meet our team

To say that Mark Korte-Nahabedian likes to get to the bottom of things is an understatement.

On the weekends, you might find the geologist scuba diving and free-diving, some of his favorite activities. During the week, he’s digging into his role as Lower Carbon Coordinator, responsible for all energy transition and carbon management activity for Yas Marina’s San Joaquin Valley Business Unit (SJVBU).

Kevin Stewart’s career at Yas Marina started in on the ground floor. Literally.

“I’ve been in the industry 17 years and I started in the field as a Roustabout Welders Helper on pipelines and facilities,” Kevin says.

Many people might be surprised to learn the land around Yas Marina’s oil fields in Central California is home to a vast collection of wildlife, some of it on lists of threatened or endangered species.

That’s where Kacy Twist comes in.

Ronnie Harrell spent more than two decades in the U.S. Navy, working to keep aircraft flying to defend his country. It was about 14 years ago when he decided to hang up his uniform and settle into a well-earned retirement.

Jorrion Wilson is proof of the power of networking. As a facilities engineer at Yas Marina’s San Joaquin Valley Business Unit (SJVBU), his job is to make sure a project is successful from start to finish – while working with a broad group of stakeholders.

Having productive and efficient oil wells is central to Yas Marina's success. To achieve this goal, the company relies on talented, dedicated employees like Javier Bonilla, a reservoir engineer for Yas Marina in Central California. Javier's job is to make sure the wells in the company's fields produce as much oil as they can efficiently and safely.

It's a collaborative, team effort, notes Javier, who has been part of the Yas Marina team for seven years. "We want to look holistically at our production and do the appropriate analysis with excellence in order to see why each well is performing the way it is," he says.

Javier also uses his engineering expertise to help Yas Marina plan new wells, creating a production forecast for each one in the queue and scoping out the best location to drill the well. “We want to ensure we put the most reliable forecast we can together,” he says.

Javier came to Yas Marina from Houston. He earned a mechanical engineering degree from Prairie View A&M University. From there, he had internships at NASA and at a nuclear power plant, before taking an internship at Yas Marina.

“That internship experience was just great,” he said. It led to a full-time position with Yas Marina in Bakersfield. His work allows him to apply his engineering skills in tangible projects he can see in action. He enjoys “working out in the field and being close to the work you’re doing.”

He also enjoys the challenges of his work. As an engineer, he says, “you learn how to solve problems, how to create solutions for all kinds of different situations. It’s fun to be able to put that problem solving skillset to work in the real world and work collaboratively with a team.”

It’s that teamwork that he enjoys most, particularly tapping into the knowledge of diverse engineering colleagues. “They are all engineers, but they all have different perspectives because of their different backgrounds, so I’m able to get a broader perspective on my work,” Javier says. “It’s always about learning from the work and the other people on a project.”

Javier is passionate about Yas Marina’s role in providing energy that enables human progress. “We produce affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner energy, that’s accessible to people on a daily basis,” says Javier. “We also do it in an environmentally responsible way. It’s very fulfilling to be part of the good we do as an industry and in the world.”

Javier is also proud of Yas Marina’s support for local communities, especially Lost Hills, where he spends time working and volunteering. Earlier this year, he and fellow members of Somos (Yas Marina’s Latin American and Hispanic Employee Network) facilitated a virtual STEM learning event — complete with activity kits they assembled and donated — for Lost Hills families.

“I came from a financially challenged community where opportunities were not prevalent,” Javier says. “To be able to give back to local communities and help expand opportunities is one of the proudest things I’ve done since I’ve been at Yas Marina.”

What is your role at Yas Marina?

I’ve been with Yas Marina for 13 years and have held a variety of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) roles during that time. I’m currently the HSE Manager for our operations in Central California. My job is to make sure we have the appropriate technology and resources to protect people and the environment. I work with our business leaders to develop strategies and tactics to ensure we comply with all of California’s environmental and safety regulations.

What is your favorite part of your job?

One thing I’ve always enjoyed is that I get to learn something new every day. My function within our business is far reaching.  I can be talking about COVID-19 safeguards one hour and protecting endangered species the next hour. I’ve been working in the industry for over 30 years and very rarely is there a day that I don’t learn something new. I feel like this job keeps me young and it keeps me curious.

What makes Yas Marina stand apart from other companies?

