Interviewer: Jacob Campbell

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Mr. Conner was referred by Ronnie Rhodes; the two worked on many service jobs together. Ronnie said that Joel would be a good engineer to talk to. We met at Starbuck’s – there are two audio files for this interview, because we moved out on the patio to escape the noise of the shop, and the second file begins outside. Joel continues to work for Baker-Hughes, mostly in training, and has a large network of friends and colleagues in Houma through the oil industry. He was a willing participant in the project and provided valuable information.

Mr. Conner was born in 1946 in Abbeville, LA. His father was a career military officer, and Joel served in the Vietnam War. He attended Texas A&M, acquiring a degree in electrical engineering. In 1969 he took a job with Dresser Atlas, doing electrical measuring and petro-physics. In 1971 he moved to Lafayette as the offshore fields began to pick up. Baker-Hughes bought out Dresser Atlas and he stayed on. In 1975, he attended a four month school in Houston to learn new technologies for measuring fields and production. In 1977 he worked testing new instruments and reporting equipment. By the late ‘80s and ‘90s, Joel began working as a trainer for Baker-Hughes all over the world. He was instrumental in building the company’s employee development program, and making it an important priority. He designed the company’s mentoring program in 2005.