Sixteen years ago, an ambitious graduate of electrical engineering from France rolled up her sleeves and went to work for Schlumberger at an oil rig in Italy.

Since then, Catherine Hughes has made a rapid ascent up Schlumberger’s corporate ladder to reach one of its corner offices.

The quiet-spoken 39-year-old native of Nice, France, is president of Schlumberger Canada, which employs about 2,100 people in its various divisions, including Schlumberger Oilfield Services.

In an era when executives rarely stay with the same company for more than a decade, Hughes exudes a fierce pride in the fact that she has had only one employer.

And the gleam in her eyes as she reminisces over her career suggests that she has no desire to work anywhere else.

1. What was your childhood dream? “My dream was to be a doctor and go and do something for humanity in Africa or be an engineer and go around the world with the thinking that where I go, I would do some good somewhere. My father and grandfather were also engineers.”

2. Who has been your mentor? “My husband (Jeremy). He has been extremely supportive. He has also pushed me and said: ‘Of course you can do it.’ He’s in the marketing department of Schlumberger Canada. No, I’m not his boss. This is not allowed. His boss is the world-wide marketing manager. The company has been very, very good in accommodating our careers. They’ve moved us together now for the past 13 years. I think that’s very rare in the industry.”

3. How do you balance family and business life with two young children? “I’m extremely busy. I pretty much give all my time during the week to my work but the weekend is for my family. Everybody in the company knows (this). It’s a real struggle sometimes, but I manage to make it work.”

4. How did you get started with Schlumberger? “I wanted to go back to Africa (where Schlumberger has operations). My uncle was working in the oil and gas business and he had the type of life I wanted. So when Schlumberger came to my university (Insa University in Lyon) to make presentations, I tried very hard to get recruited. The first job was a field engineer working on the rig for Schlumberger in Italy. It was a learning environment because I was the only female and it was a completely male environment. It worked out well.”

5. What has been your biggest challenge in management? “As a manager, it’s critical to keep the long-term view. You have to continually remind yourself that this is the priority. So you can’t get bogged down in immediate operational issues.”

6. Based on your experience, what’s the best advice you can offer a woman climbing the corporate ladder in the Calgary oilpatch? “I’d say: ‘Don’t forget your values.’ What I mean by values is not just climbing up the oilpatch and being successful in your career, but other things. Being successful involves your family, too. As I’m getting older, I would like to say to a woman: ‘Don’t forget that above all you are a whole person and don’t think that being successful in your career is the only thing in life.’ I would also tell her to learn to be part of the team and learn to communicate the same way that men do. There’s not many women in the oilpatch because there’s not many women attracted to it. I think you have to do as good a job or a better job as a man if you want to be promoted, but that’s OK. It’s that way everywhere.”

7. Describe your business philosophy? “Because I’ve always been in Schlumberger, I’m very strongly influenced by the culture of the company. That philosophy revolves basically around three points: It’s the importance of our people, the association of our people and the rewards of our people; it’s technology, which I believe is one of the things that makes us strong; and the profits of the company. I’m a bit brainwashed by the company because it’s a culture I’ve been living in since I’ve been out of school.”

8. What in your mind sets Schlumberger apart from many other companies? “What I’ve found to be unique in this company is the tolerance for individuals and the tolerance for different cultures and different ways of thinking. Above all, I think it’s that we reward by performance. It doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s just what you do. That’s extremely powerful in terms of your career progression. What’s also important is the flexibility of the company. For example, each time when I had a child the company accommodated my request to have a year off. I’ve never been penalized in my career because of personal situations.”

9. What did being appointed president of Schlumberger in February mean to you? “It meant a lot. This is one of the times when my husband was very important in supporting me. It was a big, big step forward and I knew I was prepared for it, but you always have a doubt in your mind. You ask yourself: ‘Will you succeed, it is not too high for you?’ This is a woman-type thing, you know. It’s definitely the job I really like.”

10. Is winning everything to you? “No. Learning means a lot, too. What is critical is that we learn from the mistakes we do so we avoid doing the same mistake in the future.”

11. Schlumberger CEO Euan Baird recently said there were four women on his list of 15 Schlumberger executives under 40 whom he considered prospects to lead the company in the future. Are you on the list? “I have no idea. No, I don’t want to be on the list. It’s quite interesting, actually, but I don’t have a desire to be a CEO right now. I’m very happy in the job that I have currently. To be honest with you, Euan Baird is going to be at the retirement date in about two years time. So the person who is going to replace him will be there for 10 to 15 years. This is the job I don’t have a lot of desire for.”

