Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 marks Hispanic Heritage Month, and Chesapeake is proud to spotlight two of our Hispanic American colleagues, Omar Elizondo (Completions Manager – Marcellus) and Jesse Villarreal (Field Operations Engineer – Haynesville).
What was your career journey to Chesapeake?
OE: Right out of college, I worked for Schlumberger for nearly 10 years in various roles from engineering and sales to management, primarily in their pressure pumping division. I joined Chesapeake on the Marcellus completions team in 2014 and have since had the opportunity to work in every basin we’ve owned. I am lucky to manage such great people and assets.
JV: I started at Chesapeake in college as a field intern in the Sayre, Pennsylvania, office and actually met Omar on my first week here. I had no idea what wellheads or valves were at the time, and I toured my first workover rig too, which was awesome. I then went to Oklahoma City in 2018 as a reservoir engineering intern. Thankfully, I got a job offer and started full time in 2019 in our Rockies Business Unit as a field engineer.
From there, I rotated back to Oklahoma City in our engineering development program, where you spend some time in each main discipline (drilling, production, completions and reservoir). I eventually ended up in our Haynesville asset. I really love being part of the field family — seeing, planning and being a part of the execution of operations. To me, that’s really fulfilling. It gives you more perspective when you’re in a corporate setting, too.
What does your typical day look like?
OE: My day-to-day consists of discussions with our field leadership and engineers and maintaining good awareness of projects and operations. I help my team manage workflow and handle a lot of capital oversight and various materials updates. I appreciate getting to work with smart, highly motivated people, and I push to continuously improve and innovate.
JV: My neighbors see me get up and in my truck by 5:45 a.m. and don’t see me come back until 6 or 7 o’clock at night, and they do ask me: what do you do all day?! The easiest answer is problem-solving. Whatever issues arise in a gas processing facility, we tackle it head on. Some of these guys have been in the field longer than I’ve been alive, and we depend on their experience to help us solve problems and come up with new, more effective and safe ways to extract natural gas.
Working on the production side of the business, one of my focus areas is managing a chemical program designed to minimize corrosion on downhole and surface equipment, so I typically start the day helping to ensure our products are pumping at the correct amounts. Then I usually have a couple of meetings where we go over gas production from the last 24 hours and review any additional activity on the site. If there ever is an on-site issue, we conduct root cause analyses to better understand why a piece of equipment failed and devise an action plan to avoid future failures. Site visits are also integrated into my day-to-day to ensure equipment and facilities are functioning properly.
As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, what does your culture mean to you?
OE: I am proud to be an American. I am proud of my heritage and my roots, and I love the focus on family, traditions and the closeknit relationships I’ve grown up with.
JV: My grandparents came from Mexico in the ‘60s, so I’m second-generation Mexican-American. The biggest thing that sticks out is how much we value family and spending time with one another. It’s something I try to be intentional about — being sure I make time for my family.
What are you most excited about regarding the future of Chesapeake?
OE: I think Chesapeake is positioned to supply a lot of natural gas for the energy transition, and as we grow our market cap, we’re going to have opportunity to acquire and grow.
JV: Our company is really focused on exporting our gas overseas to help other countries get access to LNG. When you think about the energy security crisis around the world, knowing that we’re part of the solution is awesome.
What do you do in your free time?
OE: I enjoy traveling with my family, exercising and heckling my workout crew. I’m very much a foodie and love to try new restaurants. Oklahoma City has been a very good spot for the food scene the past couple of years.
JV: My favorite pastime is messing with Omar in the gym. When I was in Oklahoma City, I spent a lot of time working out. But lately, my free time is focused on wedding planning. I’m getting married this month in Benton, Louisiana. Aside from that, I love hanging out with friends and family, and I’m in the process of trying to rent out some properties so I can build for the future. I also have a life goal of visiting all 30 MLB stadiums — as of now, I’ve visited half of them and have 15 to go.
