Agenda

Chet Thompson is president and CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), the trade association representing over 300 member companies that encompass virtually all U.S. refining and petrochemical manufacturing capacity. He became AFPM’s president and CEO in 2015.
Prior to joining AFPM, Thompson was a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, where he was chairman of the Environment & Natural Resources Group. He previously served as deputy general counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the George W. Bush Administration. Before joining EPA in 2004, he spent 10 years at Collier Shannon Scott PLLC.
In October 2015, The Hill named him as one of Washington’s Top Lobbyists. He has also been recognized as one of the leading lawyers in the United States by Chambers & Partners. Thompson holds a B.A. in Political Science from Boston College and a J.D. from the Catholic University Columbus School of Law.

Brent is the Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Chevron Phillips Chemical Company. He has 19 years' experience at Chevron Phillips Chemical Company in various departments: Information Technology (software development, project management), Commercial Lines (sales and operations planning), Supply Chain (managing warehousing, packaging, drayage), and Analytics (business intelligence and data science).

Liana Siegel is the HF Alkylation Technologist for Marathon Petroleum Company. She has 18 years of refining experience with positions held in Technical, Economics and Planning, and Major Projects Departments with 7 years of experience directly in HF Alkylation.

Howard Butler has worked for Phillips 66 for 28 years and has worked at a number of Phillips 66 refineries both domestically and internationally, as well as managing a joint venture chemical plant. Howard has had various roles in supervision, engineering, operations, and planning and economics. Howard is currently the Process Engineering Supervisor at the Billings, MT Refinery.

Larry Webb is the Director of Health & Safety for Flint Hills Resources. He has experience in leading emergency response, field safety, process safety, security, DOT functions, industrial hygiene, and medical services. His experience spans multiple industries, such as, refining, aerospace, smelting, building products, and construction. Larry holds a BS Degree from the University of Texas at Tyler in Industrial Safety and a Masters Degree from Columbia Southern University in Emergence Response Management.

Javier Rios is a Principal Technical Service Specialist at Honeywell UOP and he is responsible for supporting UOP FCC and Merox operations worldwide. Over the past 17 years Javier has worked in the Field Services and Technology Services groups. As a Field Service Advisor he provided on site guidance and expertise during new unit commissioning, startup, and troubleshooting for Hydro-treating/Hydrocracker, Molex, Fix Bed Platforming, and Merox technologies at multiple refineries throughout the world. In his current role, Javier specializes in FCC and Merox technologies, providing troubleshooting, optimization and operational assistance for over 15 FCC and over 300 treating units as well as supporting internal FCC and Merox technology development teams for UOP FCC R&D and Engineering. He has been awarded 4 patents on UOP Technologies, 3 trade secret for improvements in treating technologies and published 2 articles. Javier earned his B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Optional: He enjoys to play soccer, Karaoke and his favorite team is America (Mexico) – Barcelona (Spain).

I joined CHS in July of 2007 as an Area Operator assigned the Delayed Coker unit with no previous experience in the refining industry. I worked the PSM position starting in 2010 to plan and work the first Coker Turnaround in the Summer of 2011. I was promoted to Shift Supervisor in October of 2011 and my first assignment was as the acting Coker Supervisor. I spent a little over 10 years as the Coker Supervisor and moved to the Training Supervisor in January of 2022.

A dedicated and passionate Process Operator at the Phillips 66 Sweeny Refinery with over 10 years of industry experience.

Refinery involvement:
Emergency Response Team Member
Area Safety Team Member
Instructor and curriculum writer for the Refinery's annual Safety Days training program.

Kacey Lopez is a Process Operator for Phillips 66 Hydrofluoric Acid Alkylation unit located in Sweeny, Tx. Kacey is member of the Alky / Sulfur - Area Safety Team and is a key member of Sweeny’s Emergency Response Team. He also serves as an Instructor, Curriculum Writer, and Committee Member for Phillips 66 industry leading Safety Days training program.

Russell is from Sweeny, Texas, where he works as a Union Boilermaker with Phillips 66. He has been a boilermaker for 14 years. He currently leads the Sweeny Refinery Maintenance Area Safety Team. In this capacity he created SWAGGER, a ergonomics and work readiness program used by the refinery. He also collaborated with the Hand Safety Tool Company to develop the Grading Removal Tool, which is now patented and protecting personnel across our industry. He is also a Safety Instructor and curriculum developer at his site.

