After 28 years with Texaco and ChevronTexaco, Texan Jim Houck yearned for a monumental challenge.

And Houck got exactly what he bargained for when he was named in April as CEO of Western Oil Sands Inc., one of the major players in the Alberta oilsands.

Western, a 20-per-cent partner in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project joint venture with Shell Canada and Chevron Canada, is a company with a $3-billion market cap and a stake in one of the world's largest oil deposits.

Although he's a rookie CEO, Houck is no stranger to the leadership ranks. He was once a first lieutenant in the U.S. army and honed his management skills at ChevronTexaco, where he was president of the $2-billion US worldwide power and gasification division before it was sold to General Electric two years ago.

Larry MacDougal, Business Edge
Jim Houck is taking a bull by the horns in his role as president and CEO of Calgary-based Western Oil Sands Inc.

1. What was your boyhood dream?

"I've always been a creator and builder, so I always wanted to be an engineer from the time I was in elementary school. My father was a letter carrier, but was disabled after World War II and my mother was a nurse. So I was fortunate to go to college on a full scholarship. I went to Trinity University, which is a good engineering school, on a full scholarship so I could be an engineer, building and creating things. And that's what I've been doing most of my career."

2. What career options did you have after graduating from university?

"I had a military obligation when I graduated and also had several offers, most of which were in the energy industry. I accepted a position with Texaco in Houston and started working as an engineer in 1970."

3. How long were you in the U.S. military, and what was that experience like?

"I ended up serving eight years in the military - one year of active duty and seven years in the reserves. I was slated to go to Vietnam, but things started to wind down in Vietnam. I think one of the things that military training gives you is leadership skills. I think a lot of my leadership skills were honed during those years. I was a first lieutenant when I completed my obligation in the military. I learned a lot in the military, and I think it's important to serve your country. But it was really business that was my first love."

4. How do you reflect on your 28-year career with Texaco and ChevronTexaco (the company formed after a merger)?

"I think my early career at Texaco gave me the opportunity to see the importance of technology when applied to operations, and I think that still applies today. It was a company with good people, it was a very ethical company and it was an entrepreneurial company. If you had ideas to grow the businesses, whether it was technology-based or expanding the business or bringing new production onstream, they encouraged that in their leaders."

5. Why did you leave ChevronTexaco in 2003?

"I was running the power & gasification business unit. After Texaco's merger with Chevron, there had to be some hard choices on what businesses the company was going to keep or sell. Strategically, the decision was made by ChevronTexaco's senior management to exit the gasification business and sell that business. General Electric bought that business, and then I worked with General Electric as a consultant to help them purchase that business."

6. Did you consider staying with General Electric?

"There was a discussion about that, but I'd run that business unit for six years and I was ready to move on to some other things."

7. What attracted you to move to Western Oil Sands as CEO?

"Initially, when we began discussions, I was interested in Western because of the entrepreneurial spirit and the value that had been created for its shareholders by the founding group of individuals led by Guy Turcotte. I was busy in Houston working as a principal in a (investment) group called FrontStreet Partners. The opportunity came along, and the more I talked to the leadership of Western, the more I came to admire what the leadership had accomplished in creating shareholder value and growing this company. The more I looked at this opportunity, I thought there was a growth proposition and a value proposition at Western that was unequalled."

8. What else appealed to you about this opportunity?

"There was an opportunity to become president and CEO of a publicly traded corporation that was in a growth mode. That interested me immensely. I'm glad the board ultimately chose me for the position because I know they did a pretty extensive search. It was kind of a natural fit for my background. I think one of the people on the search committee said that my background was right down the fairway of what Western needed to move to the next stages."

9. What are your main priorities in your first year in running the company?

"The first priority is creation of shareholder value, and I think that falls into three general strategy areas. The first area to focus on is bringing operational excellence for the existing assets that we have with our good world-class joint-venture partners Shell Canada and ChevronTexaco, optimize those assets and deliver reliable, sustainable, predictable financial results. The second strategic area is the growth proposition around those assets, and I'm referring specifically to the Athabasca Oil Sands Project. There are a series of expansions that we're excited about in terms of continued development there, which will take production from existing assets, which are about 155,000 barrels a day (in bitumen production) on a gross basis for all three owners, up to a target of 500,000 barrels a day - which we hope to exceed. That will come on in a series of 90,000- to 100,000-barrel-a-day steps. The third area of focus is on looking at where Western can grow strategically other than the Athabasca Oil Sands Project."

10. Where do you see the growth potential beyond the Athabasca project?

"Certainly, we want to take our core competencies in the oilsands, and try to build on those core competencies for heavy oil applications."

11. Do you see Western moving beyond the oilsands?

"Well, this is a very opportunistic culture here with a lot of entrepreneurial spirit and we have an ongoing business development set of activities to look at opportunities, and we'll continue that process and bring discipline around that process in trying to examine where we think there might be value propositions for our shareholders."

