Interview with Karen Agustiawan

President Director and Chief Executive Officer PT Pertamina (Persero)

"...it’s going to be challenging for the first two years because of the falling rate of economic growth in countries like China, India and even Singapore. But after two years, when we have overcome the situation, I hope that it’s going to be better."

"I’m very optimistic about Pertamina’s prospects for growth. Basically, that growth will depend on first, human capacity. Human capacity is key to any company’s growth. The second important factor is research and development."

"Pertamina is well adapted to environmental crises. The organisation has experienced a lot of disruptions before like the fire in Cilacap and we have a very good emergency response in place."

"On how employees adapt to changes, I think it boils down to how the CEO actually reacts because I think seeing is believing. I have to set the example and I think the Board needs to set the example for its directorate and it cascades through the organisation in that way."

As part of PwC's 16th Annual Global CEO Survey, we spoke with Karen Agustiawan, President Director and Chief Executive Officer of PT Pertamina (Persero). In this short video, Karen shares her insights on the outlook for the global economy, key drivers of growth for Pertamina, and the importance of the CEO as a role model.

Karen graduated from Physics Engineering at the Industrial Engineering Faculty of Bandung Institute of Technology in 1983. She began her professional career at Mobil Oil Indonesia (1984-1998) mainly in Data Management and Computing, Landmark Concurrent Solusi Indonesia as Business Development Manager (1998-2002), and later at Halliburton Indonesia as Commercial Manager for Consulting and Project Management (2002-2006).

Her career at PT. Pertamina (Persero) began from Expert Staff to President Director of PT Pertamina (Persero) for Upstream Business (2006-2008). Karen started to serve as the Director for Upstream in 2008, a position she held until she was appointed by the shareholders to lead Pertamina as the President Director, in 2009. Under her leadership, Pertamina envisioned to become a world-class energy company and champion in Asia by 2025, fuelled by Energizing Asia aspiration.

These interviews contain the opinions and views of the CEOs interviewed, and do not necessarily represent the opinions and views of PwC.