Jack Gerard: A Career of Punching Above His Weight

 

 

By John Siciliano

March 20, 2018 - Those who know Jack Gerard, the oil industry’s top lobbyist, credit him with nothing short of changing the face of lobbying in Washington.

 

Jack Gerard

And he did it with integrity and without one scandal. A rarity in this town.

Even if one doesn’t buy the idea of one man changing the face of modern lobbying, anyone involved in the energy sector has to admit that while administrations may come and go, Jack always remains.

That is, until August. Gerard, 60, will step down from his decade-long gig as CEO of the American Petroleum Institute later this year. He is retiring from the long stint as the head of the top trade group for some of the world's largest energy companies as well as those that helped usher in the shale oil and natural gas revolution.

Gerard told the Washington Examiner in an interview on the sidelines of the CERAWeek conference in Houston this month that he hopes his legacy will be one of respect.

“I think there are two keys to being successful in Washington,” Gerard said. “One’s hard work, and the other is integrity.”

The result of those two key areas coming together is “respect,” which is the legacy, or tone, he hopes to leave behind.

“On occasion, you will disagree on issues. There are many people on Capitol Hill and the previous administration, where we didn’t agree on the issues, but we had mutual respect for each other’s position, because we operated under the principles of integrity and hard work," he said.

Gerard wants that to continue after he leaves. “I hope everybody knows that when they asked us a question … we were very straightforward, we were candid, and we were always honest.”

He said the Obama administration and some lawmakers may have disagreed with API, but they understood that “we were respectful in the process.”

Gerard said if people say he is “predictable,” he takes that as “a positive,” because it means “we aren’t ebbing and flowing with the pressures that occur.” His focus has always been the American consumer, “because ultimately you are trying to benefit our economy, our society, and people at large.”

That attitude has evolved across a number of industry groups he has led, where he changed their focus from holding conferences to becoming active and engaged advocates.

Before his long tenure in oil and gas, Gerard represented the coal and mining industries as president and CEO of the National Mining Association, where he began his legacy of changing how trade associations function in Washington.

Back then, trade associations were perhaps more bloated than nimble when it came to regulatory and legislative fights. Gerard looked to change that.

“He was very influential on focusing trade groups on advocacy,” said National Mining Association spokesman Luke Popovich, who was one of Gerard’s first hires in the late 1990s.

Before that, trade groups were more focused on publications, holding meetings, and having conferences at expensive resorts, Popovich said.

“Wherever he went, he focused on advocacy,” Popovich said. “It’s not about hosting meetings” anymore.

Gerard firmly believed that a trade association is supposed “to move the needle for industry here in Washington,” Popovich said. And because of that intense focus, “we punched above our weight when he was here.”

Tackling New Energy Issues

API is punching harder under Gerard. Whoever fills Gerard's shoes will take on many more issues than when he started in 2008. Back then, fracking and the shale natural gas revolution were in their infancy.

A group that represented the largest independent shale gas producers, America’s Natural Gas Alliance, was subsumed by Gerard’s group in 2016, turning API into the largest oil industry group in Washington.

More recently, API has taken on leadership for new issues such as oil and natural gas exports after the U.S. became a net natural gas exporter earlier this year.

API also has moved into electricity policy as natural gas becomes the the dominant fuel for electricity in the U.S. Natural gas use has cut greenhouse gas emissions to 25-year lows, Gerard points out.

“Our great success in lowering carbon emissions in the United States wasn’t because of regulation, but because of abundant, affordable natural gas,” Gerard said.

“We are looking at the vast supply we have, you see the market moving there, particularly with natural gas,” he said. “You see the market moving there, because it’s clean burning, abundant, [and] affordable.”

API was part of a broad coalition that opposed a Trump administration proposal to provide market incentives to coal and nuclear power through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-overseen markets. It was the first time API waded into a major fight over electricity policy at FERC.

Nevertheless, Gerard doesn’t oppose nuclear power and coal. He says he supports an “all-of-the-above” energy policy. “What we don’t need is the government picking winners and losers one over another,” he said.

“My sense is what the president is doing is trying to fulfill a campaign promise, where he promised those out in the coal country, who are all good friends of mine, that ‘hey, the other side of this debate said we were going to put you out of work.’ He doesn’t want to put them out of work. But we also have to let the market forces bare out.”

A balance needs to be struck between coal and natural gas as part of the nation’s energy mix, he said. The goal should be to benefit American consumers with low energy prices. And that can occur only by allowing the free market to work, which favors the most competitive and least-expensive fuel, he said.

Doubling Down

Gerard oversaw changes to API’s business structure and organization to consider new issues as well as the growing geopolitical reach of the industry.

“We’ve actually doubled what we call our segments,” he said. Before, API had only upstream and downstream segments, with one following production trends and the other tracking developments affecting the retail market, such as gasoline sales.

“Now, we have upstream. We have midstream, a lot of folks on the pipeline infrastructure issues today. Downstream. And we’ve added market development, which is really the marketing of, particularly, natural gas resources.” That includes the permitting of liquefied natural gas export terminals, Gerard said.

