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A few years into her career, Regina Davis made a mistake that could have gotten her fired—or so she feared at the time. Instead, it became an impactful lesson in servant leadership.
“I discovered that I’d overlooked a number in an important report to ExxonMobil management, which changed the entire calculation, and my heart dropped,” Davis says.”I was close to tears. In my mind, I’d made a huge mistake, and I thought they were going to fire me. But the global planning manager’s response sticks with me to this day. She said, ‘OK, let’s figure out how we respond to this.’
“She could have flown off the handle or been indifferent. Instead, she took the time to work toward a resolution while also speaking words of encouragement to me. She even became a bit of a cheerleader.” Instead of crying, Davis felt empowered. More importantly, the incident provided her with a model for servant leadership that she would use in later roles.
Today, as manager of ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Refinery, she proactively seeks opportunities for growth when mistakes happen.
“To paraphrase Michelle Obama,” she says, “success isn’t about how much money you make; it’s about the difference you make in people’s lives. Don’t get me wrong—we’re in a business. I want to have the safest, most reliable and most profitable operation. But the primary motive of a servant leader is to help people get to their full potential and to provide them with the means to get there.”
At a personal level, Davis understands the impact one person can have on another. She wouldn’t be where she is today without someone else’s help. “During a summer camp in middle school, several ladies in the community took their time to tell us about their careers,” she says. “It ultimately put me on the path to becoming an engineer, even though at the time I didn’t really understand what an engineer did.”
She would go on to earn a degree in chemical engineering at Louisiana Tech University as a first-generation college graduate, then land her first gig at ExxonMobil’s Chalmette Refining as a process contact engineer. While there, she would be promoted to roles of increasing responsibility, while also earning her MBA from the University of New Orleans.
In 2008, Davis was transferred to Fairfax, Virginia, and then in 2012 to the ExxonMobil refinery in Beaumont, Texas. In 2017, she relocated to the Strathcona Refinery in Edmonton, Alberta, where over a period of years she would be promoted from technical manager to operations manager and eventually to plant manager in 2021.
It’s no wonder that Davis has become a champion for women and minorities in industry. She plays a critical role in ExxonMobil’s annual “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day,” participates on the Capital Area United Way’s Women United Executive Committee, mentors female students at Thrive Academy, and tutors in math at Istrouma Middle Magnet School. “I love having conversations with young women and finding out their interests,” she says. “And if they’re interested in science or math, I encourage them to think about a STEM career, and potentially engineering.”
In the process, Davis hopes to give others the same “leg up” she was given back in middle school. “I have an extreme need to give back because of the impact that people had on me when I was younger,” she says. “My passion is the underserved community, and in particular females. That’s what resonates with my heart.”
