Based in Houston, Texas, Maria Fitch is a Global Sales Trainer at Weatherford, specializing in negotiation, conflict resolution, communication and leadership training. She has been with Weatherford for over years and has over 15 years of teaching, training and consultation experience.

Prior to Weatherford, Maria worked as a consultant at Cambridge International Consulting, based in Caracas, Venezuela, providing training and negotiation consulting. She was an advisor for the Municipality of Chacao’s Municipal Justice office, focusing on community peacebuilding and mediation programs in Venezuela. She has been a guest lecturer in negotiation and conflict resolution at Society for Petroleum Engineer’s (SPE) conferences, Universidad Católica- Andrés Bello School of Law and the CAF’s (Corporación Andina de Fomento) Program for Transformational Leadership. She pursued graduate study at American University’s School of International Service, focusing on negotiation and conflict resolution, and obtained a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies (focusing on Latin American development) from the University of Iowa.

Topic: Ask for It!: Women and Negotiating What You Want

The news is filled with stories of the gender gap and women in business, entertainment and sports that are not compensated as well as their male peers. Studies also show that when they leave the office, women end up doing the majority of housework and child care, even when they work full time.  Why does this happen? The answer is complex, but part of the problem is that often women just don’t ask… for promotions, for raises, for help at home, etc.  In this talk we will explore why women don’t ask and practical tips to help you recognize and seize opportunities to negotiate what you want and deserve at work and at home.

Sam Trobee received his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from San Diego State University in 1979 and thereafter joined Texaco in Los Angeles where he served in roles of increasing responsibility in its upstream Land and downstream Marketing organizations.

In 1990, he joined Texaco’s Commercial and Negotiations Group in Houston where he was involved in various exploration and production opportunities worldwide, including projects in Latin America and Russia.

During the Chevron-Texaco merger, Sam served as a Team Leader in the Merger Integration Management Office in San Francisco. Following the merger, he served as the General Manager-Marketing for the Angola LNG Project before joining Chevron’s Corporate Business Development group (CBD) in 2007.

In his role as Principal Commercial Consultant in CBD in Houston, Sam led several successful initiatives including the acquisition of interests in the Kurdish Region of Iraq, the divestiture of Chevron’s interest in the largest refined products pipeline network in the U.S., and the development and deployment of commercial and negotiations tools and practices enterprise-wide.

Sam elected to retire from Chevron in 2017 after almost 37 years of service and continues to serve as a part-time consultant in providing commercial and negotiations training and mentorship.

Dr. Vera Verdree is a forward thinking and strategic business leader with 12 years of experience at Baker Hughes. Currently, as a Continuous Improvement Leader, Vera works with her team to solve some of the organization’s most complex technical puzzles. Since joining Baker Hughes in 2007, she rose through positions with increased responsibility for business goals and strategy execution. Notable achievements include more than $10 million in annual cost savings, and developing innovative products for market penetration. A passion for building relationships and creatively uncovering value for mutual success allows her to develop customer trust and drive cross-collaboration to transform the way we do business.

Vera earned a B.S. Degree in Chemistry from Columbus State University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Louisiana State University. As a dedicated volunteer and mentor, she serves on several advisory boards including EIC Connect, promoting innovation and opportunities for the supply chain in North & Central America, and Upward Women Houston, a non-profit organization with a mission to accelerate career advancement for women.  Previously, Vera served on the Executive Committee for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Light the Night, Montgomery County.