Sylvain has for the last 42 years held various research, technical, sales and sales management positions where his responsibilities included servicing, product line management, new product development, marketing, and field sales support for cooling & boiler water, wastewater, emulsion breakers, antifoulants and corrosion control chemistries to the refining processing industry. Sylvain currently provides global technical support to the refining processing industries, with a principal focus on crude units; desalting, phase separation, antifoam and solid settling best practices, knowledge management, and technology development. He holds a BSc (Biology) degree from Sherbrooke University, Québec Canada.

Liana Siegel is the HF Alkylation Technologist for Marathon Petroleum Company. She has 18 years of refining experience with positions held in Technical, Economics and Planning, and Major Projects Departments with 7 years of experience directly in HF Alkylation.

Steve Mayo is Vice President of Technology & Business Development for Eurecat. In this role, he is globally responsible for research, development, and deployment of Eurecat products, technologies, and services. Prior to his current role, Steve was Refining Technology Director at KBR and prior to that he held various technology positions at Albemarle/Akzo Nobel in their hydroprocessing catalyst business. In total he has over 40 years of experience in the field of refining catalysts and applications, encompassing research, development, manufacturing, testing, technology, technical services, and business. He has authored and co-authored numerous papers on hydroprocessing, catalysis and refining technology. Steve holds a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Adrián Azpilicueta works for Nalco Water as Sr Industry Technical Consultant. He has over 37 years of experience in Refinery operations. He worked his first 26 years for ExxonMobil in operations, technical, maintenance and projects. The last 11 years he has been with Nalco Water, starting in the Sales organization and moving to Marketing 5 years ago as Sr Industry Technical Consultant with special focus on Process Operations & Hydroprocessing. He is a Chemical Engineer from the Universidad Nacional del Sur (Argentina) and has an M.B.A. from the Universidad Católica Argentina (Buenos Aires).

Montri Vichailak is Hydroprocessing Technologist at Marathon Petroleum Corporation HQ in Findlay, OH. He is responsible for providing leadership on hydroprocessing and hydrocracking technical and operating performances across Marathon’s refining system. Montri holds a Doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering from Lamar University and has more than 23 years of experience in oil and gas industry.

Ken Chlapik is the Global Market Manager for Johnson Matthey's Catalysts and Technologies Low Carbon Solutions business. He is based in the Chicago area in Oakbrook Terrace IL USA being responsible for solution development of JM's Low Carbon Technologies which enable our customers to decarbonize their syngas production plants and facilities. Most of Ken's career has been involved with the growth of steam methane reforming hydrogen use in the oil refining industry that has tripled during his time with hydrogen production and is projected to be a magnitude larger in the next two decades through the energy transition. Ken holds a B.Sc. degree (Chemical Engineering, 1981) from Northwestern University in Evanston IL. He was recently recognized by the AFPM with the Peter G. Andrews Lifetime Service Award. Ken has been in the industry for over 40 years and with Johnson Matthey for 38 years.

Joe is a process controls technologist for Marathon Petroleum Corporation LP, Canton, Ohio where his primary focus is on optimization technology and HMI for all of MPC refinery operations. He has 22 years' experience serving most of his career as the process controls supervisor for Canton. Prior to Marathon, Joe worked for the Foxboro Company for 5.5 years and Aspen Technology for 1.5 years. Joe Received his master's in chemical engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

Chris is an APC Engineer for Marathon Petroleum Corporation LP at the Garyville Refinery providing support for applications at Garyville and virtual support for other sites. Previous to his current position, he served in the capacity of a process control engineer and a process control supervisor. Chris has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Sylvain has for the last 42 years held various research, technical, sales and sales management positions where his responsibilities included servicing, product line management, new product development, marketing, and field sales support for cooling & boiler water, wastewater, emulsion breakers, antifoulants and corrosion control chemistries to the refining processing industry. Sylvain currently provides global technical support to the refining processing industries, with a principal focus on crude units; desalting, phase separation, antifoam and solid settling best practices, knowledge management, and technology development. He holds a BSc (Biology) degree from Sherbrooke University, Québec Canada.

