Rick Tallant, Asset Manager, Shell Exploration and Production Company:

Rick Tallant wanted to move to a city with tradition, culture and professional opportunities when he returned to the U.S. after 3 ½ years working at Shell’s central headquarters in the Netherlands.

Tallant got his wish when Shell transferred him to New Orleans in March 2010. He and his family live in the Garden District, and he enjoys working at Shell’s New Orleans branch.

“No matter where else we get moved with Shell, we’ll always return here … and our children will all be New Orleanians from birth,” Tallant says. “When we moved, we thought we’d be here 2-3 years. We never expected to fall in love with the city as we have. We were pleasantly surprised by all that it means to be a local, and we’ve fully embraced it.”

Tallant’s roles at Shell have ranged from global strategy to offshore operations in Houston, the Netherlands and New Orleans. He is now asset manager for the Gulf of Mexico East.

He says it is both easy and fulfilling to build a career in the growing, dynamic business community that is New Orleans.

“I don’t think people realize there are good opportunities to broaden yourself if you’re willing to look outside your primary industry,” Tallant said. “There are new things to offer, plentiful opportunities, and lots of career choices if you can look at it broadly.”

Tallant says living and working in such a non-traditional city is “fantastic” for him and his family – from observing the architecture, to walking down iconic streets, to riding in legendary Mardi Gras parades. And a commute to work shorter than 10 minutes isn’t too bad either.

“What we’ve found is that when people get (to New Orleans), they often realize how much the city has to offer, and concerns recede,” Tallant says. “New Orleans has a cycle, a rhythm by which things happen. Everything has a season, and you don’t really understand the scope of that until you really experience it. It’s like no place else.”