College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

• International oil

  Even after retirement, Richard Matzke stays active in the international oil business.



• For 40 years Richard Matzke was a Chevron man.
  
  The 1959 Iowa State geology graduate joined Chevron right out of college.
  
  "This was my first job out of school," he said. "I was a well site geologist in Louisiana."
  
  Matzke didn't stay a well site geologist for long. He advanced through a number of leadership positions in Chevron (now ChevronTexaco) in exploration, economics, research and corporate planning.
  
  But it was after serving as vice president of Chevron Chemical Company that Matzke's career took a different turn. While he was still working for Chevron, his interests changed.
  
  "Midway through my career I got involved in Chevron's international activities," he said. "The last 20 years at Chevron I spent acquiring new projects for the company outside U.S."
  
  That role saw Matzke serve in executive positions as director of Caltex Pacific Indonesia, president of Chevron Canada Resources Ltd., and president of Chevron Overseas Petroleum where he was responsible for directing Chevron's oil exploration and production activities outside of North America.
  
  One of those locations was the former Soviet Union.
  
  After the collapse of that country in the 1990s, Matzke continued working with Chevron's business interests in the new country of Kazakhstan.
  
  "The oil reserves there are amazing," he said. "There are billions of barrels of oil there but Kazakhstan is land-locked from the world. It's easy to get to the oil, you just can't get it out real easily."
  
  Working closely with the various governments in these foreign countries can be tricky. But Matzke says he became adept at that.
  
  "I think my most significant contribution in the international arena was that I seemed to get along with the government officials," he said. "It wasn't geology by a long shot.
  
  "International work is very challenging," Matzke continued. "There is no cookbook for success. I had to be creative but I felt comfortable listening to others and trying to figure out what they were after.
  
  "It's an evolutionary process. Being a geologist had some contributions to whatever I did with Chevron. The international work was a learning experience and it's all rewarding. There's no reason to stop doing it just because you left the company."
  
  When Matzke left Chevron in 2002 (he retired as the company's vice chairman of the board of directors) he continued his international activities. He has been active on a number of leadership positions including chairman of the board of directors of the United States-Kazakhstan Business Association, a member of the United States-Russia Business Council and the Business Council for International Understanding.
  
  He served on the board of the American-Iranian Council, the National Committee on United States-China Relations, and was chairman of the United States-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce.
  
  And he is a member of the Board of Directors of OAO LUKoil, Russia's largest oil company. He is currently president of NESW Solutions.
  
  In 2004 he was a Council on Foreign Relations task force member that produced a report "Iran: Time for a New Approach." That task force was headed by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser, and Robert Gates, former CIA director.
  
  "As you get older the contributions you make are different from other times of your life," Matzke said. "The image of your country and what you represent replaces your own personal efforts."
  
  The Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences honored Matzke last October with its "Outstanding Alumni Award."

Ames, Iowa 50011, (515) 294-4111. Published by: University Relations, online@iastate.edu. Copyright © 1995-2004, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. All rights reserved.

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