Jillian Jopling
A third generation Longhorn graduate, Jillian Jopling earned her BS in petroleum engineering in 2004. She originally enrolled in The University of Texas at Austin as a chemistry major, but found her passion in engineering and changed majors.
She began her career at Hilcorp Energy Company. Being driven by competition her entire life she found Hilcorp’s competitive and entrepreneurial culture was a perfect fit for a long, successful career. Joplin spent her early years as a reservoir engineer finding oil and gas bypassed by her predecessors. Her favorite moments were the rewarding feelings that came with a successful recomplete or drill well confirming that all those long hours of research and investigation were worth the investment! Her career with Hilcorp started in the Texas Gulf Coast at the famous Tom O’Connor field and continued moving east to the Louisiana Gulf Cost where she took on additional challenging roles of operations engineer and senior reservoir engineer.
After developing into a proven “oil finder,” Jopling took on a leadership role as Hilcorp’s asset team leader in southeast Louisiana. This new role gave her the responsibility to manage all aspects of the oil and gas business. Under her leadership, she pushed her team to achieve stretch targets; transforming it into one of the company’s most profitable set of assets. Following Hilcorp’s largest acquisition, the San Juan Basin, Jopling became part of the leadership team tasked with integrating the COP and XTO operations into the Hilcorp culture. She is now committed to increasing the value of these newly acquired assets by spreading the innovative oil and gas-finding culture to her new team members. During her time in this position, she has found a new passion in leading with transparency and alignment. In addition, she loves to mentor employees and interns by providing them the tools they need to achieve their full potential.
Her success at Hilcorp has allowed her and her husband Peter to give back to The University of Texas through funding two endowed scholarships – one in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering and one in the Department of Geological Sciences. She learned at Hilcorp that geologists are as important as engineers; her scholarships reflect that value. She has served on the UT PGE External Advisory Committee and currently serves on boards for the non-profits Citizens for Animal Protection and Houston’s Alley Theatre. Jopling and her husband are also active supporters of the Houston Police Foundation and the Houston Heritage Society. Outside of their philanthropic activities, they enjoy spending time with their two dogs, traveling to explore new foods and cultures, and, of course, supporting Longhorn sports.
