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Ardie Gray retires from AOGA
Tom Hall
An old adage says, “You never miss what you have until it’s gone.”
Apparently that saying isn’t true for Ardie Gray, the Alaska Oil and Gas Association’s veteran public affairs manager because she was missed before she was gone.
At a June 6 reception honoring her 26-year career with AOGA, co-workers and industry colleagues recognized her many achievements as an energetic advocate for the oil and gas industry.
Highlights of a rewarding career Gray started out as secretary to the public affairs manager in September 1974. From then until the early eighties she coordinated AOGA’s annual Teachers Workshop program and administered the Student Information Program (presented to more than 80,000 Anchorage students).
Her efforts and the success of those programs led to her 1983 appointment as AOGA’s public affairs manager.
Besides continuing the previous programs, Gray took on additional projects. One of those projects, a 30 minute feature film entitled “Alaska…America’s Energy Frontier” won state and national film awards.
In 1987, she became manager to AOGA’s Government Affairs Committee and oversaw all of AOGA’s advocacy programs, which included television, radio and newspaper announcements.
From the mid-eighties to the early nineties, Gray coordinated 72 tours of the ANWR Coastal Plain for Congressional members and staff, federal administrators, media representatives and others. During the same period, she assembled a variety of advocacy materials and developed a display system for presentation at conferences, seminars and public functions.
By the end of 1991, AOGA’s ANWR exhibit had been presented at some 170 national conventions and formal meetings.
During Gray’s last five years, she supported efforts to ensure Alaska’s long-term financial health through enactment of a state fiscal plan.
Style, grace and a sense of humor Of course, anyone’s lengthy career leaves its mark on others, and in that respect, Gray’s was no different. Several of her colleagues contributed observations on Gray’s career.
Bill Hopkins, former AOGA executive director, had a unique perspective as her initial employer: “Marilyn Crockett is probably one of the greatest assets that the industry in Alaska ever had and one of the biggest things she did for this industry is introduce us to Ardie Gray.”
Judy Brady, AOGA’s executive director, summed up Gray’s service in understated but powerful terms: “Ardie is a person who made a difference in the oil and gas industry, and a difference in Alaska. Not very many people get to say that.”
Crockett, AOGA’s assistant executive director, high school classmate and longtime friend described one of Gray’s less enviable assignments, conducting tours of the ANWR Coastal Plain: “She always did it with style and grace. She managed to answer every question, no matter how absurd, and handled every request, no matter how absurd.” On more than one occasion Gray got calls from visitors who told her that they just wanted to fly to Deadhorse, rent a car and then drive to ANWR on their own.
Crockett said that Gray finally got to the point where she told such callers, “You go right ahead. Just call me when you get back.” Other equally well informed individuals were upset to learn that there were no restrooms on the Coastal Plain and wanted to know why they couldn’t just get off the helicopter and use the restroom. Gray would calmly suggest to those folks that they just go behind a tree.
Dave Parish, president of David Parish and Associates, described how, as co-chairs, he (then with BP) and a colleague with Exxon were going to whip AOGA’s government affairs committee meetings into shape. Despite warnings from Hopkins, who had told them, “You know guys, this has been tried before,” the two mavericks were resolute.
After two years Parish said that he and his colleague had definitely been whipped into shape. “We had our tails between our legs; Ardie had prevailed again,” said Parish.
They both advised their successors (who had similar ambitions), “Just take your direction from Ardie. She’ll sit there and put up with you for a few meetings and then she’ll tell you how it’s done.”
Anchorage Mayor Rick Mystrom remembered working with Gray when he was in the advertising business, “Ardie and I didn’t so much create ads together. We commiserated together about how we created ads with the committees.” (Parish had described the process as “12 people with 24 opinions trying to decide if the sun was out today.”)
Despite the inherent difficulties of creating an advertisement by committee, Mystrom said that the ad campaigns had turned out well. “I think finally both the Legislature and a lot of the leaders got religion,” he said, and, holding his thumb and forefinger close together, added, “and maybe we had a little bit to do with helping them get religion.”
Karen Cowart, general manager of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance said that when she first came to the Alliance she knew little about the oil and gas industry. “But I had a connection,” she said. That connection was Ardie Gray. She described Gray as a woman with “such grace and such charm” who would patiently answer all her questions no matter how bizarre.
Will she be missed? Gray’s value to the oil and gas industry was evident in the farewells from some of its most prominent individuals.
In a letter of appreciation from Gov. Tony Knowles read by Phillips Alaska Inc. President Kevin Meyers, Knowles said, “During your 26 year tenure at AOGA, you’ve been an effective advocate for responsible development of Alaska’s oil and gas resources.”
Knowles also noted that when Gray began at AOGA, Alaska was producing about 200,000 barrels per day of crude and eventually reached 2 million barrels.
“So you’re getting out before we get back to where we started,” Meyers quipped. He added that the oil and gas industry would really appreciate what Gray had been doing for them and predicted, “Come this January in Juneau we’re really going to appreciate what she was doing for us and probably say, ‘You know it’s not really that long of a drive to get back up here.’”
“What I’m going to miss is the constant mentoring and guidance and good sound advice that you’ve given me, and that I have used for them (the Alliance),” said Cowart.
Probably the most poignant reminder of how much Gray would be missed came from Crockett who said, “Friday (June 2) at five o’clock was Ardie’s last day. At nine o’clock this morning we got a call from the Washington Post, and everybody in the office was going, ‘Oh my God, what are we going to do without Ardie?’”
What is Ardie going to do without AOGA? Play a lot of golf it seems.
Gray and her husband, Ron, were going directly from the Petroleum Club reception to the parking lot where their 40-foot road ship (plus towed car) stood ready to carry them on an Odyssean quest to play golf courses across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“I wish you all the best,” she said, “because I’ll be down in the Lower 48 and I’ll read about you.”
But before she could leave BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. President Richard Campbell put a fitting end to the proceedings when he presented Gray with an application for a BP Amoco gas card.
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