Merilee Karr, '98, Develops Global Business Strategies for Shell

Merilee Karr, ’98, spends her days developing global business strategies for energy and petrochemical giant Shell and her evenings unwinding with a jog along the Thames River or chatting with friends over dinner in a London restaurant or pub. A native of Columbus, Ohio, the leadership studies and business administration double major traced her fascination with all things international to a semester she spent as an undergraduate in San Sebastian, Spain, at the Universidad de Deusto.  

That study-abroad experience convinced her she wanted to pursue a career in international business. She envisioned obtaining a degree from a well-respected international MBA program as a first step toward achieving her dream. But she needed to find a way to finance her graduate education.  

Through her numerous volunteer activities as a Bonner Scholar, Karr learned about the Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship program, which, according to the Rotary website, aims to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries.  

Although the Ambassadorial Scholarship application process proved somewhat drawn-out—approximately 18 months elapsed from the time Karr applied during her junior year until she started her graduate program—the wait proved well worth it. Karr received a full scholarship and stipend to cover living expenses for the first 12 months of an 18-month MBA program in the Netherlands at the Rotterdam School of Management, listed as one of the top five business schools in Europe in the 2006 Wall Street Journal rankings. 

Karr continued to build her international resume while a student at Rotterdam, participating in an MBA-exchange program with another of Europe’s leading business schools, the Escuela Superior de Administratión y Dirección de Empresas (ESADE) in Barcelona, Spain, and completing a four-month summer internship with global communications-services firm Lucent Technologies in both Belgium and the Netherlands.

Upon graduating from the Rotterdam School of Management in 2000, Karr accepted a job offer in Shell’s London office as an internal consultant responsible for the development of Shell’s information technology (IT) strategy for India. Rather than establishing a Shell-operated IT office in India, Karr’s team recommended a model that relied on partnering with existing IT firms in India.  

Then it remained for Karr’s team to secure support for its recommendation from Shell’s senior management and the company’s various divisions which operate in more than 140 countries and territories and employ approximately 109,000 people. Today, thanks to the business model established by Karr’s team, more than 2,000 people work for Shell via these partnerships. 

“Whenever you have to change a strategy, you have to get the buy-in of a critical mass [of managers and workers] in order to move in the right direction,” Karr said. “I definitely can say that the ability to manage change in a global company is one of the most critical skills you can have. You have to adjust your style and approach to the many different cultural contexts if you want to succeed.” 

Karr said her Jepson education, particularly courses like Leading Change and Group Dynamics, prepared her well for this undertaking as well as for another major change initiative a few years later when Shell decided to restructure the part of its business devoted to product development and delivery, including its manufacturing, chemical, lubricants and retail businesses. Senior management charged Karr with leading the change process, including communicating to a division of 1,000 Shell employees around the world the changes associated with the restructuring and how those changes would affect them.  

“How do you get a whole organization to believe in a new vision, to believe this [change] will be something positive?” Karr asked when describing the challenge she faced. “What are the fundamental messages you want to convey and how should you deliver them? You have to get all the [company] leaders to deliver the same message across the organization.” 

Karr’s current project concerns developing Shell’s retail business portfolio and strategic direction. Shell operates more than 40,000 retail stations in more than 100 countries worldwide, according to Karr, making it the world’s largest retailer in terms of sheer numbers of stores, outpacing even Wal-Mart. Karr is looking at ways to continue to expand Shell’s market share by developing various aspects of its regional business, such as the European convenience retail stores that sell fuel, ready meals, snacks, car care products and car washes.  

“My current position is fascinating,” Karr said. “It’s my dream job. I use all my leadership skills in my day-to-day work. I work with very senior people in the company and have to be professional and persuasive at all times. The international context of my job poses great challenges.”  

Karr noted that while her business degree played a pivotal role in securing her a job with Shell—leadership studies remains largely an unknown degree in Europe, according to Karr—she actually uses the knowledge she gained as a Jepson student much more than anything she learned as a business student.  

“You can learn accounting from books,” Karr said. “But how do you effectively work in teams? How do you influence people when you’re not their boss? Jepson teaches behaviors and soft skills that are necessary in an international context.”  

Still, Jepson could do more, Karr said, noting that when she was a student the School offered only one course with an international focus. “I would like to see Jepson take a leadership role in higher education by demonstrating the importance of teaching about international contexts in all parts of the curriculum. This would give the School a real edge. More international faculty and students would be very helpful in making that shift.”