Face to Face
Greg Jones
Senior Vice President of Operations
Published June 2002

As part of Alyeska’s current restructuring, Greg Jones will be promoted from his current position as Senior Vice President of the Valdez Business Unit, where he oversaw the Valdez Marine Terminal and SERVS, Alyeska’s escort and spill response arm.

What does your new position entail and when does it take effect?

I’ll be responsible for all operations, baseline maintenance and right-of-way maintenance for the pipeline, as well as the Valdez Marine Terminal and SERVS. We anticipate the reorganization will take effect July 1.

How do you see this new structure?

First and foremost we’ll be able to give increased business focus to operations and maintenance. It’s actually a threepronged effort. The restructuring part is about improving coordination and delivery of work and cutting unnecessary costs from our work. Another part is systems renewal, which is simplifying and streamlining our processes and procedures. The third part is a process called strategic reconfiguration. The job there is to leverage technology to keep us competitive as the TAPS operator.

If you look at the strategic picture, everybody is looking for ways to improve cost structure to be competitive in a global market. Alyeska has a significant part in helping our Owner companies do so. However, we will not sacrifice operational discipline, and we must get our work done. At the same time, there are areas where we need to make things cost less than they do today. Identifying those areas is the challenge.

Are there any aspects of the job ahead that hold particular appeal to you?

I’m really looking forward to being a catalyst. We’re paying a lot of attention to people ‘getting’ it with respect to business focus and leadership. “Influence” management is important. You need to win people over to get things done instead of imposing your will. We can create a lot of synergies if people look at things that way. It takes the right kind of leadership to achieve our strategic plan. It’s about being the best-run pipeline anywhere. It also means having high performing employees. These are people who can do it all; they get the work done. They challenge, develop and reward their people. The work environment is positive and people can’t wait to go to work. For me, that’s what I really want to do – be a catalyst for people to get really charged up about their work.