Wood hires Stanley as Americas Operations President

Jess Stanley

John Wood Group, the Aberdeen-based global engineering and consulting giant, has appointed Jess Stanley as President of its Americas Operations, joining the business unit’s global leadership team.

As President of Wood’s Americas Operations business, Stanley will lead over 4,500 employees across the continental US, Canada, Latin America and Trinidad and Tobago delivering operations, maintenance and brownfield energy security solutions to Wood’s energy and materials clients.

Wood employs more than 35,000 people in about 60 countries.

Previously in commercial and operational executive roles for Shell Americas, Stanley brings 17 years of energy experience to Wood and is based in Houston, Texas.

She began her career with Shell in 2007 and has worked across Asia, Europe and the United States in a range of operational and commercial leadership roles including Vice President of Shell’s Pipeline Operations where she managed an operations and maintenance programme for US midstream spanning 3,000 miles of on and offshore crude oil, chemical, natural gas and refined products pipelines.

Stanley, a graduate of the University of Cambridge with a master’s degree in management from Stanford University,  said: “This is an exciting time to join Wood as we progress our three-year strategy and focus on delivering year-on-year growth in the US and wider Americas region.

“As we look to expand our Operations business and increase market share, I see a significant opportunity to high-grade our portfolio.

“Wood is a market leader in energy operations with a highly skilled and experienced workforce.

“Our ability to decarbonize client assets and provide digital solutions to increase efficiencies are key differentiators, and I’m thrilled to lead this business.”

Steve Nicol, Wood’s Executive President of Operations, said: “This is an important leadership appointment as the Americas continues to be a high-growth region for Wood.

“Jess brings highly valued front-line operational expertise, commercial acumen and global leadership experience to this role having worked across upstream, midstream and downstream markets.

“She is a strong new addition to my leadership team and will be focused on growing the solutions we bring to new and existing clients in oil and gas, power, chemicals and minerals.”