Fiona MacAuley (QM 1979 - 81) wins award

Fiona MacAuley (left) being awarded the Female Executive of the Year at the Oil & Gas Council Industry Awards December 2019

Fiona MacAuley joined the School in 1979 and left in 1981 to attend Queen Mary, University of London to study Geology. In 1979 she was one of the first Sixth Form girls to attend what was then a school for boys. She and the other girl in her year, Joanne Ellliot, used to stay in one of the Staff bedrooms at Farchynys as there was no dormitory for girls then. It didn’t put her off, as she remembers going on two Geology, two Geography, one Biology, two choir, one orchestra and one Duke of Edinburgh weekends over the two years she spent in the Sixth Form here and has many happy memories!

Fiona has over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, most recently as Chief Operating Officer and Technical Director of Rockhopper Exploration plc. She led the company's work on the Sea Lion project in the North Falkland Basin where multiple discoveries have resulted in contingent resources of over half a billion barrels. Fiona, a Chartered Geologist, started her career with Mobil North Sea Ltd in 1985 and has subsequently held senior roles in a number of leading oil and gas firms, including Amerada Hess and BG. She is European President of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.