After providing environmental compliance technical support for a large intermediates chemical manufacturer, Jerry Duke joined PSC this year as its new director of business development. BIC Magazine recently sat down with Duke to learn more about how he plans to apply his experience to the program he'll be spearheading in his new position.
Q: What led to your position at PSC?
A: With its acquisition of Guardian/ Seal Tech, I was excited to see the direction PSC was going with emissions management. Combining Guardian/Seal Tech, the largest leak detection and repair service provider, with PSC's maintenance emissions management created a great opportunity to merge environmental services that are often fragmented. Before joining PSC, I saw firsthand how environmental professionals work to manage compliance, from juggling several service providers to receiving data sets from different directions and in different formats. What really interested me is the opportunity to bring all that together by creating synergies, efficiencies, and new technologies.
Q: What is the biggest news at PSC right now?
A: The CLEAR (Compliance, Leaks, Emissions, Action & Repair) initiative is my focus and falls right into my wheelhouse. Our customers have such complex facilities, large and small, and the compliance obligations are challenging not only technically but logistically as well. For example, a maintenance, start-up and shutdown project may utilize a thermal oxidizer, vacuum trucks, cleaning equipment, and need various inspections throughout the project. That owner may interface with three to five different vendors, manage logistics, deal with all the permitting and ensure the safety of all these different entities. With the CLEAR program, you have one provider, PSC, managing all these tasks, one report and one common goal: ensuring compliance by creating the best value and leveraging knowledge and synergies.
Q: What is your best management tactic?
A: I've learned to really value people, work to understand what they're trying to accomplish and treat them how I would want to be treated. Most everyone wants to be successful, accomplish something to be proud of and generally do a good job. It's also important to identify when someone is having a bad day, doesn't understand a supervisor's vision or just needs help getting the ball to the finish line. That's when getting to know and understand people is paramount to being successful in the refining and petrochemical business.
Q: Do you have a favorite quote?
A: "A smart man believes half of what people say about him; a wise man knows which half to believe." -- Unknown. It's easy to allow what we hear to shape future decisions, and it forces me to be humble and learn from constructive criticism. I've learned that when I listen to accolades from successes, I tend to rely on my own knowledge and understanding instead of searching for the best knowledge for the next decision. These are hard lessons to learn -- lessons on team work, appreciating the truth even if it hurts and knowing when to say, "I don't know, but I'll find out."
Q: How do you maintain a good work/home life balance?
A: This is tough. With the roles I've had, there's always been travel, on-call duties, or large projects and distractions that demand my attention. Fortunately, I have a wonderful wife who reminds me when I'm home, I need to "be at home." Putting the importance of family into perspective and putting them first helps me maintain the balance. I guess the answer would be, when I'm home, to disconnect from work and just be at home.
For more information, visit www.psc now.com or call (713) 623-8777.
