? Why?
I recently saw The Martian and while I didn’t think the idea of one person stuck on a planet
would be particularly interesting I was blown away by the end. The journey he undergoes
surviving in Mars is inspiring and motivating. While none of us are going to be stuck on Mars
anytime soon (Hello Elon Musk), the takeaways from the movie are resilience, perseverance,
and solid engineering can get you out of any hole (or planet) you’re in!
4. What is your biggest challenge at work?
One of the biggest challenges at work is overcoming the silos that inadvertently sprout up in
any corporation. Cross-departmental communication is an area in which I see much room for
improvement. Since many engineering departments (completions, production, technology,
reservoir, etc) have their own opinions and ideas on what is best for the company, it’s proven
difficult getting them all to agree. However, the current slowdown has had a silver lining
effect on this issue. I have seen an improvement in the communication and data exchange
between functions and I hope it will continue into the future.
Danny Marquez
Continuous Improvement &
Completions Engineer at BHP
Billiton