AC2001 Sherron Watkins Interview (Raw Video Clip) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Sharon Watkins s h e r r o n w a t k i
2. 0:05ns and what is your title vice president
3. 0:09okay in Broadband Inon Broadband
4. 0:11Services perfect now the real for the
5. 0:13analysts um can you just give us some
6. 0:15information about your background where
7. 0:16did you what did you do before you came
8. 0:17to Enron before I came to Enron I was
9. 0:20working for mg trade Finance Corp in New
10. 0:23York City mg was a competitor to what
11. 0:27was then Enron gas Services oil and gas
12. 0:29producer Finance group I was in charge
13. 0:32of maintain monitoring and maintaining
14. 0:35their well monitoring their um commodity
15. 0:38based portfolio of products sold
16. 0:43primarily to oil and gas producers
17. 0:45refiners and based metal mining
18. 0:46companies okay let's find a way to
19. 0:48shorten that okay um from the broad
20. 0:52picture what did you do not necessarily
21. 0:54where you were okay before you came to n
22. 0:56and you were managing I was managing a
23. 1:00commodity based Finance portfolio for a
24. 1:03New York based company providing oil and
25. 1:05gas um producer Finance refining finance
26. 1:09and base metal Mining Company Finance
27. 1:11products so that one again and start by
28. 1:13saying before I came Denine say the rest
29. 1:16was perf okay um before I came to Enron
30. 1:19at me okay before I came to Enron I was
31. 1:21working for a uh a commodity Finance
32. 1:24shop in New York City I was managing
33. 1:27their portfolio of commodity based
34. 1:30Finance products sold to oil and gas
35. 1:33producers refiners and base metal mining
36. 1:36companies perfect how many years have
37. 1:38you been in Enron I've been in Enron a
38. 1:41little over seven years can you look at
39. 1:42me in start okay um I've been at Enron a
40. 1:45little over seven years okay and what
41. 1:48are your current
42. 1:49responsibilities okay hold on let's wait
43. 1:51for the people to
44. 1:57walk ice could be very loud okay how
45. 2:00long have you been at I've been at Enron
46. 2:02a little over seven years and what are
47. 2:04your current responsibilities well I
48. 2:05transferred to Enron Broadband services
49. 2:08this past February and I'm currently
50. 2:10dedicated to our Global Network Services
51. 2:13Group the the Network Services Group
52. 2:16provides the majority of the long
53. 2:19positions that our Traders have in
54. 2:21bandwidth products they do buy from
55. 2:23other networks but but we are there the
56. 2:26physical asset side of
57. 2:28EBS the uh Traders and Originators are
58. 2:31breaking into this hugely inefficient
59. 2:34market and trying to force the current
60. 2:39fiber world to buy and sell their
61. 2:41products in a commodity like fashion um
62. 2:44they want transparent pricing they want
63. 2:46timely tiered quality of service
64. 2:48products we here at the Network Services
65. 2:50Group um help facilitate that we need to
66. 2:54have a dynamically sizable Network and
67. 2:57one that standardizes our service
68. 2:59offerings to help facilitate that
69. 3:01commoditization of our Network
70. 3:04capabilities my current responsibilities
71. 3:06are to help set up the systems and
72. 3:08processes that standardize those service
73. 3:11offerings okay all right let's talk
74. 3:14about your previous position we want to
75. 3:16know what skills you developed at EI
76. 3:19theyy over here and we're look we're
77. 3:21looking for specific skills the examples
78. 3:24of the transferability at work okay well
79. 3:27um I started at Enron um in INR Guest
80. 3:30Services managing the Jedi portfolio of
81. 3:33assets which was our 5050 investment
82. 3:36vehicle with cpers in 97 I moved into a
83. 3:40metals and Mining origination effort
84. 3:42that was internationally based and in 98
85. 3:45I moved into our mergers and
86. 3:46Acquisitions group focusing on Asia
87. 3:49Pacific all of my positions um I was
88. 3:52either managing an asset position or
89. 3:54acquiring an asset position that were
90. 3:57all commodity based with Rel related
91. 4:00physical and financial price risk
92. 4:01management products sold to our Trading
93. 4:04Group in my current role in the Network
94. 4:07Services Group we are trying to also
95. 4:10facilitate that sort of commoditization
96. 4:13of the fiber world and and so the the
97. 4:16skill sets transfer nicely because I've
98. 4:18seen the process work in the past I've
99. 4:20seen us
100. 4:23um I might have to
101. 4:25start great you're going the rightly
102. 4:28okay um I've seen Enron um charge into
103. 4:32inefficient markets in the past and
104. 4:35create efficient trading markets in the
105. 4:37international Arena we created efficient
106. 4:40trading markets in energy where none had
