Before William Mitchell joined Tenaris in the US in 2014, a career in oil and gas was not part of the plan. After graduating with a degree in economics from Texas A&M, he had started his professional life in banking in Houston, a job he recalls was far from inspiring. So when he heard two close friends from college speak highly of their experience working in Tenaris, he was immediately drawn to apply.
That decision marked the beginning of a career that, more than a decade later, has taken him across different roles and perspectives within the company. Today, as Sales Director for Global Accounts and Offshore, Mitchell is part of the team managing one of Tenaris’s most significant global customers.
Mitchell began as a Global Trainee in Commercial, working in the Rockies region, where he was first exposed to the dynamics of the oil and gas industry. An early experience that left its mark on him was TUIC (TenarisUniversity Induction Camp), a global training for Tenaris young professionals where he spent a month alongside peers from across the globe in Argentina. “You come back energized,” he says. “It really connects you to the company.”
As his career progressed, he moved from OCTG to Line Pipe, gaining a broader understanding of the business. “In Line Pipe, you deal with everything: orders, follow-up, coordination. You get a full picture of how things work.”
Returning to OCTG in 2019 brought a new level of challenge. “It was a baptism by fire,” he recalls, describing the need to quickly build technical knowledge and adapt to new ways of working. That learning curve continued during the COVID period, when he took advantage of the slower business activity to deepen his understanding of products and operations.
One of the most transformative chapters in his career came when he stepped out of Commercial to take on a role in Supply Chain at Tenaris’s premium threading facility in Houston, Texas. “It’s one thing to work with supply chain every day; it’s another to actually live it,” he says.
Managing operations and working with hourly teams gave him firsthand exposure to the complexity behind each order and delivery. He went from managing one person to leading a team of more than 40 employees, gaining a new appreciation for the people behind the processes.
“You realize very quickly that it’s not just about work. People have families, personal situations, things that affect their day-to-day,” he explains. “That experience really helped me develop empathy.”
It also changed the way he understands the business. Seeing how small decisions can affect the operation reinforced the importance of communication, planning and alignment. “Every detail matters,” he says. “Even a small change on the commercial side can have a big impact for our industrial teams.”
Today, in his role focused on global accounts, Mitchell operates in a very different environment: one defined by scale and complexity. Earlier in his career, he worked with smaller customers and faster transactions. Now, supporting a major global account, the impact of every decision is magnified. “The biggest change is the scale,” he says. “The impact of everything we do is much bigger.”
His team acts as a hub between for the Houston-based customer’s operations worldwide, coordinating across regions and functions. “You’re not just thinking about one market: you’re thinking globally,” he explains.
For Mitchell, one of Tenaris’s key strengths lies in its ability to combine scale with technical expertise. “In the U.S., our footprint is a big advantage: we have the capacity to respond,” he says. “Globally, it’s our flexibility and technical capability.” That combination allows Tenaris to go beyond traditional sales. “We don’t just sell pipe; we work with customers to solve problems and improve performance,” he explains.
Looking back, he attributes his development to a willingness to take on new challenges and learn from different parts of the business. “The best way to learn is by doing something new,” he says. Today, his motivation is clear: “My team is what drives me,” he says. “They’re very talented, and they do important work. Supporting them and helping them succeed: that’s what matters most.”
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