Eamon offers a broad range of expertise across various engagements at Turner, Mason & Company that focus on strategy, analysis, optimization, and energy investments. He advises clients in the transportation fuel sector, which include producers, traders, private equity firms, industry trade associations, and government agencies. These projects vary from ethanol, renewable diesel, biodiesel, co-processors, renewable natural gas (RNG), waste-to-energy, and refineries. Eamon’s consulting experience ranges from supply/demand market analysis, fair market value assessments, due diligence, audits, fuels compliance management, regulatory support and project scale-up. As an accredited Lead Verifier for California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Eamon has proficiency with GREET Modeling, Life Cycle Analysis, Fuel Pathway Validation/Verification and Quarterly Fuel transaction reports. Additionally, Eamon has experience with the Federal EPA Motor Fuel and Vehicle Regulations (including the Renewable Fuel Standard). RFS engagements have consisted of fuels compliance, attestations, RIN due diligence, and 3rd party engineering reviews. Formerly with ExxonMobil, he was a part of the optimization team as an Economist running LP economic models to highlight constraints and marginal unit incentives for the planning and technical operation teams while also evaluating the economics of potential site projects for investment consideration. Eamon holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Michigan Ross School of Business.

Nathan Jannasch is a Senior Process Engineer for Chevron Renewable Energy Group supporting the Renewable Diesel units in Geismar, LA. He is responsible for process technical support for hydro-processing and fractionation operations and framing for new capital projects. He has experience in process engineering, operations, and capital project execution in the areas of Renewable Diesel hydro-processing, Syngas generation from natural gas, Fischer-Tropsch conversion, and Syncrude hydro-processing. Mr. Jannasch is a PE in the state of Oklahoma, holds a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tulsa, and has 25 years of experience in renewable diesel and gas-to-liquids technologies.

Josh Cross is the Director of Operations for the Diamond Green Diesel facility located adjacent to the Valero Port Arthur Refinery. Diamond Green Diesel is a 50/50 joint venture between Valero and Darling Ingredients Inc.
Josh began his career with Valero in 1998 as an operator at the Benicia Refinery in California. He has held several roles during his tenure including Control Supervisor, Project Operations Coordinator, Operations Superintendent, Complex Manager and Refinery Operations Director at Valero’s sites in Benicia, California, and Port Arthur and Three Rivers, Texas.
Outside of work Josh enjoys working on his classic cars, golf, fishing, relaxing by the pool with his family and volunteering on the local United Way executive board.

Delbert Grotewold is a Renewable Fuels SME in the fuel production industry with Veolia Water Technologies & Solutions. He has held roles in research, process engineering, operations management, technical marketing, strategic product development and commercial operations. Delbert’s areas of expertise are in refinery process design, unit operations troubleshooting, membrane separation technologies, heavy and tight oil processing, advanced modeling, statistical process control, data management and water reuse. He holds 5 patents in the refining industry including applied artificial intelligence modeling and refinery process control.

Mr. Grotewold holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering, a BSc in Petroleum Refining Engineering and a BSc in Mathematics and Statistics from the Colorado School of Mines. He is a registered Professional Engineer with 40 years of experience with operating companies and refinery treatment providers.

After completing a Chemical Engineering degree at the University of Houston, Oscar started his career at Albemarle Catalysts in 2006. He began his tenure at Valero in 2010 in the Refinery Modeling group in San Antonio and progressed through engineering and operations positions at the St. Charles and Port Arthur refineries. He currently is subject matter expert for hydroprocessing at Valero.

Yangdong Pan is a director of advanced process control at Delek US. He has over 30 years’ experience of both academic research and practical implementation in multiple industries in areas, such as process simulation, control, and optimization, as well as supply chain optimization. He also has experience in refinery blending and chemometrics modeling.
Yangdong holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University.

Kevin Harkness is the operations area lead for the FCC and HF alkylation units at the Trainer, PA refinery for Monroe Energy. He is responsible for day-to-day safe, reliable, and environmental performance of the area. He has at the trainer refinery since 2012 in various process engineering and operations roles and has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Widener University and has 14 years of experience in the refining industry.

Yangdong Pan is a director of advanced process control at Delek US. He has over 30 years’ experience of both academic research and practical implementation in multiple industries in areas, such as process simulation, control, and optimization, as well as supply chain optimization. He also has experience in refinery blending and chemometrics modeling.
Yangdong holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University.