107. 4:42existed previously and we're trying to
108. 4:45do the same for the digital fiber
109. 4:46transport world or for the we're trying
110. 4:50to do the same for the digital transport
111. 4:51world can can we just say we do we say
112. 4:54trying or we are doing
113. 4:56it and we're doing the same I'd say
114. 4:58that's what we're doing trying to so um
115. 5:01we I've seen Enron charge into
116. 5:02inefficient markets okay um Enron chases
117. 5:06inefficient markets and tries to create
118. 5:09transparent pricing liquid markets we've
119. 5:12done it in oil and gas um we've done it
120. 5:14in certain International Arenas where we
121. 5:16came in and created efficient energy
122. 5:18trading markets where none had
123. 5:20previously existed and we're doing it in
124. 5:22the digital fiber transport World sure
125. 5:26that Wasing that was good I I I would I
126. 5:29like how you said the first time where
127. 5:30you said what you did as opposed to
128. 5:33Enron you
129. 5:35know okay in my prior positions at Enron
130. 5:39I've always had an asset position Focus
131. 5:42or a focus at acquiring assets all that
132. 5:45were commodity based with related
133. 5:47physical and price risk management
134. 5:49products sold to our Trading Group in
135. 5:51the Network Services Group I am trying
136. 5:54to standardize our network service
137. 5:56capabilities a fixed asset side into
138. 5:59products and services that can be
139. 6:01commoditized and sold into our Trading
140. 6:03Group as Enron makes efficient timely
141. 6:07tiered quality of service products
142. 6:09available in the digital transport
143. 6:12world you are good that's it that work
144. 6:15good okay good job the way that Enron
145. 6:19you're doing great you really are you're
146. 6:20earning your check
147. 6:21today the way that Enron mobilizes its
148. 6:24Workforce this this transferability you
149. 6:26know you get skills and people on the
150. 6:27week why do you think of that and why do
151. 6:29you think it gives Inon a competitive
152. 6:31Advantage um I think Enron has a
153. 6:34competitive Advantage for for two
154. 6:36reasons start okay um enron's enron's
155. 6:40people are amazing they're great to work
156. 6:42with the brainstorming sessions that go
157. 6:44on are just incredible um I think our
158. 6:47performance ranking um process has a lot
159. 6:49to do with that we are constantly
160. 6:52looking at how we're going to be
161. 6:53compared to our peer group and what have
162. 6:55we done in the last six months it keeps
163. 6:57everyone charging forward keeps that
164. 7:00sense of urgency and in the fiber world
165. 7:03it's exciting place to be I particularly
166. 7:06like the fact that I can take an energy
167. 7:07resume get hired by a Leading Edge
168. 7:10technology company in one of the most
169. 7:12exciting Industries to develop in the
170. 7:14last half
171. 7:16century I don't know do that last
172. 7:18sentence not awesome that's good that
173. 7:20works
174. 7:23um talking specifically about uh your
175. 7:27opinion of being able to move from place
176. 7:30to place what does that do for you
177. 7:31personally um being able to move within
178. 7:34different Departments of Enron keeps you
179. 7:37focused on it it builds an
180. 7:39entrepreneurial Spirit where else can
181. 7:42Enron grow its business what Market can
182. 7:44we Chase next if I come up with a good
183. 7:46idea can I be I'll be part of the team
184. 7:48that helps implement it um keeps you
185. 7:50always thinking because you know you're
186. 7:52your your job can change
187. 7:55tomorrow that's great um what do you
188. 7:58think of enra oh I love working here
189. 8:00it's great uh I don't I don't see any
190. 8:03other place where you could take an
191. 8:04energy resume get hired by a by a
192. 8:07technology company um it's it's a great
193. 8:10exciting business to be part of and I
194. 8:12think we can take that Inon business
195. 8:13model and and apply it to this
196. 8:16Marketplace do you think that you can
197. 8:18take the en business model and apply it
198. 8:20to many marketplaces many
199. 8:23Industries it it works for Enron adds
200. 8:26value and we're looking for products and
201. 8:28services that can be commodi ized and
202. 8:30and that's difficult to assess you have
203. 8:32to make sure that that the regulatory
204. 8:35environment the investing environment
205. 8:37the the the ability for a market to be
206. 8:40liquid is is there if it is if it is if
207. 8:44it is then let's make assumption that it
208. 8:46is can you make the statement to the
209. 8:48analyst that if it is andone can go in
210. 8:53and make the most of that market and one
211. 8:55of the reasons they can do that is
212. 8:56because the way it mobilizes Workforce
213. 8:58and uses the
214. 9:00something um yeah I can make a case for
