For Alise Vandersalm, leadership in energy begins with complexity, and ends with people.

Today, she is an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, advising leadership teams on strategy, capital allocation, and operational performance. With more than 15 years in the sector, she is recognized for solving complex technical and commercial challenges and translating them into measurable performance outcomes across energy, chemicals, and mining organizations. 

Before consulting, she spent more than a decade in oil & gas, working in subsurface and field-based operations roles across Alberta’s oil sands and unconventional assets. That experience continues to shape how she shows up. “I feel closest to operations - the people and systems responsible for turning plans into production,” she says. Even in executive-level strategy discussions, she brings an operational lens grounded in real-world experience.

Alise was drawn to energy because it sits at the intersection of engineering, economics, geopolitics, and human systems - all at scale. What has kept her here is twofold: she genuinely loves solving hard problems, and she cares deeply about improving the industry for the next generation.

While her career has spanned major operational and strategic milestones - from high-return drilling programs, to hundreds of millions in strategic value creation, to being an inventor on a Canadian patent for enhanced oil recovery in SAGD reservoirs - the work she is most proud of has always been people-oriented.

Last year, she stepped in to lead a struggling team tasked with redesigning a global organizational model. Morale was low, the team was working extremely hard, and despite the effort, the project was not gaining traction. Rather than focusing on further iteration of the design, she concentrated on rebalancing workload, adding the right support, understanding each team member’s goals, and leading with transparency and humor. 

Within weeks, the energy shifted — collaboration strengthened, laughter returned, and the team delivered meaningful results. “For me, challenging the status quo meant rejecting the idea that excellence requires burnout,” she says. “We delivered strong results and did it in a constructive team environment where everyone had the chance to learn and grow.”

In one sentence, she defines leadership in energy as: “Carrying both the weight and opportunity of powering how people live by solving hard problems without losing humility.”

As a YWE Award recipient, Alise hopes to use her visibility to reinforce a simple truth: there is room for more than one woman at the table - and our industry is stronger when we choose to make that room intentionally.

Congratulations, Alise!

Read aLl the 2025 YWE Award Winner Profiles:

• Alise Vandersalm, Engagement Manager, McKinsey & Company

• Amanda Calleberg, Commercial Advisor, Inter Pipeline

• Ashley Marshall, Piping General Superintendent, Kiewit Construction Services ULC

• Karen Ngo, Project Engineer, Cenovus Energy

• Katie Howes, Project Engineer, Corporate Liability, Canadian Natural

• Keltey Heathcott, Director, Investments – Major Projects Office, Government of Canada (secondment from ATCO Group)

• Lindsay Campbell, Manager, Sustainability, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP)

• Nathalie Carson, Operations Lead, Imperial Oil

• Neneh Thapar, Senior Manager, Strategy & Business Design, Deloitte

• Summer Okibe, Policy Analyst, Government of Alberta