Veterans in Advanced Energy Profile: Mike Petersen
/
Mike petersen, 2020-2021 Veterans advanced energy fellow. click the button below to learn more about the fellowship.
Mike Petersen, a 2020-2021 Veterans Advanced Energy Fellow, traveled the world with the US Navy. After the military, graduate studies in business and international affairs led him to a career in energy. Today, he is encouraged by the rapid developments of clean energy technology but concerned whether developing countries will get any of the benefits. To other veterans, he says be patient, be humble, be flexible. As told to Leah Emanuel.
Why did you join the military and what was your role?
When I was a senior in high school, my parents surprised me when they shared that they hadn’t put away any money for my college education and that I would have to find my own way. I had done quite well academically and was committed to leaving Illinois and going to a top university. My twin brother, who was in the same boat, mentioned something about the service academies and ROTC scholarships. So, I applied to the Coast Guard Academy and for a Navy ROTC scholarship, was accepted for both and decided I wanted a more typical college experience and opted for Tulane in New Orleans after a Spring visit from a brutally cold Chicago. After making the decision to go forward with it, I warmed to the idea and reflected on the fact that I had a family history of service with both of my grandfathers having served in World War II, an uncle with 17 years in the Air Force, and several of my dad’s cousins having served on active duty in Vietnam. The decision started with a strong desire to continue my education and ended as simply something I felt would be a good thing to do for society and the country. Plus, it meant a guaranteed job at graduation and the opportunity to travel, which was thrilling to me.
I commissioned as a Naval Surface Warfare Officer. My first assignment was as the ship’s Electrical Officer on the USS Gary, a frigate based in Yokosuka, Japan. On that tour I spent 422 days at sea in two years, which was pretty rough. My second assignment was as the Navigation and Administrative Department Head on a guided missile destroyer, the USS Momsen. I was part of the ship’s commissioning crew, and spent a year at a shipyard in Bath, Maine getting ready for its maiden voyage to its ultimate homeport in Washington State. I had planned to leave active duty in Seattle to attend graduate school, having been selected as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, but my request to resign my commission was denied and I ended up being stop-lossed because of the terrible state of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2005. I was then attached to a USCENTCOM unit called the Joint Security Directorate, because they wanted someone with Harbor Security knowhow, and I had been a ship’s Navigation Officer. That led me to a hectic shore-based tour that took me from Doha to Baghdad, Kabul to Kandahar, Islamabad and Karachi—and everywhere in between. I confused a lot of marines and national guardsmen in the mountains of Afghanistan!
How did the military influence your career trajectory into energy?
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MIKE PETERSEN
Well, directly it didn’t. But indirectly it has had a huge influence on how I arrived to where I am today. My military service enabled a lot of graduate education, which is what directed me to the energy sector. I was awarded a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship from the Chicago Metro Rotary District during my last year on active duty, which sent me to Cape Town, South Africa to study at the university for a master’s degree in International Affairs after leaving military service. That experience helped me realize I needed something more to enable a career transition and an MBA seemed the right path for that. My military service and Illinois residency meant I was eligible for the Illinois Veterans Grant, a state-funded program, which paid for me to go to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for two years to study for an MBA.
When I graduated in 2009, the country was in the middle of a recession and jobs were tough to come by. Luckily, Shell, the global energy major, had a been recruiting in the Engineering and Labor Relations programs in Illinois and needed an MBA position filled in New Orleans to support the offshore business in the Gulf of Mexico. Their recruiting team got a hold of a resume book and the hiring manager, who was a former Marine, saw my Navy background and pulled my resume. Ultimately, I was hired and worked for him. That entry level job at Shell is what began to propel my journey over the past 12 years, and I continued benefitting from military service when I used GI Bill benefits to pursue a doctorate in sustainable energy systems from Georgetown, which helped me be more competitive for the clean energy job I hold today.
What are you most excited about in advanced energy developments and what are you most concerned about?
I’m excited about the urgency in which the world is becoming aware of the need for rapid advancement in cleaner energy technologies and their deployment. In the last year there has been a seismic shift in the world’s thinking about it, but I say that with a caveat, and this gets to a worry. I’m concerned that the West will push for advanced energy technology deployment and development, but I don’t think they’re going to assist the developing world in also enjoying the benefits they bring. We can talk a lot with a Western holier-than-thou attitude about the need for us to address climate change, but it doesn’t really matter if we’re not going to assist the other half of the world that doesn’t have the same resources to do something. A great example of this is with Germany. Germany is widely viewed as the leading country in terms of pushing for clean energy adoption for its electric grid and vehicle electrification, but it’s also producing the dirtiest coal on earth: brown coal. Domestically, they’re not utilizing the brown coal—they are exporting it to Indonesia and to other parts of the developing world. It’s going to be a problem if Western countries are willing to make investments to better their own climate, climate policies, or even PR, but then continue to play dirty on the other side and engage in the highest producing carbon fossil fuel development. I’m worried about Western politicians and governments talking a good game, but in practice not doing anything productive for the world because climate affects everyone.
Why is energy important to US national security?
I think COVID has shown that while there is a lot of efficiency that can come from an interconnected world and from globalization, at the end of the of the day when it comes to energy we need to be able to support ourselves. COVID exposed a lot of the risk in fossil fuel markets. As a nation, to preserve our economy and to ensure self sufficiency, energy independence is going to be of vital importance. Strong national security is not just about defense—it’s about having a strong and stable national economy. It’s about being able to continue supply chains and to continue production and manufacturing of goods in the United States. Energy is required for all of that. Therefore, energy and national security are inextricably linked.
Equally, from a national security perspective, we also have to think about military installations. Rising seas threaten many of our naval bases. We saw what happened in Texas over the winter with an intense and unexpected cold, rolling blackouts, and dramatic escalation in electricity prices. There’s a serious challenge to the reliability of energy systems because of climate change which will have a dramatic effect on the operational ability of any form of security force. So, there’s a real connection between national security and what’s happening with the environment. Another reason to adapt our infrastructure accordingly is to prevent this before it’s too late—before it costs taxpayers billions more in investment.
Do you have advice you would like to share with other veterans?
If you’re seeking a career in advanced energy, be patient. It’s going to be difficult to break into it now. There will be more opportunity that comes over time. If this is an area of interest for you, then my recommendation would be to think through what steps you can take to become competitive, to gain the skills that you might need to find a career in this part of the energy industry. There are a lot of opportunities for veterans to gain an education, to build technical skills that can and will be relevant to these careers. I would also say be creative. And humble. If this is new to you, expect to start at the bottom and work your way up. Entry level is where you may begin, but your previous experiences and maturity will shine through, and you’ll likely move your way up more quickly than your peers. Keep in mind too, that working in a company is not the same as working in the military. The mindset of the people around you will be different. Be flexible. Don’t let the rigid thinking that can happen in the military define the way that you think and handle things in an advanced energy company.
What is your greatest take-away from the Veterans Advanced Energy Fellowship?
I’m encouraged that affinity fellowships and programs like this have been developed and are being implemented. Having an affinity group around a particular issue, a particular industry, or a particular career helps participants in growing connections and learning more broadly.
During the 2021 Veterans Advanced Energy Week, Mike Petersen moderated a panel titled “Breaking Into Clean Energy: What Makes for Successful External Hires.” Watch the video below:
