Laura Gardner enlisted in the Army Reserves at 17. She was one of 11 kids, seven of whom served. She didn’t have a grand plan. She needed one. Her parents kept sending recruiters to her job at a pool supply store until she finally said yes.
She started in postal operations, then switched her MOS to chemical warfare when she moved to Houston. After the military, she went into oil and gas, managing subsea drilling systems and complex field operations at TechnipFMC. Today she’s the CTO of Nova Source Power Services, leading technology for solar and battery storage.
That path matters here because Kevin and Laura both came up through oil and gas, and they get into why that background is an actual advantage in newer energy sectors. The operational discipline and the project management instincts carry forward. Laura also gets into what she’s seeing on the technology side: companies want the AI solution before they’ve fixed the process or the data underneath it. As she puts it, everyone skips the boring stuff, and that’s where things break.
But the thread running through this whole episode is Laura’s message to veterans considering the energy industry: you already know how to do this. You’ve moved from base to base, changed jobs on short notice, and figured it out every time. The structure is the same. The values are the same. It’s just a different boss.
Laura recently joined the Project Vanguard advisory board. In this episode she sits down with Kevin to talk about what she tells transitioning service members at career events, why leaving your comfort zone gets easier after the first time, and what the energy industry needs from people who’ve served.
Project Vanguard Podcast is produced by ClarityForge Studios.
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction & Laura Gardner
01:38 - Meeting at CERAWeek & Oil and Gas Roots
04:01 - Digital Twins and Technology Adoption
08:22 - Moving from Oil and Gas to Solar
12:38 - AI Adoption and Skipping the Boring Stuff
15:15 - Joining the Military at 17
17:07 - From Postal Operations to Chemical Warfare
21:21 - Deciding to Get Out
26:00 - Veterans Transitioning into Energy
28:32 - Advisory Board & Community Leaders
29:35 - Take a Risk on Yourself
33:28 - Advice for Getting into the Energy Industry
38:57 - Rapid Fire & Closing
Resources
People & Organizations
Company & Industry News
NovaSource Launches NovaVision AI-Enabled Platform for Asset Optimization
NovaSource Selected as Long-Term O&M Partner for Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub
NovaSource Partners with Doral Renewables for Mammoth Solar Project
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