05 - Chris Bakker
Episode description
Chris Bakker has over 20 years of access experience in the oil and gas and mining sectors. In today’s episode, he breaks down lessons he’s learned and experiences he’s had that have shaped how he approaches business with his company Avanti Energy.
In 2002/2003 Chris worked in Eastern Europe, specifically in Romania, where he says things worked in a manner that was 180 degrees different from how they work here. That eye-opening experience taught him to very much consider the culture and communities he was working in, to take into account their history and background. He relates specific experiences with Chad Hughes and they discuss how this positively influenced his outlook.
Throughout Chris’ career he’s focused on honesty, transparency, and consistency in terms of his work philosophy. He explains why those values are important and how they apply directly to the work he does. He talks about some of the trendsetting work he did with the Cut Bank project and how managing people’s disparate needs can come down to the idea of “position versus interest”. He is currently infusing his desire for thoughtful and honest culture into the Avanti Energy team structure while spearheading soon-to-be-revealed projects he is truly passionate about.
“What’s really worked well as a philosophy is ‘Treat everybody like you’re going to see them again’ because you probably are.” - Chris Bakker
Resources mentioned in this episode:
About Chris Bakker
Chris Bakker has over two decades of experience in oil and gas, most recently working as a commercial negotiator with Encana/Ovintiv for major facilities and pipelines in the Montney gas play. His expertise includes all facets of Natural Gas Exploration like land acquisition, exploration, drilling, well production and facility integration and construction. Prior to Avanti, Mr. Bakker co-founded Terrelium Resources as a pure-play helium company.
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Chad Hughes | CEO, Entrepreneurial Leader, Author: website | linkedin
Chris Bakker | CEO, Avanti Energy: website | twitter | linkedin