Leisa: Hello, I’m Leisa Holland-Nelson and welcome to another edition of Women Mean Business, where we’re going to take you up close and personal with extraordinary women doing extraordinary things. My guest today is Myrtle Jones, Senior Vice President of Tax for Halliburton, a Fortune 100 company with its main offices here in Houston. Myrtle, welcome to Women Mean Business.

Myrtle: Well, hello Leisa, and thank you for having me.

Leisa: My pleasure. I’m going to guess that when you were playing on the swing set as a little kid, you did not dream of being the Senior VP for Tax for a big energy company. What were your goals and how did you get here?

Myrtle: Well, absolutely not. I didn’t even know that such a thing existed growing up in the backyards of Mississippi. I wanted to be a nurse when I grew up, and that kind of went down the drain the first time that I saw blood and nearly passed out. I learned to love business in high school, taking a bookkeeping class, and I decided that I wanted to be an accountant. That took me to business school, getting a degree in Accounting, and during that process taking an income tax class and I realized that I had an affinity for it. So, pursuing that is what brought me to Houston; working in the energy business; starting out at a large, very large, oil and gas company; working another 20 years or so for an offshore drilling company. And then I found my way, fortunately, to Halliburton as their Senior Vice President of Tax. I worked my way all the way up from a Junior Tax Accountant all the way to Senior Vice president of Tax, and never would have imagined that journey ending where it is here.

Leisa: Wow, it’s a great story. So, tell me one other thing. What’s your favorite thing about the job that you do every day?

Myrtle: The people. What I really enjoy is being a business partner to the rest of the business. Helping them to untangle their tax messes so that they can get their jobs done. Also, developing people. I like creating a wonderful environment where people can come to work, where they feel good, and where they can pursue their dream such as I did.

Leisa: Well, they’re very fortunate to have you. Thanks for being with us.

Myrtle: Oh, well thank you.

Leisa: There you have it, another extraordinary woman doing extraordinary things. I’m Leisa Holland-Nelson, President and Co-founder of ContentActive, Houston’s leading web and mobile technology company. You can find me at contentactive.com or follow me on Twitter @lhnelson. We’ll be back again next week with another edition of Women Mean Business.