Member Spotlight: Douglas Berkley Jr.

Douglas Berkley Jr. was laboring in relative online marketing obscurity for a Pittsburgh newspaper when he discovered his passion for the shale business. Now he works for a company that is part of the shale space, and he runs a budding network of social media sites about it.

“I love everything about the industry,” Berkley told GoMarcellusShale. “I feel like I’m doing the country, the world, this area a service.”

Berkley is the marketing director at Somerset Regional Water Resources, a company that offers water and well-site support services and owes its existence to the Marcellus Shale. He has been at SRWR for two years, having transitioned into the shale business two years before that.

Berkley’s interest in the industry started as he read article after article about the shale boom while working at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “You could see that there was something big coming,” he said, so Berkley pursued and landed a job at a shale-related startup.

He also has personal connections to shale: Although no drilling is occurring there, Berkley’s family owns land near the Marcellus region, and his hometown of Somerset, Pa., has benefited from that shale play.

The biggest benefit is jobs that pay enough to support families. This includes jobs for truck drivers, in front offices and in business development, which is one of Berkley’s responsibilities at SWSR.

“The amount of money and jobs that are coming in, it’s wonderful,” he said. “... We’ve been waiting for something like this. It’s just been incredible.”

Truck drivers in particular are reaping the benefits. Having a commercial driving license “is like gold,” Berkley said. “If you have a CDL truck license, you can get a job anywhere you want. ... They’re in demand, and their salaries have gone up” as much as $20,000 a year in some places.

“Right now this is the best thing out there,” he said. “I love sitting right on top of it.”

Berkley also loves telling others all about the Marcellus Shale. He runs a series of social media channels under the moniker Tri-State Shale News & Networking. Those media outlets include a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a LinkedIn group that has more than 2,000 members.

“These are professionals, too,” Berkley said. “I’ll go to these conferences and trade shows, and people will recognize me from that” LinkedIn group.

The social media skills he developed while working at the Tribune-Review opened new doors to Berkley in the shale world. Twitter, where Berkley also maintains an active personal account, has even yielded new business leads. “I loved playing around with social media,” he said. “I just didn’t realize I would see a professional opportunity from that.”

“I never really liked Twitter before, but I just learn so much from it,” he said, adding that he talks to people he never would have met any other way.

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