Brown is setting the standard in her role with IOGP

摘要

EXOTIC wildlife is a theme that runs throughout Wendy Brown's upbringing, from her birthplace Brunei to Gabon, Nigeria and Malaysia. "In Nigeria, I was water-skiing in the harbour in Lagos, and there were crocodiles," says Brown, environment director with the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP). "In Gabon, in Libreville, we had hippos at the bottom of the garden, and nodding donkeys everywhere," she adds. The latter, of course, refers to the oilfield pumps that dotted the landscape of the West African nation, and a nod to the other theme that runs through Brown's life. She was born into an "all-industry family", with a father who was a lifelong Shell employee and grandfathers on both sides who worked in oil and gas. Brown chose to follow a different path when she opted to study biology at Bristol University in the UK. But she soon gravitated to the industry, working for a dozen years as an environmental consultant in Aberdeen before joining Total as a senior environmentalist in 2001.