Karen Agustiawan

Karen Agustiawan (born October 19, 1958) was the president director and CEO of Indonesia's state oil and gas company Pertamina between 2009 and 2014. In 2011, Forbes named her first on its list of "Asia's 50 Power Businesswomen".^[1]

Early life and career

Agustiawan was born in Bandung, West Java in 1958. She is the daughter of R. Asiah and Dr. Sumiyatno, the first Indonesian envoy to the World Health Organization and former president of the Biofarma pharmaceutical company.^[2]

In 1983, she graduated from the Bandung Institute of Technology with a degree in Engineering physics. She had initially intended to become a professor, but at the urging of her father she decided to pursue a career in business.^[2] After graduating, she took a job at Mobil, working as a quality controller for seismic drilling projects. She later worked as a project leader in the company's Exploration Computing Department. In 1998, she left Mobil for Landmark Concurrent Solusi, the Indonesian branch of Landmark Graphics Corporation. As a result of Landmark's merger with Halliburton, Agustiawan was promoted to project manager of oil and gas accounts in 2002. In 2006, she became the first woman head of Pertamina's upstream division. In February 2009 she was appointed CEO and president director of the company, making her the first female to hold the position.^[2][3] During her tenure as CEO she oversaw the development of alternative energy sources such as coal bed methane extraction and established a liquefied natural gas distribution system with Perusahaan Listrik Negara.^[1]

In June 2013 she was reappointed by the government for a second five-year term as CEO of Pertamina. She was the first CEO of Pertamina for many years to complete her full term.^[4]

In August 2014 it was announced that she had resigned. The minister for state-owned enterprises, Dahlan Iskan, was reported as saying that she had been offered teaching duties at Harvard University in the United States and that she would immediately take up the offer.^[5] At Harvard, she subsequently took up a position as an International Council Member within the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Personal life

She is married to Herman Agustiawan, a former scholar at the Indonesian Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) who now works at Indonesia's National Energy Council. They have three children.^[2]

References