Julie is a seasoned leader in sustainability and climate innovation with a strong background in geology and geophysics. Over the past decade, she’s held impactful roles, including as a geoscientist at Exxon, where she combined technical expertise with global team leadership, and at Jupiter Intelligence, where she led demand generation and strategy for climate risk analytics. This diverse experience has given Julie deep insights into the challenges and opportunities of sustainability within both corporate and innovative startup settings.

Julie is also the Founder and CEO of Wellnest, a platform designed to support individuals facing health challenges, a project close to her heart. Beyond work, she is an avid hiker and a dedicated Ohio State Football fan. Passionate about mentoring the next generation, Julie enjoys sharing insights and experiences with students eager to make a difference in the world of sustainability and climate resilience.

My time at Ohio State really taught me how to think critically and learn how to ask technical questions while diving into research.

Where has your degree taken you?

My career track honestly feels more “normal” than the average geologist I talk to. I left OSU to get my master’s in Geophysics at the University of Texas studying 4D seismic. I did an internship with Shell while in graduate school and subsequently accepted a full time offer with ExxonMobil. I joined the company in 2014 and worked everything from large scale offshore exploration to operations and development in the Permian Basin. While at Exxon, I developed a passion for the strategy behind the business and decided to pursue a Business Development role with a geoscience-based, climate risk startup in Silicon Valley named Jupiter Intelligence. In that role, I helped build our company growth strategy and am now the Chief of Staff for the organization where I work across functions to ensure we're all working toward the same goal. 

How do you feel that your experience, specifically as an SES/geology student at OSU, prepared you for your career or life in general?

My time at Ohio State really taught me how to think critically and learn how to ask technical questions while diving into research. I may not be researching Hawaiian Volcanoes anymore, but I am able to use my technical understanding to formulate questions and ideas about how to approach a problem.

What is your favorite memory as a student?

My mapping partner and I were hiking down one of the field locations at field camp and stepped over a couple of large boulders. As soon as we stepped down, we heard several rattles behind us and saw a couple snakes come out from underneath. To this day, I have never run faster down a mountain.

What advice do you have for current and future students?

Be flexible. Not everything is going to turn out like you expect, but if you have a good attitude and remain open to new ideas, you will go places you never anticipate.