Featured Member: Richard Campbell, Managing Principal, Vista Projects

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to our newest section here at EPCMWorld.com, Featured Member. Richard Campbell is Managing Principal at Vista Projects in Calgary, Alberta, and he has been gracious enough to spend some time telling us a little about his career, his company and the challenges and opportunities he sees going forward in our industry.

Member: Richard Campbell, Managing Principal, Vista Projects
Company: Vista Projects is a privately-owned, multi-discipline engineering consultancy focusing on the oil and gas sector. Vista is a technology-driven organization with significant success extending their technological process in SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage) and CSS (Cyclic Steam Generation) to major oil and gas processing companies in the Alberta Oil Patch. www.vistaprojects.com

Q - EPCMWorld
"Could you give us some insight into your professional background and experience in the EPCM industry?"

A - Richard Campbell
"My education is from the Harvard Business School and Haskayne School of Business. I've always enjoyed working with numbres and technology, typically using my financial skills in technical organizations. I have gravitated towards roles where I can work with technical people doing innovative things.

"Upon moving back to Canada from overseas in 2003, I started working in the Alberta EPC Industry, focusing on major projects with one of Canada's premier oil and gas companies. Up until Q4 2007, I was the Project Controls Manager for Vista Projects on a 200-person project team overseeing some ofthe leading SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage) work in the industry. In 2008, I moved to the management team at Vista, taking the role of Managing Principal, where I am tasked with planning Vista's next 25 years as we work to become the leading global technical engineering firm."

Q - EPCMWorld
"How would you summarize what Vista Projects does and where they excel in relation to the rest of the industry?

A - Richard Campbell
"As an employee-owned organization, Vista provides technical leadership and expertise to our clients, with quality as a priority, as our employees have a vested interest in seeing their shared company succeed. In addition to engaged and empowered staff, we believe that our strong in-house technical expertise is vital to the delivery of successful engineering solutions. Our unique combination of empowered owners and skilled people allows Vista to be very effective in delivering quality solutions that meet and exceed our clients' expectations."

Q - EPCMWorld
"Following negative developments in the Credit Markets and in the decline in price of many major commodities (namely oil), what implications do you think this will have (short and long-term) on current projects?

A - Richard Campbell
"The decline in the price of oil (and commodities in general) from record prices to a more realistic level was expected by Vista Projects. We were quite prudent in partnering with clients who placed a premium on deriving value from the engineering the Vista provided. In other words, even though the price of oil went to an al-time high, the core values that Vista abides by, such as quality, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and result orientation were the values that our clients always benefited from and will continue to benefit from.

Q - EPCMWorld
"Have you heard from any clients or other industry colleagues that some projects will be put off or reconfigured?

A - Richard Campbell
"Our long-term view sees emerging economies like India and China increasing the demand on the commodities market and as such, the price of energy is going to increase. The difference now is that we believe there will be a renewed focus on quality and value, and clients are going to refocus on teams that can deliver successful projects."

Q – EPCMWorld
“What are clients saying about the recent worries?”

A- Richard Campbell
“We all know that business is not what is was a few months back and a lot of projects that relied on the price of oil to that at record levels will slowed or postponed. Profitable, successful producers will strive to lower their cost of operation by developing long-term relationships with EPCM companies like Vista Projects who share the ethos of developing cost-effective engineering solutions that work.”

Q – EPCMWorld
“Will your company be making any changes to its business model or focus?”

A – Richard Campbell
“We will believe that change is constant. Our business model constantly adapts and caters to the needs of our clients. The only part of the business that does not change is our client centricity.”


Part II next week!!!