Entering the field: A peek behind the scenes from EthosEnergy’s VP of Field Services

Gianpiero Di Marzo is a man whose roots in field services run deep.

A native Italian, he now calls the United States his home. His educational journey began in Italy, where he completed his studies and launched his career as a field service engineer in Florence, before rising through the ranks in a remarkable professional voyage.

We sat down for a conversation with Gianpiero to find out more about his life, his work and challenges as a Field Service Director for EthosEnergy, and what three things you need to make it in the field service industry.

Formula 1 and soccer superfan

Firstly, we asked Gianpiero how he took the leap from living and working in Italy to moving to the US:

“My mom actually lived in the US for 36 years. So I always wanted to be able to have a conversation with my cousins who currently live in New York. So, as a gift, my parents sent me to New York every summer. I started when I was 16, and that's how I learned English.”

But even though Gianpiero has well and truly settled into life in the US, he explains that there are some things that have remained quintessentially Italian:

“I love soccer, and I love Formula 1. Although I’ve lived in the US for the last eight years, I wake up very early in the morning to follow my team, Napoli, where I’m from. … It’s the same with Formula 1. Last night was the Grand Prix in Japan, and I stayed up until midnight to watch it. I support Ferrari, of course, being Italian.” 

The road to field service

When Gianpiero followed in his brother’s footsteps to become a field service engineer, one major factor that appealed to him was the promise of traveling around the world:

“I was always curious to know the world, to travel to different cities, and to get to know different cultures. This was the most interesting and beautiful experience that I could ever imagine as being a field service engineer. Going from the Middle East to Africa, Europe, US, Asia Pacific ... it's really interesting.”

And by traveling between different projects, he was also able to learn about the different roles within field service:

“I was always curious to understand the project management role. That's how actually I got promoted from field service to project manager, then contract performance manager. That's how I kind of started in the industry.” 

Rising through the ranks

As Gianpiero traveled from site to site, country to country, he found his curiosity growing even stronger.

After seven years as a field service engineer, Gianpiero began his first Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) project in Trinidad and Tobago. Then, moving back to run another major LNG project in the US, he managed further projects in Peru and Canada. 

“Inside, I always missed the field service portion. So I actually ran the Americas region from a service management perspective – taking care of all the outage preparation, execution, and closeout, and getting close to the customer base.”

Today, Gianpiero is EthosEnergy’s Vice President of Field Services Network:

“My role is all about taking care of our customers’ assets. I see added value in creating a good teamwork environment, and collaboration across different teams and functions, without creating competition among the same teammates. Some competition is good, but you need to have the right balance and show care to our customers.”

One of the most important pillars of his role, he said, was maintaining close, constant communication with his customers. 

Learning from challenges

Gianpiero found that many of his milestones involved learning from his different roles and their respective challenges.

“Some of the best learning comes from having to endure tough moments in your career. You can really reflect back to them and say, ‘Wow, I learned so much from this event.’ Then you apply the experience and you see yourself approaching the issues in a different way.” 

He explained that milestones to him frequently meant dealing with problems to bring about successful execution, delivering both for customers and internal results. 

Field service 101

Gianpiero shared his first impressions when joining EthosEnergy as a Field Service Director in 2023:

“The team was very welcoming. I see good collaboration across the business functions, and the company itself. We have a great growth opportunity in front of us.” 

When asked about the role of his field service team, Gianpiero explained in detail:

“I have a team of technical field advisors – the on-site field service engineers – that oversee the execution quality, giving technical direction to the on-site crew. I also have a team of service managers who take care of the preparation, execution, and closeout of outages for our customers, as well as tooling.”

He went on to share what it takes to be a successful field service organization:

“The customer wants to feel special – this means you need good communicators between your teams and the customers themselves. The execution should be based on safety and quality. … It’s more of a partnership rather than customers versus supplier.” 

A guide to getting into field service

For anybody looking to enter the field service sector, Gianpiero pinpointed three things that a prospective job seeker needs: passion, creative problem-solving, and good communication skills:

“If you come into this field, you need to have passion for field service. It's not easy work, but it’s very rewarding. It really makes a difference. If you love it, you don't look at hours or getting calls over the weekend.” 

He concluded that to flourish in the role, you need to communicate well as a go-between for your team and customers, and understand the concerns or issues your customers face. 

“You always need to have the right balance between internal and external – between your customers and your team.”