Randy Peterson is the Technology Manager for Elessent’s STRATCO® Alkylation business. His expertise is in the areas of plant optimization, troubleshooting, startup assistance, operator training and research/development. Mr. Peterson has worked for the STRATCO® Alkylation business for over 33 years. Prior to that, he spent three years at Conoco working on FCC, reformer and HF alkylation revamps.

Mr. Peterson graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and from Rockhurst University with a Master of Business Administration degree.

David is President, User Centered Design Services Inc (UCDS). in Brunswick, GA. He started his career in engineering in the UK with various positions in process engineering, automation, IT, project management and operations management. He designed his first control room in the mid-90’s and later joined UCDS and spent the next few years working on a range of operator performance projects mentored by Ian Nimmo, one of the leading authorities in operator performance. David has experience as an operator performance consultant, resource manager and an industrial software solution consultant. David is a Chemical Engineer, a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the UK's IChemE, as well as a senior member of AIChE and ISA.

Patrick McSorley is a Senior FCC Technical Advisor at Ketjen. As a Technical Advisor he provides training, troubleshooting, and catalyst reformulation/optimization recommendations to his customers. Patrick holds a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has 14 years of refining experience working 9 years with UOP-Honeywell and the last 5 years with Ketjen.

Grant Severyn is an FCC Technical Service Specialist for BASF Corporation and is based in Iselin, NJ. He is responsible for FCC catalyst technical service and FCC kinetic modeling support for refineries in North America. He has experience in solids handling process development, new product launch, and catalyst manufacturing. Mr. Severyn holds a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and has 5 years of experience with BASF in various roles.

Nikolas Larsen is FCC & Alkylation Technology Manager and a Cat Cracking subject matter expert for Marathon Petroleum Company located in Findlay, Ohio. As a corporate technologist he provides technical/operational expertise and support for Marathon’s thirteen FCC units. Nik has also held a variety of other technical and supervisory positions within Marathon at different refinery locations. Nik holds a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and has nearly 20 years of experience in the refining industry.

Tyler Veenstra is Marathon Petroleum Company’s Refining Training and Development Manager. Tyler began his career with Marathon as a Process Technician in Robinson, IL over 24 years ago. While handling various responsibilities through his 10 years as a Process Operator, Tyler discovered a passion for sharing his knowledge, skills, and abilities. This led him to holding several different training positions across Refining and has been the Refining Training and Development Manager for the past six years.

Specializing in the application emerging technology by combining custom software and off the shelf solutions to plan, deliver, and support motivational training and educational XR interactions.

As a key creative design member of collaborative international teams, I leverage learning theories and research methodologies to derive strategies for adoption, scale, and production of immersive technologies (AR, VR, MR, 3D) at the enterprise level.

As an altruistic and skilled leader, my entrepreneurial skills and knowledge helped to identify, develop, and grow internal service lines at the fortune 5 level, while my extensive cross industry experience promoted collaboration with global teams as a subject matter expert in learning technologies, data, and analytics.

As an impactful design leader, I helped to deliver award winning, innovative global software with growth-oriented industry disruption by developing influential partnerships with internal and external senior executives and government officials.

My educational and growth mindset paired with over 25 years of design experience in entertainment, education, and enterprise has developed a deep foundation of skills in user centered design best practices in which I am able to deliver high impact, motivational learning and extraneous cognitive load reducing software and hardware solutions within enterprise level organizational budgets.

Through my expertise in digital production and XR development, I have saved lives by solving real world business training problems. My unique hybrid of multidisciplinary knowledge results in positive ROI for metaverse focused roadmap challenges.

Richard Hannah serves as the Vice President of Learning and Innovation for HASC and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Practice for both Kansas State University, College of Education and Texas A&M University, School of Public Health. He has worked in and around the energy industry for over 20 years, working primarily in skills and safety training. Before working with HASC, Richard worked as a technical writer, a proposal writer, a training and recruiting director, a business analyst, and a project manager for several industrial cleaning and construction firms. Presently, he is investigating how HASC can develop techniques to deliver computer-based, instructor-led, and hands-on training in more effective and innovative ways. A former team leader for the US Army Ranger Regiment, he graduated from Texas A&M, earned an MBA with a focus on internet technologies, and recently completed his Ph.D. in Adult Learning and Leadership.

