Members of Georgetown McDonough Office of Executive Education set south to Bogotá, Colombia, to run a custom program for Pacific Rubiales Energy. The course focused on focused on non-linear strategic thinking as well as understanding the political, economic, and cultural challenges of operating in new locations and a changing industry landscape.
The program was designed for rising executives at Pacific Rubiales– the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production company in Colombia that has seen tremendous growth in recent years. The focus of the program is leadership development, strengthening the decision making and innovation capabilities of its rising leaders and continue to grow while facing increasing business challenges in the oil and gas industry head on.
Adjunct Professor Michael McDermott, in partnership with Pacific’s award-winning Corporate University taught the course over five days in Bogotá. The learning was divided into two 2.5-day modules, the curriculum focused on strategy, decision making and nonlinear strategic thinking to provide Pacific Rubiales with a framework for their leaders to create and implement their own strategies for future growth.
Pacific Rubiales also hosted McDermott and Jamey Stowell, assistant dean of executive education, on a tour of an oilfield to learn more about the extraction process, as well as the operations center that oversees the entire extraction process in real time.
This time in Colombia has helped expand Georgetown McDonough’s already extensive network in Latin America– Emilio del Castillo, senior adviser to executive education and a Georgetown alumnus based in Bogotá, joined Stowell and McDermott in traveling to Cali, Colombia, at the invitation of Georgetown University Alumni Club President Luis Filipe Ruiz Espindola where McDermott spoke to 30 CEOs convened to work collectively on corporate social responsibility initiatives for the region. They also visited Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, a Jesuit institution, on the invitation of University President Luis Felipe Gómez Restrepo, S.J., Provost Ana Milena Yoshioka Vargas, and senior faculty from the institution where McDermott lectured to a group of 50 students and business professionals about organizational agility.