At SAM, we’re proud to serve the oil and gas industry with comprehensive surveying and geospatial services that help our clients move quickly and safely—from early-stage design through construction and as-built documentation. One of the key people leading the charge is Jennifer Ward-Nusz, RPLS, Director of Energy Operations in our Midland, TX office.
Jennifer has been with SAM for six years and is licensed in Texas and New Mexico. With nearly two decades of experience in the energy industry, she provides a level of dependability that clients and coworkers appreciate. Since joining the company, she’s overseen more than 150 projects, many of them fast-paced, multi-phase efforts that require deep technical knowledge, flexibility, and strong communication.
“I’m very client focused,” Jennifer said. “If you keep clients happy, everything else falls in line.”
That client-first mindset has made Jennifer a trusted partner to clients. From preliminary layouts to final as-builts, she’s helped clients navigate everything from congested pipeline corridors to extensive regulatory documentation.
One standout project was a 18-mile pipeline as-built that involved months of fieldwork and the detailed mapping of thousands of welds, each one catalogued with several layers of unique metadata. Accurate data is not only important for compliance purposes, it creates efficiencies and enhances safety on future projects. “To some people, it may seem like just a bunch of paperwork,” Jennifer joked, “but we understand the accuracy requirements of not just the measurements, but the information as well.”
Jennifer also serves as a mentor to her team, helping newer staff understand the pace and complexity of Oil & Gas projects. “Sometimes, it doesn’t move like most projects,” she explained. “Managing a lot of data, staying on schedule, and keeping everyone informed – it can be fast and furious.” Her advice to employees beginning a career in energy is to ask questions. “When you’re working on an Oil & Gas project and have questions, don’t be afraid to reach out to someone. We have a lot of people in the company that have been doing this work for a long time. We are happy to share what we know.”
As Oil & Gas work in the Permian Basin and beyond continues to ramp up, Jennifer says SAM is ready.
“We’ve made some adjustments to better serve our Oil & Gas clients,” she said. “The company has done a great job of showing they are committed to this. We are geared up to take it on. We’ve got people across the country who are experienced and ready to go. We’re excited!”