Margy Lam is a second-generation pioneer in the oil and gas industry. Following in the footsteps of her father, who was a geophysicist and exploratory oil and gas engineer, Lam is at the forefront of a new frontier, harnessing the power of data analytics to redefine the landscape of energy banking.
While her father always encouraged her to be an engineer, Lam had other ideas. "I decided I didn't want to do engineering, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to study instead. Business was a little more interesting to me at the time," she recalled.
Despite her father's urging, Lam majored in finance at the University of Denver in Colorado. "I didn't know how I'd use my degree, but I wanted to try something different," she said.
Although Lam hadn't planned on an oil and gas career, her path took a surprising turn after she graduated during the financial crisis. "Energy was one of the few industries hiring at the time, so I returned to Oklahoma and found a job in oil and gas,” she explained. “It's funny the turns your life takes."
Charting the next frontier
After working for an oil company, Lam joined BOK Financial® and ultimately collaborated on a three-year effort to design and implement a data warehouse capturing the bank's oil and gas portfolio evaluations. This effort centralized the historical and forecast data for over 200,000 wells previously stored across offices, empowering BOK Financial to better analyze risks in forecast production, pricing and expenses, and helping to improve lending outcomes.
"BOK Financial has done an excellent job of recognizing that data analytics is truly the next frontier, and that we need to dive into it," said Lam.
Like her father before her, Lam is a pioneer in exploring uncharted territory.
“When you're in oil and gas, you have an exploratory ‘cowboy’ mentality. My dad certainly had it. Data analytics and AI (artificial intelligence) are the next frontiers that everybody's exploring right now.”- Margy Lam, manager of energy data analytics at BOK Financial
The data warehouse that Lam helped build has been a boon for the business. "Our engineering team previously relied on their own experiences to evaluate risk, but now our entire energy portfolio's history and forecasts are available to them," she explained. "Now that we have so much more information at our fingertips, we're thinking about how to get even better at serving our colleagues in credit and lending."
Expanding her ability to lead in this new area, she was recently promoted to manager of energy data analytics, a role in which she oversees all BOK Financial engineering analysts and energy data analysts.
Embracing the unknown
Despite her deep pedigree in the industry, Lam says her comfort with the unknown is the thing that makes her great at her job.
“Things are going to change. That's not just the nature of this industry but of life in general. Being able to overcome those changes quickly and embracing the new way of doing things is crucial to innovating.”- Margy Lam, manager of energy data analytics at BOK Financial
Sam Hewes, Lam’s former manager and one of the engineering managers at BOK Financial, agreed. "Quite honestly, there are only a few individuals I have met over the last 50 years with her passion for learning and applying new skills to emerging opportunities," he said. "Her innate intelligence, ability to understand the big picture and translate it into meaningful opportunities puts Lam at the cutting edge of the energy industry."
A legacy of embracing technology
Lam also relishes new experiences in her personal life. Seven years ago, as a side project, she and her husband launched a podcast exploring their guests' defining moments. After initially doing every aspect of production herself, Lam now streamlines her work using artificial intelligence (AI), an experience that has reinforced her view that embracing technology can make life better.
"Technology shifts are a good thing to embrace,” she said. “You can leverage the changing environment to your benefit. AI has helped us so much that we can keep doing this podcast despite our busy lives."
Since starting the podcast, Lam and her husband, Hoang Lam, have interviewed everyone from their neighbor to the Governor of Oklahoma.
Lam sees her job, her relationship with Hoang and the podcast as ways to use her unique talents to help people. "My gifts are different from other people's. My experience in oil and gas, the ability to innovate and navigate new industries and the desire to tell people's stories can help me make a difference," she said.
Giving back is a value she gleaned from her parents and one that she and Hoang plan to lean into with their own family.
“Margy oozes purpose more than the average human being,” said Hoang. “While a lot of people have the desire to help, not everyone takes action.” Lam acts decisively when it comes to helping, whether it’s something small like returning someone’s shopping cart or bigger like mentoring through Girls on the Run, a nonprofit which empowers young women by building confidence, kindness and decision-making skills.
"I've decided to use my talents to help other people,” said Lam. “It's an amazing mission to have in life."
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