1st Person: Marjorie Hatter at Phillips 66 Ferndale
A chemical engineer from Idaho, Phillips 66 plant manager Marjorie Hatter wanted to become an inventor and thereby started her career in the oil industry in research.
Community work is good business Community and corporate involvement Community work is important and I do some of that. We have
factory factoids
a person on staff, Jeff Callender, who is front man for that. We as a company, and I in particular, feel like we should be heavily involved. All my senior leaders have board
PHILLIPS 66 FERNDALE REFINERY • Opened in 1954 (as General Petroleum Co., precursor to Mobil Oil) • Refinery manager: Marjorie Hatter, chemical engineer (University of Idaho) • 400 employees (approx.) • $65M payroll (pay varies $25-$35/hr for avg plant worker). • $50M-plus taxes paid 2012—doubled during the last four years. • 830 acres. • 2013 Corporation of the Year for Philanthropy in Washington state, awarded by the Assn of Fundraising Professionals. • $100,000 funded an education center at the Ferndale Boys & Girls Club, and $25,000 supported building the new Ferndale Library. • Funded school math tournaments for 30 years – one Whatcom County, and two state. • Provides financial support, both from Ferndale Refinery and Phillips 66 corporate, to more than 50 local nonprofit and charity organizations, including high on the donor list to United Way annually. 24 | BUSINESSPULSE.COM
membership…we’ve got 15 people on boards. It’s part of being a good business leader. For our employees, it’s a lot about what they’re interested in, we match them up with their enthusiasm. Day to day I’m responsible for the plant, and it’s a big deal making sure everything runs well. We meet a lot, and I read everything I sign in detail. There’s a little demon in me about writing well, and thoughtfully. I do a lot of work in government affairs. I frequently engage with our government affairs people about legislative issues, things that have potential impact on our business. And, I work with our people in Houston where my boss is. Phillips 66 has been good about including line leadership in discussions about where the company is going. I log a few miles between here and Houston or other locations for three days of discussion of some initiatives—sometimes it’s about developing people, financial issues, etc. That occupies a part of my time, to be part of the bigger corporation.
‘Smokestack industry’ perceptions If you look at our horizon all
• 2013 Recognition by the Environmental Protection Agency as an Energy Star site, citing reduction of energy use by 10% during the last 10 years. • Recent investments in the Ferndale/Whatcom County area: 6-week shutdown for complete maintenance overhaul; installation of a vacuum pre-flash steam generator to recover high heat from vacuum tower vapor and to produce steam; replacement of the top half of a tower in the alkylation unit; multi-year, multi-million-dollar initiative on the refinery dock and associated pipelines to maintain structure, and to repair roadways on the pier and to recoat pipelines. • Booms ships at the dock before loading and unloading certain petroleum products, for added safety. • Uses ammonia and hydrogen to convert nitrogen oxide into nitrogen and water, for added environmental integrity. • Another environmental control is use of new flare gas recovery system that saves energy (recovers gases and returns them to the fuel gas system).