Roy Michael ("Mike") Haney - Energy Advisor at Houston Technology Center

EDUCATION:  Pasadena High School - 1982 Rice University, BS in Mechanical Engineering University of Texas at Austin, Masters of Business Administration (MBA)

For my favorite college memories, I enjoyed the challenge of the engineering coursework, specifically the camaraderie of my fellow engineering students working together to grasp complex technical issues quickly. I also enjoyed my business classes - and noticing the significantly lower level of academic intensity among the students there when compared to my engineering colleagues. I have been very fortunate in my career. I have been able to combine the ability to learn things quickly from my time at Rice with the strong interest in entrepreneurship I learned from my father. As a result, I have had a very wide ranging career, including: investment banker, energy consultant, technology director, sales professional, corporate development and M&A expert, and elected politician. I have started up and sold a technology company, and a strong element of "the startup" has been a part of my previous and current positions. I have worked in a variety of industries, including healthcare, banking, construction products, upstream oil and gas, refining and petrochemicals, oilfield services and others. I have led teams and mentored others to help them in their careers as well. The SPE scholarship really helped focus my thinking on my undergraduate education. The funds were needed to help pay for a top-notch engineering education, one that I use on a daily basis. I am very grateful for the scholarship, and it helped me get to where I am today. My advice to students is that walking into just about any room with an engineering degree puts you at an advantage. I know it is a challenging degree to obtain, but even if you are like me and never actually practice as an engineer, that set of skills and rational thought processes will put you far ahead of others in the marketplace. In turn, that will provide you with significant opportunities, both professionally and personally, that will change your life for the better. When I was young, someone wise told me: whenever you face a choice between alternatives, choose the more difficult one. The skills you learn during that process will serve you well, and you will advance much faster than those around you. I have found these words to be very true, and I would encourage others to consider them as they make decisions regarding education, professions, and more personal life choices.