Bethany Robinson is a senior associate with ScottMadden and joined the firm in August 2022. With a background in electrical engineering, oil and gas operations, and IT, she brings hands-on experience to her consulting work. In addition, she is actively involved in the firm’s recruiting efforts, helping design and lead analyst case interviews. She also helps manage the AI PMO group, supports the Fresh Start ERG, and works with the Supply Chain CoP. She has a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Howard University and an M.B.A. from Texas A&M.
Bayou Overture
Bethany Robinson was born in a small oil-and-gas town called Houma, Louisiana, and was raised in the “big city” of Baton Rouge. Her roots run deep in Cajun culture: gumbo and jambalaya were staples, crawfish became her favorite food, and Mardi Gras grew into her favorite holiday (no debate). That sense of place, pride, and tradition still grounds her even as her career has taken her far beyond state lines.
As the middle of three siblings and the only girl, Bethany grew up navigating classic sibling dynamics: sometimes outnumbered, sometimes indulged, but always learning to hold her own. Bethany’s parents modeled service and resilience in quiet but powerful ways. Her father worked at the local newspaper as a copy editor and sports journalist, covering LSU athletics and staying on the job even when hurricanes rolled through. Her mother, a nurse who later earned a degree in social work, spent her career caring for elderly patients and working in hospice. Growing up with parents who were essential workers long before that term became commonplace left an impression. Responsibility, follow-through, and showing up when people need you weren’t abstract values—they were daily practices.
As a student, Bethany was both deeply analytical and creatively inclined. She gravitated toward math and was known as the “math person,” but music played an equally important role in her development. Bethany attended a performing arts elementary school and competed in classical piano through high school, earned scholarship money, and developed a lasting love for classical music.
Engineering wasn’t originally part of Bethany’s plan. A high school math teacher encouraged her to think about where her skills could lead and helped her apply to a summer STEM program at LSU. During electrical engineering week, she realized how broad the field could be and how many industries it touched. That flexibility appealed to her as a path with lots of room to grow.
That mindset led her to Howard University. After getting on a plane for the first time to visit campus, she saw students who looked like her pursuing everything from fine arts to engineering. Eager to experience something different from home and inspired by the diversity of ambition and experience, she decided right then and there that she would attend Howard.
An Offshore Symphony
At Howard, Bethany stayed busy. She served as president of the College of Engineering and Architecture’s student government and was active in the National Society of Black Engineers. She also worked at the Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science, supporting STEM classes and teaching aviation to curious middle schoolers. She didn’t think twice about giving back. Since her teacher had once nudged her toward a path she had not considered, paying that forward felt like the most natural response.
After graduation, Bethany joined a rigorous rotational engineering program that placed her directly on manufacturing floors and in field operations. The job was hands-on and high stakes. Her work included supporting offshore wellhead controls—equipment installed thousands of feet below the ocean surface, where everything must function exactly as designed. As Bethany tells it, “I’m working on stuff that nobody can touch after we put it under the water.” She remembers 3:00 a.m. emergency calls, steel-toe boots, forklifts, and days ending covered in hydraulic fluid. In the oil and gas industry, downtime can cost enormous amounts, and she learned early that small details matter. Starting her career not long after the BP oil spill only reinforced that lesson.
Eventually, Bethany transitioned to OEM program management at HPE, supporting customized server solutions. During COVID-related supply chain disruptions, that meant balancing technical specifications with real-world constraints. She often found herself translating between engineers and clients, explaining what was possible, what wasn’t, and what creative options remained. While doing all of this, she completed her M.B.A. at Texas A&M University on the weekends.
Although Bethany wasn’t planning on leaving the company, she was thoughtful about what she wanted next. The combination of technical depth, business training, and curiosity ultimately led her to be introduced to ScottMadden at the National Black M.B.A. conference in 2022. Drawn by the firm’s size, culture, and emphasis on close mentorship, Bethany joined in 2022 and quickly found ways to contribute across projects and initiatives, translating complex information into clear insights and leaning into data visualization, AI applications, and supply chain work.
Composing the Future
Outside of work, Bethany brings the same curiosity and enthusiasm to her interests that she brings to her career. She’s an avid traveler, and music is often the anchor of her trips, whether that means planning a weekend around a concert in Las Vegas or flying overseas for a major performance. Those experiences blend her love of culture, movement, and sound into memories she treasures.
Closer to home, Bethany is the devoted “T Bethany” to her nieces and nephews. She races them down the street, takes them to trampoline parks, bowls with them, and earns her reputation for delivering the best ice cream outings imaginable. With them, she’s playful, present, and fully herself.
She also finds joy in physical challenge and creativity. Early-morning workouts are a regular part of her routine, and she approaches fitness with the same discipline she once brought to piano competitions. Her creativity shows up in unexpected places, too, like hairstyling, which she taught herself through experimentation and tutorials. It’s another example of a consistent theme in Bethany’s story: if she’s interested, she figures it out.
She remembers seeing a video where a news reporter asked a little girl what she wanted to be when she grew up. The girl said she wanted to be an astronaut. The reporter responded that it’s very difficult. The little girl responded, “Is it actually difficult? I mean, you do the work and become an astronaut. Seems simple to me.” Bethany feels the same way. “Sure, there’s a lot of hard work and multiple steps to achieve a goal…but you just have to do it because the steps are laid out pretty clearly. If you know the steps, you know what you have to do.”
Bethany’s journey hasn’t followed a straight line, but it has a unique rhythm just like the best pieces of music. As Bethany puts it, “When I look at stuff, I think…is there anything here that I can’t do? I don’t think so. Maybe I don’t know how to do it yet, but I’ll learn.”