12. Where do see your future with Schlumberger? “I’m in a time in my career where I’m extremely content doing what I’m doing. I still have a lot of things that I need to balance with my family. Having a two-year-old, I don’t want to travel too much. Already, Canada is big enough in terms of what I want to handle. So any job from where I am now would most likely involve travelling, so I’m staying put right now. In five years time when my daughter is seven, I’d be able to start thinking about travelling.”

13. How have the security concerns over the threat of terrorism impacted Schlumberger? “We are working in some countries which are quite prone to having issues with fundamentalists, so we have some alerts in some of those countries to make sure we have emergency-response plans in place. We are also restricting travel pretty drastically right now. All non-essential travel, such as travel for training, has been cancelled.Video-conferencing is a big thing now.”

14. What is your vision for Schlumberger Canada for 2005? “I would like us to build (on) the strengths we have. Those strengths are within the technology that we bring. And we are very much a Canadian company and this is a message I want to stress in Canada. We tend to be always thought of as an international company, which we are. But, in Canada, we are a Canadian company with 98 per cent of our operation in Canada being Canadian. And this has not gone through the industry. “On the business side, obviously I would like Schlumberger Canada to have developed people who are the best in the industry and have technology that gives us the advantage in terms of better helping our clients in improving their recovery factor in oil or increasing their gas recovery.”

15. How do you envision advances in technology changing the way Schlumberger Canada does business in the future? “The technology is moving at critical speed. What is really making a difference already is the IT (information technology) part of our business. Even though it’s not the business of the oil and gas industry itself, as an IT world we are changing the way the oil and gas industry is working. The real-time management of reservoirs is going to become the real thing that is going to make the biggest change in the way companies are working. Right now, the industry has a lot of data that is required, but it is difficult to sort through that data and have a decision made out of data. But through the IT business and real-time monitoring, that type of decision can be made easier.”

16. How is the industry doing in terms of embracing those changes? “I think you have to balance the cost and the benefits and I think they haven’t seen the full benefit in terms of cost and benefits. And the technology was not quite ready yet. So with the technology getting there and with costs (anticipated) to go down, the benefits are going to be pretty obvious soon.”

17. What is your outlook for the oil and gas industry? “In two-year terms, the fundamentals are very strong, but within the next year it can go anywhere. It’s definitely going to go down (near term), but how deep and how long is something we can debate a little.”

18. Who is the person you most admire and respect in the world? “Nelson Mandela (a Nobel Peace price winner who dedicated his life to fighting racism and apartheid in South Africa). He made South Africa’s change successful through a peaceful process. He basically gave all his life to make it successful.”

19. If you could do one thing to make the world a better place, what would that be? “I would make sure tolerance is taught everywhere. This is something I think we all lack at one time or another. We need to instil that in people.”

20. How do you define success? “Success is having my children happy as they start their lives.”

IN PROFILE: Catherine Hughes

* Born/raised/age: Nice, France; Senegal, Africa; 39.

* Title: President, Schlumberger Canada.

* Education: Insa Scientific and Technical University (Lyon, France), electrical engineering degree.

* Family: Husband Jeremy, daughters Natasha, 2, Jessica, 10.

* Career: Hughes joined the Schlumberger family of companies in February 1986, and has held various positions in management, sales and personnel in six countries – Canada, U.S., France, Scotland, Italy and Nigeria. She was named president of Schlumberger Canada in February and is also GeoMarket manager for oilfield services in Canada.

* Passions: Skiing, walking, tennis.

THE COMPANY: Schlumberger Canada

* Profile: Schlumberger Canada, which began operations in the 1940s, is a technology-based service company consisting of multiple segments, including Schlumberger Oilfield Services.

* Latest: The Schlumberger Driving Centre Canada, an extreme-manoeuvres track, was opened in July to provide driver-training programs to preferred clients, their major contractors and select industry groups and companies.

* Website: www.slb.com

* Address: 525 3rd Ave. S.W., Calgary, AB T2P 0G4.

* Phone: 403-509-4000.

* Parent Company: Schlumberger is comprised of two segments – Paris-based Schlumberger Oilfield Services and New York-based SchlumbergerSema, an information technology services company. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange (SLB-TSE).