Jeanne Perdue received a BS degree in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Albany. She started her career as a chemist at the Texaco Research Laboratories in Bellaire, where she did core analysis and heavy oil analysis. She later conducted research and literature searches at the Texaco Library – before Google was invented. Perdue then became an oil and gas journalist, covering drilling and information technology for Hart's E&P magazine and launching Upstream Technology magazine, which won local and international awards from the Society for Technical Communication. She is now a technical writer at Occidental Petroleum, preparing field development plans, maintenance and operations procedures, best practices, and concession proposals for the Middle East Support Team.

A Distinguished Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Perdue has served as Scholarship Chair, Community Services Chair, Membership Chair, Secretary, and Chair of the Gulf Coast Section. She has also served as a technical editor and Review Chairman for the SPE Reservoir Engineering journal and was instrumental in getting SPE papers digitized for searching on CD-ROM, which has since become www.OnePetro.org. She has also served on the Alief ISD school board and was president of the Alief ISD Education Foundation for 10 years.