We’re excited to welcome Deena as a new member of the Future 500 board. With about 30 years of experience in the energy industry and a deep commitment to bringing people together across different perspectives, she’ll help strengthen Future 500’s work toward meaningful, lasting progress.
Finding Common Ground in a Changing Energy Landscape
“The best solutions don’t come from any one perspective. They come from bringing people together, listening to different points of view, and finding common ground.”
That belief has shaped Deena’s work across three decades in energy and sustainability: navigating competing priorities and helping people find ways forward, even when they don’t agree on everything.
Finding the Path to This Work
Earlier in her career, Deena lived and worked in the Arctic, working both with and for First Nations communities and organizations on oil and gas development, land management, and resource planning.
That experience helped shape the questions that have guided her work ever since: How do we balance economic development, community well-being, and environmental stewardship? And how do we find solutions that account for the people and priorities involved?
Deena has spent about 30 years in the energy industry, including 20 years at ConocoPhillips. Her last decade there focused on environmental assurance and sustainable development, bringing those questions into her day-to-day work.
More recently, she joined Energy Dialogues, where she brings together leaders from industry, government, finance, and other sectors to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing energy today.
Across those experiences, the thread has remained consistent. “What has kept me engaged throughout my career is the belief that real progress happens when we are willing to listen, challenge our own thinking, and find ways to move forward, even when we don’t agree on everything.”
Why Future 500
Deena first connected with Future 500 through her work in energy and sustainability. What resonated was its ability to bring people together across differences, creating the conditions for a conversation rather than assuming agreement from the start.
“I’ve always appreciated their ability to bring together people who may be on different sides of an issue and create an environment for open, honest dialogue built on trust.”
As she joins the board, that approach feels especially relevant. “I’m excited to be joining the Future 500 board at a time when bringing people together across different perspectives feels more important than ever.”
Perspectives on the Field
Lately, Deena has been thinking about how to make meaningful progress amid growing energy demand, political divides, and a changing conversation around the energy transition.
These aren’t new questions in her career. But the circumstances keep changing, and she believes the work requires a willingness to keep learning.
“How do we find solutions that work for people, the environment, and the economy in what sometimes feels like an increasingly polarized world?”
Part of the challenge, she says, is recognizing how closely those priorities are connected. Energy decisions are also environmental, community, and economic decisions. Treating them as separate issues can obscure the trade-offs involved.
“There are no simple answers or one-size-fits-all solutions.”
For Deena, moving forward means understanding those connections and finding practical solutions that account for competing needs, rather than expecting one perspective to provide the whole answer.
Building Trust Across Differences
Deena describes the starting point simply: listen, and genuinely try to understand where someone else is coming from.
But understanding doesn’t necessarily lead to agreement, and agreement isn’t always what produces the strongest outcome. “Consensus is rare and often it’s the differences that lead to better solutions.”
The harder lesson is that the process rarely follows a straight line. Progress takes time. Interests evolve. The goals people are working toward, and even the conditions surrounding the conversation, can change along the way.
In that environment, staying engaged matters.
“Sometimes the biggest achievement is simply getting people to listen to each other, build relationships, and stay engaged in finding solutions.”
That doesn’t mean losing sight of results. It means recognizing that relationships and continued dialogue can be meaningful progress, especially when the issues are difficult and the divisions run deep.
Perspectives That Challenge the Field
Deena would like to see more open conversations about the costs, benefits, and trade-offs involved in meeting growing energy demand while advancing environmental and sustainability goals.
That requires room to examine difficult choices without rushing toward a single, definitive answer.
“We become so focused on finding the ‘right’ answer for today that we lose sight of broader perspectives, long term implications and changing environment. We stop being curious!”
For Deena, curiosity is part of doing the work well. It means questioning assumptions, considering what might change, and remaining open to perspectives that complicate an otherwise straightforward conclusion.
Her career has centered on these challenges, but she is still asking questions. There are no easy answers, and the choices continue to evolve.
Looking Ahead
Over the next ten years, Deena hopes Future 500 continues to be a trusted space where people with very different perspectives can have honest conversations and build relationships.
But she also hopes those connections lead to something beyond the conversation itself.
“Even more importantly, I’d love to see those relationships translate into meaningful collaboration and real progress on some of our most challenging environmental and societal issues.”
It’s that connection between dialogue and action that she looks forward to supporting as a board member.
A Personal Note
Earlier in her career, Deena believed that bringing the right information and technical expertise to the table could lead to the right solution.
Experience has changed that view.
“Over time, I’ve learned that facts and expertise are only part of the equation. Listening, understanding different perspectives, and building trust are just as important, and often what ultimately makes progress possible.”
The shift hasn’t been away from expertise, but toward a fuller understanding of what makes it useful. Information matters. So do the relationships that allow people to work through what that information means for them.
“There is no ‘right’ answer.”
For Deena, progress comes from staying curious, listening across differences, and remaining willing to find a way forward together.