That new segment also includes infrastructure issues such as moving natural gas from Pennsylvania to the coast for export and even to plants and facilities for domestic manufacturing, Gerard said.

“Energy is a key driver behind our manufacturing renaissance. We shouldn’t forget that, either,” he said. “So, there are lots of opportunities out there."

"People tend to think of us as oil and gas association, which we are, but look at the companies we represent, they are in all spaces of the energy equation — solar, wind, renewables, they do them all,” he said. “So, we view ourselves as a true energy association.”

'Key is Opportunity, Not Government Intervention'

Gerard maintains ties with the different industry sectors he has represented, despite the increased competition between sectors, such as the the coal industry and oil and natural gas sector.

Gerard sees coal country becoming a major natural gas producer, with the development of large amounts of shale in the Appalachian states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.

“Pennsylvania is a major natural gas producer. Ten years ago, no one would have thought that possible,” Gerard said. “West Virginia, over time, is becoming more and more a natural gas state. I think people when they hear West Virginia, they think coal country. It is coal country, but it’s also becoming natural gas country.”

Gerard said as more natural gas is produced in those states, it will fuel job growth in the communities there. “The key is opportunity, not government intervention," he said.

“We are communicating with the coal industry all the time,” he said. “I consider them friends, and we talk about the energy future of this country. We talk about the trends, what markets are doing, what various forms of fuel are doing in that marketplace."

“But as you look at it holistically, one of the great enjoyments I’ve had working in the oil and gas space is to see this American energy renaissance occur."

“In my career, I’ve seen that all come to a head now, where I’m able to work in all those spaces, but to really see America as a country prosper, and the American people as consumers reap and receive great benefit, because ultimately the price benefits go to them,” Gerard added.

He also represents an oil industry that is becoming a bigger global player. Natural gas exports are expected to soar this year, and the U.S. is expected to overtake Russia as the world's largest crude oil producer in 2023, according to the International Energy Agency.

Not only will that affect energy security, as nations look to the U.S. as an important, stable energy partner, but the environmental benefits are also huge, with more countries using clean-burning natural gas, Gerard noted.

He said he has become more attuned to the concerns of foreign countries, which are now customers, while still paying close attention to rivals such as OPEC.

Raising Trade Groups' Stature

Like the mining group, Popovich said Gerard raised the influence of the American Chemistry Council, which recruited him from the National Mining Association in 2005.

He also simultaneously raised the stature of the trade association president.

Trade association presidents had been seen more as a senior staff position, Popovich noted. Gerard changed that by making the post equal to industry member CEOs, such as Exxon Mobil, Dow, and Peabody.

“He has done his jobs well and thoughtfully and treated people well. In D.C., both of those are rare,” said Michael McKenna, a conservative energy and environmental consultant in Washington, once considered for a post in the Trump Cabinet.

“I’m not sure what more you can ask for. I think Jack has been, over the course of his career, a champion of good policy,” McKenna added. “Moreover, he has been a very good person. Always thinking about things and people beyond himself and his problems.”

'Best' or Just 'Better?'

It’s “all about priorities,” Gerard told the Washington Examiner. “I operate under the motto of an old friend, who said, ‘It’s all about good, better, best.’ In life, you focus on the best things in life. You can do a lot of good things, do a lot of better things in life, but really stay focused on the best, because when you prioritize your decisions, your time allocations, the way you spend your time, you only have time for the best.”

Many of those priorities involve his family and fatherhood, and balancing that with running a successful operation in Washington.

“My family has always been a priority. My faith is a big part of who we are as a family, what we represent. And then, of course, my work,” Gerard said. “I find great satisfaction and joy, and my family does as well, but we’re all in it together.”

He has eight children, with the adoption of twin boys from Guatemala.

“We’ve got grandkids now,” he said. “We like to travel together. We enjoy each other's company. I think we have been able to find a reasonable balance.”

Last year, he took his family to Jordan and Israel, where they saw the fabled city of Petra in Jordan and journeyed to the holy cities of Nazareth and Jerusalem.

That balance in life, along with a strong sense of discipline, Gerard believes, is the key to a successful career.

He also believes in giving back by focusing on service. “I’m the chairman of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption. I spend a lot of time working on adoption issues both domestically and globally. We do a lot of service in our community, about helping the homeless, feeding the hungry and the poor,” he said. “To me, that’s what brings real fulfillment in life.”

What's Next?

Gerard will use his remaining time at API to continue to expand its mission and scope, while looking for an adequate replacement to fill his shoes. He also does not plan to remove himself from the advocacy game completely when he retires and is considering new challenges.

“I’ve had a great run at the API. It’s been one of the great fulfillments of my professional career to be there 10 years,” he said.

 

“As I move on, I’ll look on to the next challenge. I’ll look for other opportunities that are out there," he said. "Right now, my primary focus is on making sure we have a smooth transition, assist in identifying my successor, and in that process make sure we don’t miss a beat.” 

 

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