In 2019, Paul Leonard became president of operations for Wood's Americas business.
He is a seasoned energy industry professional with a proven track record in the delivery of major projects. BIC Magazine recently visited with Leonard to learn more about Wood's "amazing" team of people and his decision to relocate from Canada to Houston.
Paul Leonard, President of Operations — Americas, Wood
Q: What led to your position at Wood?
A: I joined Wood in 2014, managing our local office in Eastern Canada. Up until that point, I had spent most of my career in operational roles throughout North America. During my time in Eastern Canada, I took on a part-time role managing a major project for one of our clients, which became a full-time, two-year assignment. Once that concluded, the opportunity to take on this position arose, and I felt I was a good fit based on my experience in operations and with markets in the Americas. It was a great decision to relocate to Texas for a second time with my family and take on the challenge of this role.
Q: What is the most important part of your position?
A: We have an amazing team of people throughout North and South America, from Canada to Brazil. Supporting the people on our team and connecting all the great things we can do within operations and across the company globally are the most important parts of my position. If I can enable our people to use their talents to their fullest potential, then we will be the strongest partner for our clients.
Q: Are you looking to grow in new markets or expand in current ones?
A: We have a strong foundation in oil and gas, downstream and chemicals, and industrials and utilities in key regions. We are focusing on maintaining and improving those key relationships, while growing with new customers in new regions. Although those are our key markets, we leverage our capabilities in regions to grow into adjacent markets, like mining, food products and others. Our goal is to build strong and trusted partnerships with our clients and ensure they have dependable results.
Q: How do you plan to address changes in the workforce in the coming year?
A: As we are hopefully coming out of the pandemic and moving into an endemic state, I think it will be especially crucial to focus on the needs of our people and clients. For many within our teams, they have found a completely new way of working and have done it incredibly well. For our field-based teams, they have shown up every day for the past two years, regardless of what was going on around them, and relentlessly delivered. There probably hasn't been a time in history when strong engagement with our teams has been so important. Through that engagement, I really hope to help build an even stronger team going forward. That really requires an open understanding of what people need and want from their careers and their lives in general.
Q: How do you maintain a good work/home life balance?
A: I realize my work is part of my life, and it provides me an incredible opportunity to meet new people, develop new relationships and find solutions to new challenges. I don't like to think of it as something separate from the rest of my life. However, it does require me to prioritize my time so I can do the other things I enjoy. My wife and two kids always come first, and spending time with them is important to me. It helps that I am a routine-oriented and structured person by nature. I get up early every day and work out in a little gym I built in my garage. That is really the biggest thing I do for myself, and I prioritize that time because it gives me balance both mentally and physically.
For more information, visit www.woodplc.com or call (337) 205-1711.
