Shell PH Country Chair Lorelie Quiambao-Osial: Steering Shell's recovery and growth through turbulent times

Women have been proving their mettle as powerful leaders – through turbulent times and more so, in the toughest of seasons. The corporate world so to speak, has been one unsparing battleground for C-suite female executives – primarily in navigating the tough challenges of a global pandemic and the subsequent Russia-Ukraine war, that in essence, had not only turned the world upside down; but these unfortunate events also put many businesses to a screeching halt.And most, if not all companies, had been confronted with catastrophe-engulfed recovery and growth. Just more than a year into the post, yet that had been the all-too-familiar business milieu that Shell Philippines Country Chair Lorelie Quiambao-Osial had to wade through in steering their company through the disruptive blitz of economic recuperation. “I started in the role just over a year ago, and it has been a pivotal moment taking on the role during a crisis and leading the organization out of a crisis into recovery and transition,” she enthused. Manifestly though, she’s not exactly new into that territory – primarily if we circle back to the perplexing assignments in war-torn Iraq as well as in Iranthat she had to live throughfor years – that was before she was called back home to take the helm of Shell companies in the Philippines. “I stepped into the role while we were still in a pandemic.  Ensuring that we had continued care for the health and well-being (physical, mental, social) of our around 5,000 employees and extending that to their families through Covid and typhoon Odette (in December 2021) was very important,” the Shell top executive narrated. The cardinal game plan she had primed the organization to pursue was “ensuring we take a measured approach and a learner mindset to the ‘future-of-work’ providing flexible work options for employees while balancing team collaboration and ensuring that everyone can safely perform at their best.” Inadvertently, what came next was an even more nightmarish war that precipitated an exasperating global energy crisis – a painful geopolitical event that had not only impacted the post-Covid economic recovery aspirations of countries, butthat proved to be more agonizing in the pockets of consumers. “The Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War has ushered uncertainty and volatility,” Osial noted. Yet amid these gut-wrenching conditions, her determination to guide Shell Philippines into its recovery path never waned – not just for the benefit of the consumers; but for the sake of advancing the country’s energy security goals. “We are persevering in our refreshed and refocused strategy to meet the current needs of our customers and power progress for the Filipinos. Despite the challenges and volatility, we have ensured security of supply of quality products and services; and in the past year continued to strengthen our mobility network and supply chain,” she stressed. Moving forward, Osial shared that “we are growing our non-fuels business and providing more solutions for the evolving needs of our customers such as electric vehicle charging.  We have ventured into renewable energy through our power trading business and joint ventures to pursue onshore solar and offshore wind opportunities.” She similarly highlighted that “sustainability is another area we have focused on as we reduce the carbon emissions in our own operations and in the products we sell.  Our Shell Business Operations here in Manila, that supports over 50 countries around the world, has also been growing in the past year.” Given all the transformative business portfolios that Shell is currently pursuing in the Philippines, Osial confidently asserted that “our portfolio is changing, we are here to stay and we are here to grow.” Shell’s social contract for improvement and quality lifewith its host communities is another core platform in the business strategy that Osial has been championing. “Beyond our business, we care for the communities.  We have supported our communities through disaster relief and rehabilitation as we were hit by several typhoons - typhoon Odette being one of the more notable ones,” she narrated, emphasizing that “we partnered with various government organizations to strengthen community safety standards; and we worked closely with Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. (PSFI), our social development arm in programs on solar lights and social development and in flagship programs for the youth, entrepreneurs and in promoting innovation,” she conveyed. Like a mother who protects and guides her children with tender loving care, Osial has been applying the same formula on her leadership’s‘art of war’ within the internal realm of the Shell organization; as well as with external partners – primarily the consumers; host communities and the Philippine government. The business acumen she had exhibited through the roller-coaster chapters of global cataclysms that had been compounded by domestic concerns, had demonstrated her unwavering determination to stay focused on the big picture and her willingness to take bold moves to shepherd Shell into its safe haven of resilience and further advancements.