Above & Beyond

Bauer Alumna Wins Top Supply Chain Recognition 

Since her days as a student at the University of Houston, C. T. Bauer College of Business alumna Erika Espinosa has committed herself to learning everything about supply chain

From internships to coursework, Espinosa has always been eager to learn quick to pursue new opportunities to expand her knowledge base. 

Now, after spending the better half of a decade rising through the ranks at Chevron, Espinosa has been named the Institute for Supply Management’s 30 Under 30 Rising Supply Chain Stars’ Megawatt winner, a prestigious honor for young professionals. 

ISM is an international group, and the first and largest not-for-profit professional supply management organization in the world. Each year, the organization releases a 30 under 30 list, highlighting emerging leaders making a difference in the world of supply chain. At the top of the list is the Megawatt winner, identifying that year’s top professional under the age of 30. 

While Bauer supply chain alumni have been honored on the ISM 30 Under 30 list in four of the past five years, Espinosa is the first Bauer alumni to receive the honor, which was based on the professional accomplishments in her career. Throughout her relatively short career, Espinosa maintained a passion to learn, making the most of each role and crediting her Bauer experience to establishing her foundation in the supply chain world. 

Dynamic Résumé 

Espinosa has had a multifaceted career with Chevron, dating back to her days as a summer intern, working in materials management. 

Her initial work with the company was spent in a supply chain management development program, where through rotations, she was able to spend time learning different aspects of the industry.  

First stop the Permian Basin. In this role, Espinosa’s focus was on procurement operations. While still based in Houston, Espinosa committed herself to the region she was serving, taking the flight to Midland, TX, twice a month.  

“I just always wanted to be boots on the ground,” Espinosa said. “As close as possible with my suppliers, as close as possible with my business stakeholders.” 

After that, Espinosa transitioned to a more corporate role in global logistics and facilitated a freight forwarder program. 

“It was really nice to kind of see an international perspective of what each international business unit needed, and those freight forwarders that were helping transport materials,” Espinosa said. 

Then she went downstream, supporting manufacturing with a commercial benchmark, and managing a few consultants, comparing product service lines across the five refineries in the United States. 

Erika spent part of her early career focused on the Permian Basin as a business analyst.

Erika spent part of her early career focused on the Permian Basin as a business analyst.

After graduating from the SCM development program, it was time to start what Espinosa described as her “big girl job,” a role in Chevron’s Americas Products division. This job, also downstream, dealt with fuels and lubricants. It was the work she did in this position as a procurement specialist that Espinosa believes led to her winning the Megawatt.  

“I was overseeing all supply chain management for Mexico to support two hundred and fifty gas stations, one terminal and a lubricant plan and distribution center,” Espinosa said. “I remember thinking they don't just need a buyer, they need someone that's going to oversee what supply chain means for them.” 

Espinosa didn’t let her title keep her in a box. She created a strategic shaping plan for the country. She employed teamwork, pinpointed their heavy business impacts, embraced a governance model and integrated a large procurement system, which she believes was what got her the award. 

“I made a small title and two sentences of a description into a larger opportunity, and that's something that Chevron really encourages,” Espinosa said. 

Still with Chevron, Espinosa is now the wells category manager and manages 300 million dollars' worth of spend in well construction services for the Gulf of Mexico. Some of her key suppliers are Halliburton, Baker Hughes and SLB. 

“It's all services and equipment needed to create the well, such as directional drilling, fluids, cementing, pressure pumping and fracking,” she said. “It's a very high risk high spend profile, and I love it because I do feel that I'm a connector between my engineers, with my business partners, with the leadership team’s vision.” 

Less than a year in the role, Espinosa estimates that her work has saved the Gulf of Mexico approximately five million dollars in wells cost optimization efforts. 

Espinosa currently works as a Gulf of Mexico wells category manager.

Espinosa currently works as a Gulf of Mexico wells category manager.

Bauer Background 

For Espinosa, her foundational understanding of supply chain came from her days in Bauer. During her time in school, Espinosa was president of Sourcing and Procurement Organization, which she believed helped other first-generation college students like herself have a leg up in the corporate world.  

In addition to supply chain, Espinosa wanted to understand the seller side, which led her to apply and complete the college’s competitive Program for Excellence in Selling

“Both of those organizations really helped me become more confident and competent in what I was talking about, and then just the networking itself was fantastic,” she said. 

Now as a career professional, Espinosa still gives time back to Bauer students, wanting to help the next generation. 

“If I was very fortunate to be led or be supported by people that were in the same boat, that's my driver to give back,” Espinosa said. “Somebody helped me when I didn't have direction or a network, and that's something that is my purpose, I want to be that help.” 

During her time at Bauer, Erika was president of Sourcing and Procurement Organization and a student in the Program for Excellence in Selling.

During her time at Bauer, Erika was president of Sourcing and Procurement Organization and a student in the Program for Excellence in Selling.

Culture Record of Success 

Espinosa’s success, however, does not make her an outlier. Several Bauer alumni from over the years have been recognized as a part of ISM’s 30 Under 30, dating back to the award’s inaugural year in 2015.  

Erika is a part of a large group of Bauer alumni who are achieving success in a variety of industries, Senior Professor of Practice Bradley Miller said. 

In the classroom, supply chain students get hands on experiential learning opportunities, giving students the chance to put together procurement and sourcing strategies based on real company data.  

“Many of our employers will tell us that you can tell the difference between the Bauer alumni and some other schools is just in the way that our students carry themselves and the way our students are able to perform their work without having to be handheld along the way,” Miller said. “So, they're really able to get that done right away because of a lot of these innovations we've made in our program.” 

Outside the classroom, Bauer has a culture of community through its student organizations, including SPO. Students in the organization get access to enrichment opportunities and connections to corporate partners.  

In terms of guidance, SPO has a family program and a mentorship program. In the family program, upperclassmen mentor and coach the underclassmen. In the mentorship program, students are paired one-on-one with Bauer alumni who are industry professionals. 

“It's a great way for our alumni to be able to give back to the program as well,” Miller said.  “And I know our alumni love that interaction, being able to give back to the program where they earned their degree.”

In order to cultivate a program that makes students career-ready, many courses have experiential components to them, Senior Professor of Practice Bradley Miller said.

In order to cultivate a program that makes students career-ready, many courses have experiential components to them, Senior Professor of Practice Bradley Miller said.

Moving forward, Espinosa looks forward to continuing to support Bauer students and hopes to do more one-on-one mentoring.