The recovery of the SPE Northeast India Section did not begin with a large budget, a ready-made board, or a detailed turnaround plan. It began with a simple question about the section’s status. The answer was difficult: the section had no active officer structure, had fallen into noncompliant status, and was at risk of disestablishment. The immediate need was not another statement of intent. It was a repeatable way to restore governance, recruit people who would accept responsibility, and create visible activity that members could trust.
My earlier service as president of the SPE Curtin University Student Chapter had shown me what an engaged professional community can do for students and early-career members. Although my primary affiliation was then with SPE Western Australia, I switched my primary section to SPE Northeast India and accepted the responsibility of helping rebuild it. My tenure as section chair began on 25 December 2022.
Start With the Compliance Gap, Then Build the Team
The first practical step was to turn the broad word “compliance” into a small set of visible workstreams. The section needed a board of officers, a base of active professional members, a regular meeting rhythm, technical or professional development activity, and clear ownership of administrative tasks. Rather than waiting for ideal candidates or perfect conditions, we started with individuals willing to contribute and then defined the responsibilities of each role.
Recruitment was therefore not simply a matter of filling leadership positions. Each conversation focused on the section's purpose, the expected level of effort, and the value it could deliver to members in Northeast India. In some cases, I personally covered SPE membership fees of newly recruited officers to ensure that financial barriers would not prevent committed volunteers from joining the effort. That support helped us start, but the more important task was converting initial goodwill into sustained accountability.
We formed a board, scheduled regular meetings, and maintained a working list of actions. Progress was discussed openly, responsibilities were assigned, and colleagues were encouraged to seek support early when needed. A section recovery cannot depend on one person completing every task. It needs a structure in which volunteers know what they own, understand how their work connects to compliance, and can see that others are contributing as well.
Create Momentum Through Useful Activity
Governance alone does not rebuild a professional community. Members need reasons to return. Our mission focused on professional industry engagement, exposure for young professionals and students, stronger understanding of the oil and gas industry, and improved career potential for local members. This provided the board with a practical test for proposed activities: Would the activity serve members, strengthen stakeholder relationships, or demonstrate that the section was active and engaged again?
Support from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC), Shell India, the Youth Leadership Forum–Northeast India, and the academic community helped widen the section’s reach. These relationships were most effective when the request was specific. Instead of asking stakeholders to “support the section” in general terms, we connected them with members, speakers, technical programs, student engagement, and volunteer opportunities. Specific asks made participation easier and made outcomes more visible.
The rebuilding process also required patience. Volunteer availability varied, administrative actions took time, and not every idea moved forward on the first attempt. The response was to keep the cadence steady, document the next action, and avoid allowing a delayed activity to stop the wider program. Consistency made the recovery credible.
Major Milestones
What We Learned
- Translate compliance into owned actions. A requirement becomes manageable when it has an owner, a next step, and a review date.
- Recruit for commitment, not only credentials. A smaller group of dependable volunteers can create more progress than a large board with unclear ownership.
- Build rhythm before scale. Regular meetings, action tracking, and follow-up create the operating discipline needed for larger programs.
- Make stakeholder requests specific. Partners can respond more effectively to defined needs such as membership support, speakers, venues, mentoring, or technical content.
- Plan leadership transition early. Recovery is not complete if momentum disappears when the founding team changes.
- Treat setbacks as information. Delays and unsuccessful ideas should improve the next decision, not become reasons to stop.
From Recovery to Renewal
After completing my tenure, I handed the chair position to Priyam Das, a trusted colleague from ONGC, and continued supporting the section remotely. That transition mattered because the goal was never to build activity around one individual. The goal was to rebuild a section capable of continuing through leadership changes. On 25 November 2025, the section received official notification confirming its return to compliance status.
I now serve as past president, director, and young professionals chairperson for the SPE Northeast India Section. The next phase is about moving beyond recovery toward sustained relevance. This includes strengthening industry and academic engagement, creating opportunities for students and young professionals, and working to establish the section’s first Diversity & Inclusion Committee. My experience as a diversity, equity, and inclusion champion with Weatherford has reinforced the importance of creating clear entry points for people with different backgrounds and experiences to contribute.
A Replicable Message for SPE Sections
The core lesson is straightforward: renewing a section is ultimately about people. Policies define the minimum standard, but people create the momentum. Leaders facing a similar challenge should begin by making the gap visible, selecting a few essential workstreams, assigning real ownership, and establishing a consistent communication rhythm. Early activities should be useful and achievable because ,as visible successes build trust faster than ambitious plans left unfinished.
This achievement belongs to the officers, volunteers, partners, academic supporters, and SPE colleagues who kept contributing through uncertainty. I remain especially grateful to Jackie Hoffmann, SPE senior regional activities manager–Middle East & North Africa, and SPE's section management team for their trust, guidance, and support. The language I use for this journey is “I/We,” never “I” alone. Individual initiative may start a recovery, but collective ownership is what makes it last.