12. What's your greatest fear in developing the Athabasca Oil Sands Project in terms of the obstacles you may encounter?

"One of the challenges is the application of technology.

I think there's a lot of opportunity to optimize the assets and deliver more than what we've promised. I think technology is the answer to that. I'm really keen on the application of technology of existing assets to optimize operational excellence. One of my many positions in the Texaco organization was president of Texaco Development Corp., which had all the intellectual property of the corporation. So I've looked at all business opportunities and the applications for those opportunities. I'm hoping to bring that experience to Western and to the joint venture."

13. Do you think the investment community has fully grasped the significance of the oilsands to future world supplies?

"I think there is a growing realization of the importance of Alberta's and Canada's contribution to the overall supply/demand macroeconomics from North America and the world. And there's no question that the oilsands is looked upon as a major contributor to world oil supplies."

14. Is a royalty trust model something that Western might consider down the road?

"You never say never, but I would say that right now we think our value proposition is a growth proposition to add production and value. And I think that our existing equity model right now is the right model for the near-term."

15. What's your view of the environmental costs of the oilsands and what your company can do to minimize that impact?

"I think that environmental health and safety should never be compromised. In all of our endeavours, I know that we're interested in being very good contributors to environmental health and safety, and we're very cognizant of being good corporate citizens."

16. How would you describe your leadership style?

"I would describe it as very participatory. I believe that it's teams that make things happen. If you're going to build anything, whether it's a bridge ... or these big capital projects, it's all the result of a team effort. So I think a core competency to being successful with major endeavours is being a good partner. What being a good partner means is recognizing that it's teams that make things happen. And you want to be a good partner not only with your other equity partners, but in a broader sense with the communities and the government you're working with for the common purpose of building a safe project that adds jobs and that adds value back to community."

17. What's the transition been like for you moving from Houston to Calgary?

"Calgary's a great place. It starts with the people here.

The people have been very warm and accepting. I've travelled here on business while in the energy business several times, and have always thought very well of Calgary and the energy sector. It has always been considered a choice assignment. My expectations have been exceeded with respect to the warmth and welcome of the community."

18. Ideally, how long do you wish to remain CEO of Western Oil Sands?

"I serve at the discretion of the board and I plan to work as long as the board deems my services as necessary. My wife (Pamela) and I are looking forward to becoming involved in Calgary and finding a place where we can add value back to the community, too."

19. What other goals do you have beyond business?

"I'm very blessed. I have three sons who are grown, well educated and happy in what they're doing. I've been blessed with a wife who enjoys travel and enjoys working in the community. Generally, in most communities we're a part of, we try to find some place where we can add value back to the community. We're going to search and find that in Calgary. My wife was on the board of the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation in Houston, and I think we'll try to find some way to give back to the community here once I kind of learn my way around the job."

20. When you reflect on your career, is there anything you'd do differently?

"That's a tough one. I've been really blessed. I'm one of the luckiest guys in the world. I came from a very, very modest background socioeconomically in San Antonio, I've seen a lot of countries and I've built projects all over the world. I don't have a whole lot of regrets."

Jim Houck

* Title: President/CEO, Western Oil Sands Inc.

* Born/raised/age: San Antonio, Tex./57.

* Education: Trinity University (San Antonio), bachelor's degree in engineering science; University of Houston, MBA.

* Family: Wife Pamela, three children.

* Career: Houck boasts 35 years in the oil and gas industry, including 28 years with Texaco and ChevronTexaco. His experience spans numerous facets of the industry, including global gas and power, business development, research and development, finance and strategic planning. He was president of ChevronTexaco's worldwide power and gasification division when he left that company in 2003. He was a principal with FrontStreet Partners, a U.S. investment firm, when named president and CEO of Western Oil Sands in April.

* Pastimes: Museums, opera, foreign movies, travel.

* Last book read: Paris 1919.

Western Oil Sands Inc.

* Brass: Guy Turcotte, chairman; Jim Houck, president/CEO; David Dyck, chief financial officer; John Frangos, chief operating officer.

* Profile: Western is a 20-per-cent partner in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project, a joint venture with Shell Canada (a 60-per-cent partner) and Chevron Canada (20 per cent). Western provides the mining and extracting skills for the project.

* Stats: The western portion of Lease 13 of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project contains approximately 1.7 billion barrels of proven and probable reserves, which would be sufficient for 30 years of non-declining bitumen production at 155,000 barrels per day.

* Recent Stock Price (TSX:WTO): $56.55 (52-week range, $30.35-$64.30).

* Website: www.westernoilsands.com

* Head office: Suite 2400, Ernst & Young Tower, 440 2nd Ave. S.W., Calgary, T2P 5E9.

* Phone/Fax: 403-233-1700/269-0122.

(Gyle Konotopetz can be reached at gyle@businessedge.ca)