215. 9:04Enron going into markets I think we also
216. 9:06want to analyze the volatility of that
217. 9:08market and the need for our price Risk
218. 9:10Management Services and our set of
219. 9:12skills and the way we slice and dice
220. 9:14risk let's assume that all that's there
221. 9:17all that's there let's assume that it's
222. 9:18all there what I'm looking to have the
223. 9:21analysts here is that we do this we take
224. 9:24this model and we extend it into
225. 9:27inefficiencies and we can do that
226. 9:29because we are we have amazing people
227. 9:30who have amassed these skills and are
228. 9:32ready to
229. 9:34go okay Al so I'm not following out the
230. 9:38lead in on how I start this
231. 9:44though I mean I I might be kind of
232. 9:46repeating myself but I can just say that
233. 9:48okay um you I've I I can visualize where
234. 9:52Enron wants to take our our Network
235. 9:55Services Group and where we want to take
236. 9:57our bandwidth Trading Group because
237. 9:59we've we've done it in the past we've
238. 10:01walked in and chased inefficient
239. 10:03marketplaces created transparent liquid
240. 10:06markets and I've seen it in the domestic
241. 10:09oil and I mean domestic gas and
242. 10:11electricity business I've seen it in
243. 10:13certain International Arenas that we
244. 10:14entered into in the mid to late 90s and
245. 10:17I believe we can do it in the in the
246. 10:18fiber
247. 10:19world do you believe that this
248. 10:22transferability of people has anything
249. 10:24to do with the ability to do it that's
250. 10:26not trying to make the link between the
251. 10:28mobilization and what applying the
252. 10:30business model the transferability of
253. 10:32people is is key to Enron being able to
254. 10:36uh inner markets that it hasn't been in
255. 10:38the past and create transparent liquid
256. 10:42pricing and markets and we're able to do
257. 10:44that because we take people that have
258. 10:46done it in the past you can visualize
259. 10:47where you want to go and and make it
260. 10:50happen because the people have the
261. 10:52skills because the people have the
262. 10:53skills they've seen it that was it that
263. 10:56it um and anything else that you the
264. 11:00analysts need to know about this this
265. 11:03people strategy that Enon uses anything
266. 11:06else you can think of you personally
267. 11:08would like them to
268. 11:10know well I don't know if it's a message
269. 11:13that we want to give um you edit it if
270. 11:16not okay yeah well I mean I just have an
271. 11:19observation about Enron when I started
272. 11:21seven years ago there were people in
273. 11:24charge of various groups and processes
274. 11:28that you know would still be in charge
275. 11:29in any other Fortune 100 company and
276. 11:31Enron stays stays hungry and and
277. 11:35continues to kind of highgrade people
278. 11:37and put them in charge of things when
279. 11:39they've maintained that sense of urgency
280. 11:41it's back to the ranking um process and
281. 11:45I think that always keeps um a fresh
282. 11:48look a new look an entrepreneurial look
283. 11:50going throughout Enron that doesn't
284. 11:52exist in other companies so other
285. 11:55companies would they come in and stay in
286. 11:56a position oh in any other companies
287. 11:58those same people would still be running
288. 11:59those shops and we'd be stagnant and we
289. 12:01wouldn't be attacking new markets
290. 12:04and we wouldn't make the progress that
291. 12:06we do so it's not that jettison these
292. 12:09people they're still here can we make
293. 12:11that point um but that's that's where I
294. 12:14don't even know whether you even want to
295. 12:15use
296. 12:16it um so it's not that everyone gets rid
297. 12:19of these people it's that it moves yeah
298. 12:21yeah and um and we're not talking about
299. 12:24um you know the people that that were in
300. 12:26charge of former projects moves move on
301. 12:28to other things their experience is
302. 12:29still valued they move on to new things
303. 12:32and new people move into into old roles
304. 12:35but with a fresh fresh
305. 12:37Viewpoint let's say that one one more
306. 12:39time because that was awesome but I
307. 12:40heard the elevator very that was great I
308. 12:43don't know if I can say that again it's
309. 12:45you know we move people okay into new
310. 12:47roles old new we move experienced people
311. 12:51into new roles so they can take their
312. 12:52perspectives into new markets and we
313. 12:55move the younger less experienced into
314. 12:57old roles but they bring a fresh new
315. 12:59perspective to the that old position but
316. 13:04I I love it I love anything else Sharon
317. 13:08you did a very very nice job very nice
318. 13:12okay thank you good
319. 13:15job get all
320. 13:17right for the trans