Meet Emily Disney, former FBI special agent and social justice enthusiast

Emily Disney is a Senior Compliance Investigator in the Industrial and Energy Technology segment at Baker Hughes. Here she shares her story with the Energy Forward Stories team. 

Question:

Hello Emily, Thank You for taking the time to tell us a little bit about yourself. What did you study and what was your first job? 

Emily Disney

I graduated from a bachelor’s degree in psychology and then I went to Law School at the University of Kansas. That's where my dad had gone to law school as well.
During law school, I had the opportunity to study international trade and finance, business and commercial law. I really thought that I was going to go into that initially right out of law school. 

After my studies, I was presented with an opportunity to prosecute at the Johnson County District Attorney's Office in Kansas. Prosecuting was something that I had always wanted to do. So, I took that and I ran with it. I did it for about three years. 

Question: 

Then you joined the FBI as a special agent- how did this happen? From Kansas to New York to El Salvador to Miami…tell us more. 

Emily Disney

When I worked at the District Attorney’s office, I saw an opportunity to apply to the FBI. And when I did apply, I was convinced I was not what they were looking for. 

Not long after, I received an e-mail saying: ‘’Hi, Emily, here's your date to go to Quantico’’. I couldn’t quite believe it. I decided to quit my job, and I went to the FBI’s training academy in Quantico, Virginia. I was recruited and assigned my first field office in the FBI in New York.

I moved from Kansas; it was honestly the first time I had been to New York. But I had a great time. I really enjoyed it. From there, I was able to learn Spanish and I went to work at the US Embassy in El Salvador for a year. 

By then, I’d met my future husband, Jose, who lives in Miami and his family are here too. We got married, and I moved to Florida, to work from the Miami FBI field office.

I was still able to use my Spanish language and worked mainly in international corruption and other areas for the Bureau. 

Question: 

After almost 10 years with the FBI, you chose to move to the private sector, for a Senior Legal and Compliance role at Baker Hughes. How did this happen, and what did you think? 

Emily Disney

When I had the opportunity to apply for this role at Baker Hughes, I believed this might be the next logical step in my career. This was a way to get back to a role in business and international trade and finance, as I had originally intended.

I was delighted to be successful, and it has been a good transition so far. When you join a new organization, it can be a little daunting. You wonder whether it will meet your expectations or doubt what you think you know about a company...etc. I am happy to say that it has been exactly what I thought it would be. 

Question: 

How long have you been with Baker Hughes and can you describe your role and any transferable skills you’ve been able to apply?

Emily Disney

Since December 2025. December 1st was my first day, so you could say I am still brand new. 

When I was in the FBI, I was mainly building criminal cases against people who violated the laws of the United States. That work involved finding evidence, collecting it, analysing it, conducting interviews and making sure that all my investigation was within the parameters of the law.

My role here at Baker Hughes is very similar. The company has ‘a law’: the code of conduct and the company policies that we all follow as employees.

As a senior legal advisor, I am given internal compliance investigations to work on. Therefore, just like in a criminal investigation, I conduct interviews and write reports. I review evidence to make sure the company policies have been followed or not as the case may be.
I would say a lot of the skills developed in my prior career have been transferable in the sense that it's still investigations. The violations are of course on a much smaller scale. It has been very helpful to have that investigative and legal background for sure. I feel very confident when going into the interviews and understanding what I need to build the investigation. This is a bonus in a new job. 

Baker Hughes takes employee compliance concerns reporting very seriously, using an independent compliance website- Reportconcerns.BakerHughes.com where all concerns can be flagged to the Compliance and Legal team’s attention. 

In the public sector as an Assistant District Attorney and Special Agent, I had the privilege of serving the people at large. Now that I work here at Baker Hughes, I still get that privilege. Every time an employee reports a concern, it is taken with the same care and analysis I used in the FBI. That is important to me.  

When I was at University, I got to study abroad in Cairo, Egypt and Capetown, South Africa. When I was a special agent, I was able to work with our Law Enforcement Partners across Latin America. Here at Baker Hughes, I get to work in every time zone across the globe, as we strive to make sure employee concerns are thoroughly and properly investigated as soon as possible.

Question: 

What attracted you to Baker Hughes when thinking about the company culture, and the core values (Grow, Collaborate, Lead and Care)? 

Emily Disney 

That is a good question. I think growth is the one for me because this role is pushing me into a different level of my investigative ability. When I was in the FBI, I was dealing with people in the United States mostly or not usually dealing with different people in different countries at the same time.

Today, I can have investigations going on in Malaysia, the Middle East and Latin America all at the same time, as Baker Hughes operates in more than 120 countries, with global teams. I am learning a lot about how to do investigations in those areas, and I am growing as a result.

Secondly, the focus on collaboration and care is also hugely important to me. 

What I like about the compliance function, is that we are working to enforce and educate employees to do the right thing, always.

My passion has taken me in the past to work for social justice and the justice system in the United States and making sure that the law is applied fairly across all our investigations. This is exactly what we are doing here within the company, working in so many different countries where we are trying to do the right thing, for the customers, or for the workers and shareholders. 

For more insights into the Legal team at Baker Hughes, read this story here.