frontline innovations drive business solutions

At Chevron, innovation and success are powered by the company’s people—each brings unique skills, perspectives and experiences to help meet the world’s growing demand for energy. Every day, employees are finding creative solutions to problems, some drawing on skills gained and lessons learned in the military.

Meet Adam Ersepke, Jeremy Lenart, John Kolichis and Cody Winberg, four of the Chevron employees who have put knowledge and experience gained during their military service around the world into action for Chevron.

When Jeremy Lenart isn’t golfing, fishing or hunting with his daughters in southeast Louisiana, he’s got his eye on helicopters and drones. The former U.S. Marine sergeant is an aircraft mechanic with Chevron in the Gulf of America, where he works on helicopters—and lives out a childhood dream.

“There are two things I’ve always wanted to be,” said Lenart, “a Marine and a helicopter mechanic. So I did both.”

Lenart still incorporates the lessons he learned as a Marine into his daily work in the Gulf—particularly lessons about discipline, integrity and attention to detail.

“Working on aircraft takes a lot of those. You can’t cut corners, because people’s lives are at stake,” he said.

Lenart is now a certified drone pilot in the Gulf. And he was tapped to help launch Chevron’s drone program, which uses drones for aerial inspections. Using drones saves personnel hours and reduces human exposure to high-risk offshore environments, such as heights or scaffolding. Lenart also has used drones to create 3D models of offshore resources as reference materials for Chevron engineers.

Not surprisingly, Lenart’s work with drones pairs well with his work on Chevron’s helicopters. “We’re also using drones to take aerial footage for our operations team or for pilots to know what type of vessel they’re landing on,” he explained.

Adam Ersepke’s former job as an infantry rifleman in the U.S. Marine Corps is very different from his current job as a senior performance engineer at Chevron. But there are some essential skills he learned as a Marine that carry over to innovating in Chevron’s shale and tight business.

“The biggest is being able to come up with new ways to solve problems under pressure,” he said. “And when these problems evolve and there’s no clear-cut solution, you have to leverage the people around you to help solve them.”

One problem Ersepke encountered in the Permian Basin involved considerable amounts of data coming in from Chevron’s wells and wells the company co-owns with other businesses in the region. Chevron has a revenue interest in one of every five wells in the region, so there’s a lot of data available. The information itself represents an opportunity to learn more about well performance. But data used to arrive in formats that were difficult to manage or even sift through.

Ersepke and his team helped create two AI-powered tools to make data-managing easier. “Now, engineers get a summary of daily activity data and trends,” he explained. “And AI can extract key data from drilling reports. The data displays in a filterable way for engineers to conduct analysis from nearby wells.”

Having this kind of information on hand is a big help to engineers because, in Ersepke’s words, “it allows engineers to focus on actual engineering rather than data mining.”

John Kolichis has served in Australia’s Army Reserves for more than 20 years. When not in uniform, he works at Wheatstone—the country’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) hub. Wheatstone, together with fellow LNG project Gorgon, supplies nearly half of Western Australia’s domestic gas, helping power homes and industries.

The economic ripple effect of Wheatstone’s impact goes beyond energy. It has created local jobs and awarded more than 300 contracts to Australian businesses. “Knowing how important what we do is for our state services and economy adds some pressure,” said Kolichis. “But it’s also very rewarding and provides a sense of purpose.”

Kolichis notes that he feels a strong sense of teamwork and discipline among his peers, qualities he says are non-negotiables when it comes to succeeding both as a drone operator in the Australian Army Reserves and at work.

Cody Winberg, a Chevron measurement specialist and former member of the military police for the Colorado Army National Guard, takes pride in being disciplined and accountable. “My daily routine involves close collaboration with field teams, hands-on measurement support and proactive engagement with operations,” Winberg said. “I strive to be a reliable resource for both technical troubleshooting and continuous improvement initiatives.”

Working with his unit in the Colorado Army National Guard, Winberg provided riot patrol at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, conducted security missions in Iraq and participated in humanitarian missions in Haiti. Winberg’s problem-solving and commitment to making things better have also led to game-changing solutions in Colorado’s DJ Basin, where he works.

He says that his work on the RM3 Tool was one of the most significant innovations he’s contributed to. Before the tool was introduced, flow meters used an approach that involved less efficient recalibration.

“With the RM3 Tool, we’ve actually been able to get a better look at the performance of the meter over time,” Winberg said. “This means calibrations can be done less frequently, improving efficiency and costs.”

Many veterans have found a home at Chevron and in the oil and gas industry as a whole. Cody Winberg has an idea why.

“I think it’s the camaraderie that you build,” he said. “When a lot of people get out of the military, the camaraderie, that team mentality, is one of the hardest things to lose. To me, there was something about the oil and gas world that still had a level of teamwork that a lot of veterans strive for.”

Brandon Dutreix, president of Chevron’s Veteran Employee Network, described the impact veterans have at Chevron: “I’ve seen veterans become catalysts for change, bringing their military training into roles where they inspire collaboration, drive performance and foster inclusion,” he said. “Their presence strengthens our culture and reminds us that leadership isn’t confined to titles—it’s about showing up, owning the mission and lifting others along the way.”