James Junkin
Nominated for: 30 Over 30 Award
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Company: Mariner-Gulf Consulting & Services
Years in Profession: 13
Nominator: Self
Tell us why this person deserves recognition for making a difference in the practice of EHS & Sustainability management. (500 words max.)*
James has been a leader in occupational safety and health and sustainability in the oil & gas industry. As a master trainer for Veriforce, James has taught over 40,000 students and almost 5,000 instructors in the standardized safety orientation, SafeLand. As chairman of the Veriforce strategic advisory board, he helped create one of the first environmental, social, and governance (ESG) questionnaires to be utilized in the United States to verify supply chain compliance. His volunteer efforts include serving on the advisory board for the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), chair and member of the editorial review board for Professional Safety journal, a member of the ANSI/ASSP Z-390.1 committee, and was selected Columbia Southern University's Safety Professional of the Year 2022 - (runner up).
Always willing to help others, James was selected to the mentor Honor Roll for the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP). He is a frequent guest on podcasts, lecturer, and much sought after key note speaker. He has numerous published works, including peer reviewed articles and has over 14,000 followers on LinkedIn, where he shares professional develop and safety related articles twice a month as free content. James also is the co-host of the podcast "The Risk Matrix" where he engages in dialogue about occupational safety and health matters geared to bring workers home safe from high hazard jobs.
As a veteran of the United States Navy, one of his most proudest accomplishments was serving as a founding member and instructor for the Battlefields to Oilfields (B2O) program. The program trained over 100 veterans to be safety professionals in the oil & gas industry. The program was a success with a 96% job placement rating and was hailed by a Congressional committee as a model for private industry wishing to help veterans.
James has a passion for bringing workers home safe from high hazard jobs. He and his firm are frequently sought after to complete serious injury and fatality investigations and suggest mitigations to prevent recurrence. His work attracted the attention of one of the nation's top occupational safety and health law firms, with whom he now frequently consults.
James is a tireless advocate for continued education. He serves on the occupational safety and health advisory board for Columbia Southern University where he graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of science in occupational safety and health and a masters of science in occupational safety and health, sustaining a 4.0 GPA throughout his endeavors. He holds the following designations from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP): Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Safety Management Specialist (SMS), and Associate Safety Professional (ASP. James also earned the Master Safety Professional (MSP) designation from the National Association of Safety Professionals (NASP).
Describe a situation or initiative where the nominee was directly responsible for a significant achievement and/or advancement in the practice of EHS & Sustainability management. Include metrics and KPIs if available. (500 words max.)*
As sustainability morphed into the now present environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs of today, Veriforce, an international company that delivers comprehensive, integrated, and market-driven solutions that combine innovative technology, value-added services, and unparalleled support turned to James to deliver key ESG solutions to help 850 hiring clients and over 85,000 contractor companies and their workforces.
James participated in numerous webinars and panel discussions to raise awareness of ESG among oil & gas producers and their contractors. Next, James created a standardized ESG questionnaire for oil & gas companies to utilize to gauge their contractor's compliance with ESG initiatives. The questionnaire, used internationally by Veriforce contains over 200 probing questions that collect ESG required reporting data, serves as a practice assessment, and creates a foundation for ESG scoring among the 85,000 contractor clients.
To assist contractor's in establishing ESG programs, James authored 12 key ESG written programs to serve as an "ESG Starter Kit" guide for small oil & gas contactors struggling to establish an ESG Program.
As the safety professional as emerged as a key person in implementing and executing ESG initiatives, James served as a contributor and editor of the peer reviewed article "The Safety Professional's Role in ESG", which was published by Professional Safety journal in March 2023 and served as the cover story.
In your opinion, what are the predominant skills and attributes that directly contribute to the nominee’s effectiveness and success? (500 words max.)*
James' ability to assemble a team of high performing professionals and demand excellence while meeting the individual needs of his team has contributed to his effectiveness and success. When called to serve as the chair of the inaugural Veriforce strategic advisory board, James assembled group of nationally recognized safety and sustainability experts with the mission to reduce serious injuries and fatalities within the oil & gas industry. The board contains three PhDs, two CIHs, eight CSPs, five with master degrees, six master trainers, a retired OSHA Area director, and an expert in workplace security.
James' knowledge of each members strengths enabled the board to create standardized training programs for Lockout/Tagout (LOTO), Respiratory Protection, Confined Space Entry, Attendant, and Supervisor, NORM-TENORM awareness, a front line supervisor leadership course, and a hazard identification and recognition course to be taught by 2,500 authorized instructors across the nation. His ability to inspire these busy, volunteer professionals ensured that all courses were completed with a six month time period and delivered to the training network.
In short, James is an inspirational leader who is easy to work along side but who demands results in order to get workers home safe from high hazard jobs.
Share the ways this nominee has positively influenced you, both personally and professionally. You may also include reflections and quotes from others including executives, direct reports, colleagues, suppliers, and clients. (500 words max.)*
Below are some excerpts from instructors who have had James as a master trainer in 2023.
"Our instructor made the class very interactive and hit on the points we really need to know."
"Great attention to detail, awesome stories for relativity and beyond a great deal of knowledge."
"Great instructor with invaluable experience to help make these trainings real live."
"I learned a lot through his stories."
"Learned so much! James has probably forgotten more than I will ever know."
"James was amazing at breaking down all the information in a way that was easy to understand. From the start I could feel he truly cared and was going to make sure we would be successful."
"James is an amazing instructor and was very patient and informative, while keeping everyone's attention."
"I work with James in an ongoing professional capacity where I am continually amazed to see him use his innate ability to break down complex safety, health and environmental issues to their core building blocks, perform detailed incident investigations, define sound corrective actions, and author and implement sustainable safety programs for his clients. James is an asset to anyone looking for a no-nonsense consultant, leader, and/or mentor, and I am honored to be counted as one of his circle of practicing colleagues. Seasoned, intelligent, practical, trustworthy, and confident are all traits that James possesses that make him a top EHS consultant and all-around great human being." - Dr. Linda Martin
"James Junkin was one of the most professional and knowledgeable instructors that I have had the pleasure of learning from. He instructed in such of way that everyone could comprehend and execute the training objective. His charisma and enthusiasm to training is something that other instructors should emulate.
James's character is unmatched. He spent his own time helping veterans after class and in his spare time with their resumes and job search. He insured that everyone needs were met and that if any one had an issue he would get a answer for it immediately." - John Garrison
In closing, I would recommend James to anyone seeking a charismatic safety professional with extensive knowledge in the oil and gas industry. I look forward to staying connected with James in the future.
Provide one or more examples of nominee’s commitment to environmental stewardship within their organization and/or the community. (500 words max.)*
James' passion for safety and environmental stewardship grew out of his personal experiences as a responder the to Deepwater Horizon, BP Oil Spill disaster of 2010 in which eleven workers were killed and over 5 million barrels of crude oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico. James trained first and oil spill responders to safely remove the crude oil from the beaches, marshes, and waterways along the Gulf Coast. In doing so, he personally trained from May 2010 to February 2011 over 30,000 people.
Witnessing this environmental disaster first hand, James went about developing environmental policies and procedures that companies can implement in order to prevent disaster such as the Deepwater Horizon.
Additionally he created an audit protocol for environmental compliance that is used by Veriforce and Amazon to assess the conformity and implementation of environmental regulations among their contractor networks.