Kirk Bartlett

Sales Manager, Subsea Canada FMC Technologies

Kirk is a Newfoundlander who grew up in Glovertown, a beautiful town bordering Terra Nova National Park. Kirk spent his youth focused on sports and competing across NL and Canada for multiple teams. Kirk went onto acquire a technical diploma in Petroleum Engineering from the College of the North Atlantic; a degree from Memorial University and currently working on obtaining his Master’s degree. He has spent the last 13 years in the oil and gas industry, working the first 8 years rotating into the field. After working in different areas such as Gulf of Mexico, Lybia, Canadian Arctic and offshore Newfoundland he transitioned into supervisory and management positions in St. John’s. As a Professional Technologist and Project Management Professional, Kirk is currently working with FMC Technologies in St. John’s as their Canada Sales Manager for Subsea Technologies Western Region. Kirk attributes where he is today to the support of his family and is very proud of his wife and five children. Kirk appreciates the fact that he has the opportunity to work close to his family; which gives him the pleasure of helping with and coaching their children’s activities. Kirk is highly dedicated to his family and work in St. John’s; however always excited to work with and travel to different regions and people around the World.

We asked Kirk:

The OGM: What does sustainability mean to you?

Kirk: For the industry, I feel sustainability is the pursuit and implementation of innovative business practices to ensure we are meeting the needs of the many stakeholders in this province. We must provide ways to maintain and grow our local workforce and ensure we are focused on needs of tomorrow; in turn, hopefully that would maintain and strengthen the culture of our rural communities throughout NL. I feel that we must work towards keeping that “NL identity” that the World has to come to know and love. Environmentally, we must implement techniques and regulations to ensure that we continue to minimize any environmental impact in the acquisition and utilization of our resources. As a province, as an industry, and as individual companies we must all continue to collaborate in ways that builds our capabilities for future requirements; and also market the information and data to enable continuous exploration, investment and development in our province.

The OGM: Have you had a mentor?

Kirk: I’ve always tried to learn as much as I could from the experienced people around me over the years, but recently I had Pat George with FMC (retired now) offer great help and advice over the last couple years. I certainly consider him a good friend and mentor.

The OGM: What does success mean to you?

Kirk: Success is definitely a dynamic perception and is very dependent on the areas of your life that you feel are most important at specific time. At this time in my life, in my current role and with a family of 7; I would have to say that success would be the ability to have a strong work – life balance; continuing to learn and progress within my career and also being there with my family at the end of day is very important to me to feel successful .

The OGM: If you were to describe your career in three words, what would they be?

Kirk: Dynamic; Challenging; Fun

The OGM: What advice would you give to someone looking for a career in the Energy Industry?

Kirk: Stay focused, positive and persistent in the search. When you find the job you like, work smart and hard; and show initiate and dedication. Be the person your company can trust and rely on.

The OGM: Describe a milestone in your career?

Kirk: One milestone that has the most influence on my career was definitely the move from field work to an onshore office position. Even though this transition brought its own challenges that both I and my family had to adjust to, it was really the beginning of how I’ve progressed into my current role. After a relatively short eight years working offshore NL, Gulf of Mexico, Africa and in the Canadian Arctic, the opportunity came up to take a supervisors’ role in the office. From there, I worked into a business development role focused on reservoir technology and after a couple more years doing that I’ve moved into the world of subsea as a Sales Manager with FMC. So the move from the field to the office was definitely a major milestone so far and it really changed the career path that I first expected to be in this industry.

The OGM: Describe a challenge you faced in your career?

Kirk: I’ve experienced challenges with equipment that had high impact to operations, rigs with 15 man rooms and food that made cereal look appetizing for 3 meals per day, cultural barriers, language barriers and even a period that I was between jobs; and I’m sure there are many that could relate to similar experiences. But besides those I would say the one thing that stands out was being offshore for the birth of our son, I know others that this has happened to as well, but listening over the phone to the hospital was not how I imagined it all happening. Both mom and baby were home and waiting when I managed to get back to land. Things like that really put in perspective what our offshore workforce sacrifice for their families and themselves to make all this possible.

The OGM: What impact does technology have on your career?

Kirk: I’ve been working with different technology my whole career, from instrumentation, data acquisition, drilling and completion equipment and now subsea production equipment. Technology is what my career is based on; I began as a user of this technology to now working and helping to develop the strategies and technologies to provide the right solutions for this region. FMC is a technology company with the equipment and solutions needed to explore, drill and develop offshore oil and gas fields. So technology plays an enormous part in our business, however, we must remain dedicated to providing these technologies as cost-effective solutions

The OGM: What do the next five years look like in your career?

Kirk: The near future looks very exciting, I’m optimistic that we can continue to grow our company’s capabilities and capacities here in NL, while continuing to work closely with industry here in NL to help further build its capabilities to meet the potential future demand. There are large opportunities for this area that companies in this region are focused on; it’ll be very interesting to watch, participate and help how our company, other companies and the NL industry respond and grow to meet the requirements of these potential opportunities

The OGM: Were you always interested in a career in Energy?

Kirk: No. I was very involved in sports as I grew up and in high school, so I was quite interested in Kinesiology or some other discipline in sports medicine when I graduated high school.

The OGM: What interests you to sustain a career in the Energy Industry?

Kirk: For me, when I look at the potential activity for this region that is really all I need to remain focused and motivated to stay in this industry. When we look at what is happening in our province with all the major projects and with the significant oil discoveries announced by Statoil Canada for Mizzen and Bay du Nord areas than that keeps me excited about the future in this industry. Also, Nalcor Energy and their seismic programs are now offering the data that will hopefully attract additional companies to invest in exploration activities in this region.

The OGM: Do you have a role model you look up to?

Kirk: I’d have to say my wife. Over the past few years she’s been able to work and complete an Arts Degree and a Social Worker Degree from Memorial University, while having a family of five children. Just goes to show that if you set your goals, stay focused and determined than anything is possible.

The OGM: What is your favorite APP on your phone?

Kirk: Too be honest, its probably kijiji or NL Classifieds. Enjoy browsing for a good deal.

The OGM: What impact will the Millennial Generation have on the Energy industry?

Kirk: We’ll have to wait and see, I still hear a lot of talk about our kids becoming firemen

The OGM: What’s your take on Social Media and our ever changing digital world?

Kirk: It’s a tool. Like all tools it can be used with the intent and purpose it was designed for or it can used otherwise. But it can be an efficient avenue to stay connected and well networked

The OGM: What Social Medium do you use on a daily basis?

Kirk: I have my facebook and linkedIn accounts, but I’m not a daily user.

The OGM: Do you use Social Media for work?

Kirk: No.

The OGM: What do you think of Social Recruiting?

Kirk: It’s fine, it provides the accessibility for both the recruiter and the work force to communicate with each other.

The OGM: Why do you love what you do?

Kirk: Its face paced and it definitely keeps you on your toes. So you have to be aware of the changes in the industry all the time. It gives me the opportunity to learn, work and travel with people from around the world and engage with the people in our local industry.