Susan Dio (BSChE 83), former BP America president, talks about being a woman in the oil and gas industry at the Women’s Offshore Conference in Houston, Texas. Submitted photo
Susan Dio looks back at her career with BP and considers it one of manufacturing.
Dio graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1983 with a B.S. in chemical engineering, started at BP as a project engineer and retired in 2020 as chairman and president of BP America.
She spent almost two decades working directly in manufacturing – everything from optimizing processes and redesigning equipment to running projects. As one example, she increased the plant production of petrochemicals used in plastics and pharmaceuticals by 25%.
This experience helped her once she took on leadership roles.
“It taught me the right questions to ask,” she said. “And I had a better understanding of the long-term implications of the decisions being made.”
Dio enjoys time with her family after retiring from a lifelong career with BP. Submitted photo
Now she is taking time to enjoy life. She and her husband, Larry, bought an RV and have been traveling around to the remote parts of their home state of Texas. And, that’s when she is not spending time with her family and playing golf.
She also wants to support her alma mater.
“Ole Miss Engineering set me down the road for great experiences,” she explained. “Having a program like the Haley Barbour Center for Manufacturing Excellence back in 1983 would have been an even better head start.”
She had a tight-knit group of engineering friends, including Mike Gill who is now professor of practice with CME. She learned the value of teamwork, saying “we studied together, we prepped for exams as a group, and we gave each other moral support. It felt like a family.”
At Ole Miss, she specifically wants to encourage areas important to her: manufacturing and women in engineering.
Many people imagine assembly lines when they think of manufacturing. But, Dio said, “manufacturing today is actually about the intersection of innovation and technology. It provides excellent career opportunities – in both domestic and international markets.”
And, she thinks success in manufacturing requires a diverse talent pool. She is pushing for more women to work their way up the ranks in what has historically been a male-dominated field.
Over her 37-year career, she learned that having a variety of perspectives in the room made for better decision making. She recalls how having a diverse team behind the reorganization of the Texas City chemicals plant resulted in improved safety, equipment reliability and morale.
That’s why she has initiated the Advancing Manufacturing Scholarship Endowment to help students in the UM School of Engineering. The scholarship recipients must demonstrate – through their background, achievements and experience – a commitment to the advancement of women in manufacturing and engineering.
Ole Miss Engineering’s scholarship committee, along with the CME leadership team, will select the students. The focus will be on providing financial assistance to juniors and seniors who are taking their specialist engineering courses.
Dio encourages others to help the future of women in engineering by contributing to the Advancing Manufacturing Scholarship Endowment.
Donations can be made by:
- Paying online at engineering.olemiss.edu/advancing-manufacturing
- Sending a check to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655. Please include the scholarship name in the memo line.
For more information, contact Greg Carter, Ole Miss School of Engineering development director, at gjcarter@olemiss.edu.