Matt Gelotti
The seeds of Matt Gelotti’s interest in the oil and gas industry were sown during a childhood spent moving from place to place as his father worked for Mobil Oil Corp. as a petroleum engineer. From his family’s roots in western Pennsylvania—in the heart of today’s Marcellus shale play—to years spent in California, Houston, Denver, Stavanger, Norway, and Jakarta, Indonesia, Gelotti developed an ease with a mix of cultures and people in the melting pot of international schools.
Today, his adaptability and ability to make friends quickly work to his advantage at Aon Energy, the largest insurance broker and risk-management-service company in the industry. He is a vice president with responsibilities in new-client development, client advocacy and account management. He consults on risk management for every sector of the industry, from the upstream to downstream to utilities to legal.
His family returned to Houston permanently when he was 13, and he went on to earn his BA in business from Southwestern University, in Georgetown, Texas. A baseball player since Little League in Stavanger and throughout high school and college, after graduation he spent two years in minor league baseball. Then it was time, as he puts it, to enter the “real world.”
After a stint at a small insurance broker where he focused on health care, he landed a job at Aon and soon moved into the energy sector, his long-held goal. He says the best part of his job is the people—both those he works with and those he meets every day in the industry. “They are the leaders who are really out in front, creating this energy marketplace,” he says.
Gelotti spoke with Oil and Gas Investor recently about the breadth of his work, his leadership of the fast-growing Young Professionals in Energy group, and his advice for students and young professionals.
Investor What’s a major focus in your day-to-day work with Aon Energy?
Gelotti I spend much of my time meeting with potential clients and senior executives at energy companies. My group and I try to determine potential client needs and build the best service team possible to solve their issues. It’s roughly a six-month to year-and-a-half cycle to come up with the best strategy, so it’s an exciting thing to do.
Investor How has the recent downturn affected your clients?
Gelotti With challenged commodity prices, a lot of companies have put projects on the back burner—the capital isn’t there or they are cutting back on future spending. Everyone is focused on being more efficient in how they spend their insurance dollars.
Investor What’s the key to your business?
Gelotti Our business is predicated on relationships. Sometimes we may have the best idea and service team, but not the best relationship—and at the end of the day, many times the relationship factor wins out. You have to develop credibility and trust to be successful. If you don’t have either, it’s difficult.
Investor You’re the Houston chapter president of a burgeoning organization, Young Professionals in Energy. What are its initiatives?
Gelotti YPE was founded in 2005 by two young energy professionals in the finance business. It started off with roughly 200 or so young professionals meeting once a month for happy hour. Today, we have 20 chapters worldwide and a membership base of more than 10,000. We coordinate monthly breakfast meetings, happy hours, a golf tournament, and our main event, our Fall Executive Leadership Reception. This fall we organized a panel of speakers from the energy business to debate the current cap-and-trade legislation.
Investor Have you benefited from a mentor in your career?
Gelotti Yes, Jimmy Winters, a senior vice president who works with me at AON, has guided me to be a better person not only at work but also outside of the office.
Investor What did you learn from baseball?
Gelotti Be absolutely humble. The minute I even tried to think I was great there would be a challenge bringing me back down to earth. A batting coach told me, if you get three hits out of 10 at bats, you’re a hall of famer. When in reality, you’re failing more times than you’re being successful. You have to learn to deal with it, get up and continue pressing on. It’s not as difficult for me handling failure because I had a lot harder challenges from my time in baseball.
Investor How do you spend your free time?
Gelotti I stay busy with my wife and two daughters; I also play golf, hunt and fish. I’m also involved with a Houston charity, Young Texans Against Cancer.
Investor What advice do you have for young people starting out?
Gelotti Be a good listener and take constructive criticism well. Listen to those who have been there and done it—they have found success in their careers and will not lead you astray.