Interviewer(s): Tyler Priest; Sam Morton. Houston, TX

Affiliation: University of Houston/History International

Mr. Frank Poorman graduated in 1949 with his masters degree in Mechanical Engineering and began working for Shell full time that same year. His first assignment after training came in 1950 to the Tulsa area and later served in Texas and Louisiana. In 1958 he transferred to the Bellaire research lab and worked on various well completion tools for offshore. In 1968 he transferred back to New Orleans to work as division production manager for the Delta division. In 1974 he became Manager for Pipe Line operations in Houston, and in 1976 he became Manager for Purchasing in the Head Office. 1979 found him back in the Southern E&P region, this time as Division Production Manager for Onshore. He stayed there only a year before becoming Production Manager in the same capacity for the Eastern E&P. Finally, in 1981 he became General Manager, Mid-Continent for Western E&P. He stayed in that position until his retirement in 2000.