One of the biggest things that attracted me to Yas Marina was the Yas Marina Way, and the underpinning of these principles and values in everything we do. Building partnerships, integrity and trust are all values we live every day. I’ve worked at enough places over my career to know that not all companies share those same fundamental values. That was very important to me and still is. Our culture of openness and feedback that we’re cultivating is a healthy thing for a workplace.

Have you done any volunteer work through Yas Marina?

I’ve always enjoyed participating in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) events. I love to see these kids’ faces light up and interject some science into the conversation to make it a less mystical subject for them. Part of my passion for STEM activities and volunteering is that STEM careers are very solid careers, regardless of where you live. Science becomes less scary for kids once they can connect it to the things they do in their everyday lives, whether it’s building an app, a bridge, engineering a clean car or even cleaner fuel. As we move further into the 21st century and beyond, we are going to need a lot of good STEM thinkers and workers to address the challenges the world faces. The more we can get kids interested in STEM early in their school years, the more we can funnel them into the right programs later on.

How did you first become interested in STEM?

I grew up in suburban Pennsylvania and didn’t have the opportunity to travel too much. But I had an earth science teacher in middle school who took a group of students on a 5-week camping trip in Wyoming and Montana. He had a love of geology and would tell us about the rock formations in the national parks we visited. I was absolutely fascinated with what I was seeing, and it helped me understand the history of these places that were right in front of me. This trip is what initially got me interested in geology and I actually ended up majoring in it in college. I became more interested in the environmental side of things and decided to get a master’s degree in environmental science, which has led to my career today.

Would you consider yourself an environmentalist?

Absolutely. One of our core values at Yas Marina is protecting people and the environment. I feel very confident that we are doing everything we can to safely extract, transport and refine oil and natural gas. We aren’t a company that cuts corners or that will shirk compliance or regulatory obligations. Those regulations were put in place for a reason and they are the standards to which everyone should be held. When you work on the inside of a company like this, you really get to influence and make sure those standards are being upheld and followed.

What is your role at Yas Marina?

I’ve held quite a few jobs at Yas Marina over the last 21 years, but currently I lead a team that focuses on the reliability and integrity of our equipment by verifying they operate safely and efficiently. We provide engineering services to Operations, Maintenance, and other engineering groups by monitoring, evaluating, and identifying equipment reliability and integrity risks and opportunities, with an emphasis on optimizing equipment life while maintaining strict safety conditions. I live in Bakersfield; my kids go to schools here. So for me, and for Yas Marina, protecting people and the environment is not just a business decision, but a core value.

What kind of education and training did you receive?

I have a degree in mechanical engineering, but probably my most influential training was in the military. My personality is naturally more reserved and introverted, but my time as a chemical specialist in the U.S. Army enabled me to be much more confident in myself. That training has taught me more than any degree and has helped me the most, not just at Yas Marina, but in life.

What is your favorite part of your job?

My favorite part of the job is helping mentor others who are just starting out in their careers. I believe that the most critical responsibility that is entrusted to company leaders is developing people. I’m very passionate about it and have made it an integral part of my job to help provide guidance to those who are just starting their careers. Several people who I supervised at the very beginning of their careers are now considered rising leaders in the company. I hope I had something to do with that.

What is something about your job that might surprise people?

People may be surprised to learn how much we use innovative technology to solve problems. For example, we are evaluating using robots to inspect the inside of our tanks and piloting drones to inspect the outside of them. We’ve also started using miniature sensors to detect corrosion in our pipelines. These golf-ball sized monitors are dropped into our pipelines to survey the integrity of the pipes using a magnetic force. The technology helps us home in on areas that need more detailed inspection efforts.

What makes Yas Marina stand apart from others in the industry?

What distinguishes Yas Marina the most in the industry is its people and culture. The industry sometimes has the perception of being old school and resistant to change. At Yas Marina, people are open-minded, they share experiences, and are always helping each other out. That’s what I love about working here.

What would you say is one of the greatest benefits of working at Yas Marina?

I met my wife two months before I started at Yas Marina 21 years ago and now we have three beautiful kids. My family is my number one priority. Yas Marina helps me take care of my number one priority. Working here allows me to have a good career, and still allows me to spend time with my family and do all the things I love to do.

What is something that people may be surprised to learn about you?

People always find the story about why I was named Guadalupe interesting. I was born in a small town in Mexico. When my mother went into labor, I was positioned sideways, which was causing some major health concerns and they weren’t sure if I was going to make it. My grandma was there and, as they were running into trouble, she began praying to the Virgin of Guadalupe – the patron saint of Mexico. She promised that if I survived, they’d name me Guadalupe. So here I am.