When one thinks of West Texas, wind, dust, and gas stations that double as cafes are likely to come to mind. We\u2019re also willing to bet oil, gas, mineral rights, and pumpjacks as far as the eye can see will pop into that noggin, too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, when landman and PlainsCapital Bank senior vice president Kathy Robertson told me she was born in Fort Worth but grew up in a West Texas town called Dell City, I figured her vocation was a return to her roots. But it turns out, Dell City is in what Robertson dubs \u201cfar, far West Texas \u2014 on the west side of the Guadalupe Mountains. Population: 500. It\u2019s in the middle of nowhere.\u201d But it\u2019s no doubt beautiful country, and it\u2019s an area Robertson continues to regularly visit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She\u2019d make her way to the South Plains and attend Texas Tech, where she studied animal science and eventually found her way back to where it all began: Fort Worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, anyone who keeps up with what goes on below ground in Cowtown knows that Fort Worth was one heck of a place to be circa 2002, thanks to the Barnett Shale boom. Working in real estate at the time, the boom saw Robertson transition to becoming a landman after being convinced by a local developer to work for him under that capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, if you have yet to watch an episode of Taylor Sheridan\u2019s Fort Worth-filmed show \u201cLandman,\u201d don\u2019t sweat it. If you have, Robertson suggests not using it as your textbook for understanding the role of the show\u2019s titular vocation. And, though women making up on only a quarter of landmen, the work itself isn\u2019t laden with machismo energy. A landman is a mineral rights deal maker, someone who, through hours of arduous research of public and private records to determine property ownership \u2014 which can sometimes evolve into studying multipronged, multigenerational family trees \u2014 to ensure the right people receive the right compensation when the drilling and fracking begins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But after the Barnett Shale cooled off and the price of natural gas dropped, companies headed for the hills \u2014 or, Pennsylvania, toward the now-booming Marcellus Shale, to be specific.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a young daughter in junior high, so I didn\u2019t want to leave and go to Pennsylvania,\u201d Robertson says. \u201cSo, I sent my resume out to a few companies, and Petrodata Systems out of Arlington picked it up.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A niche accounting software for managing oil and gas assets, Petrodata Systems gave Robertson experience on the accounting side of the industry, while also providing her account management experience after the company \u201cdumped seven banks into my lap\u201d during a coworker\u2019s extended absence. With this welcomed responsibility, Robertson was now getting experience in every aspect of oil and gas property operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taking on more banks as clients, Robertson would eventually parlay this job into her current position. \u201cI found out that PlainsCapital Bank acquired the software and started the department. So, I applied for and got the job,\u201d says Robertson, who now serves as the company\u2019s senior vice president and manager of oil and gas property operations. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve built the department from the ground up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Robertson now manages 105 clients \u2014 of whom she could tell 105 fascinating stories about \u2014 and is a respected voice and veteran leader within the industry. As she and I were leaving the breakfast joint where we chatted, she mentioned speaking at a conference and having young women approach her, telling her, \u201cYou\u2019re a badass.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Robertson then tells me, \u201cI never thought I\u2019d be a badass at 62.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n