At Kinder Morgan, we take pride in recognizing the employees who drive our operations forward. During National Engineers Week, we are excited to spotlight Texas Field Integrity Services Manager Jennifer Bone, who is based at Compressor Station 302 in New Caney, Texas. With over a decade of experience in pipeline integrity, Bone has built a career centered on problem-solving, collaboration and compliance.

Growing up in a Nigerian household, Bone’s parents' cultural values of hard work and contributing to your community encouraged a STEM-rooted career. As a Houston native and the youngest of four siblings, she developed a passion for figuring out how things work and fixing things early on. As she considered which degree plan to pursue, she realized that many of her strengths aligned with careers in the engineering field. This led her to Louisiana State University, where she first pursued a degree in mechanical engineering before transitioning to chemical engineering after recognizing its broader career opportunities. 

After graduating, Bone spent a year and a half at Dow Chemical, working on equipment sizing, pressure safety valves and pilot plants before joining Kinder Morgan where she found her passion — pipeline integrity.

“I didn’t know much about natural gas pipelines when I started,” Bone recalls, “but I had great mentors and worked with some of the best operations teams. The amount I learned by shadowing them in the field was invaluable.”

At Kinder Morgan, Bone started as a field engineer, where she worked alongside experienced advisors to develop a strong foundation in pipeline operations. Now, as a leader in field integrity services, Bone is responsible for in-line inspections (ILI) and remediation projects, ensuring regulatory compliance and operational safety.

“Pipeline integrity has been the focus of my career for the past 10 years,” said Bone. “I’m drawn to the challenge of maintaining the safety, efficiency and compliance of infrastructure in such a critical industry.”

Her role balances fieldwork and strategic planning, requiring collaboration across multiple departments to keep projects running smoothly. (Photos from left to right: ILI tool being prepared for insertion, an anomaly evaluation, ILI flaring project)

“No two days are the same, which is one of the things I enjoy the most,” she explains. “Some days, we meet with operations, review ILI data and coordinate with vendors. Other days, we work with risk management, gas control and other internal departments to drive projects forward.”

Beyond managing projects, Bone is passionate about employee development, process improvement, data retention and using lessons learned to drive innovation.

“Seeing a project through from inspection to remediation and knowing our work directly contributes to safety and operational excellence is incredibly fulfilling,” said Bone.

Engineers, like Bone, play a vital role in maintaining the safety and reliability of Kinder Morgan’s operations. This National Engineers Week, we recognize and celebrate the contributions of engineers across our company who work to ensure our operations run safely and efficiently every day.