Jake Reint oversees corporate communications, public affairs and stewardship for Flint Hills Resources, a subsidiary of Koch Industries and a leading oil refining company based in Wichita, Kansas with operations primarily in the Midwest and Texas.

Reint has more than 20 years of experience as a communications and public affairs professional who specializes in strategic communications around major projects, crisis management, community engagement, media relations, and political and issues advocacy.

Reint started with Flint Hills Resources in 2008 as communications director for the company’s Pine Bend Refinery in Minnesota. Prior to joining Flint Hills Resources, Reint was vice president of Midwest public affairs for Weber Shandwick -- a leading international public relations firm based in New York. During his 12 years with Weber Shandwick, Reint represented a variety of notable organizations, including Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, Polaris Industries, the Minnesota Vikings, Alliance Pipeline, Manitoba Hydro and the Prairie Island Indian Community.

Reint has duel degrees in communication and journalism from Augsburg College and the University of St. Thomas, respectively. He also has done graduate work at the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Reint is a member of the board of directors of both the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the Great River Passage Conservancy and serves on a number of local and national industry and business panels.

Omar Ahmed is DEPCOM Power’s VP of Engineering. Him and his Team manage all the engineering aspects for DEPCOM’s portfolio of utility scale PV and Energy Storage Facilities, from Development Support through Performance Testing. Omar has 15 years of Utility Scale Solar and Energy Storage Experience, supporting projects that range from 5MW all the way to 300MW, with interconnecting voltages ranging from 12.47kV thru 500kV. Omar and his Team have unique tools that have been developed to help Customers optimize their target Facility sizing based on their specific use case, current market conditions, and the best combination of equipment available to the marketplace. Omar is also a Licensed Professional Electrical Engineer, and is the Engineer of Record for several DEPCOM Projects in the queue. He supports a Team of engineers which self-perform the engineering services on the Projects DEPCOM builds, and that is another unique skillset that has been developed in-house by this Engineering Team.

Breanna Busker serves as Technologist for Refined Technologies. She is accountable for the integration of new processes and technologies for all RTI supported applications. She also provides technical support for reactor and reactive chemistry projects. She has 9 years of refining experience in process engineering and asset management in the areas of Crude Distillation, Delayed Coking, FCC, Alkylation, Hydroprocessing and Reformation. She specializes in operations optimization and asset risk evaluation and management. Busker earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University.

B.S. Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University,
25 years Oil and Gas Industry experience.
14 years in Naphtha Reforming and related technologies.
Worked roles in process design, operations, major capital projects, and organizational capability.

Alex Sabitov holds position of Director, Reforming and Isomerization and Aromatics with Phillips 66 Refining Business Improvement group. His focus is on providing day to day technical support to the existing reforming and isomerization process units at Phillips 66 refineries and development of optimization and project opportunities for maximizing returns from naphtha processing assets.

Alex started his career with UOP as a Development Engineer in 1996 after graduation with Master Degree in Chemical Engineering from Ufa Oil Technological University in Russia. He worked in various functions with UOP Technical Services and Naphtha Technology Business Development departments until joining Phillips 66 in 2015.

Raul Romero is Technical Consultant Director for Nalco Water NA, at the Houston Technology Center. He is responsible for technical support to sales teams, innovation projects and new applications in Canada and USA in process related areas of the different refinery units. His role is focused on corrosion and fouling prevention and mitigation, antifoaming among other applications, to help improve reliability and profitability of the refinery operation. He has more than 35 years in refining experience with 23 years at ExxonMobil in various roles including in process and operation of crude and vacuum distillation, delayed coker, and hydrotreating units at the Campana Refinery, Argentina.

Peter is a Vice President at CPFD with 20+ years’ experience developing and applying specialized computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technologies. Peter is passionate about removing the guesswork from FCCU operations through intelligent use of digitalization technology.

CJ has 33 years of refining experience, starting with a major refining organization as a process engineer in 1990. CJ started FCC process engineering in 1991 and continued for the next 6 years before joining one of the major FCC technology licensors for the next 5 years, traveling the world, performing service and design work on many grassroots and revamped FCCUs. In 2001, he joined a global FCC catalyst supplier where he was ultimately the global technical service and marketing manager. He became an independent consultant in 2008.

Nagappan 'Muthu' Muthiah is the Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) Lead for Phillips 66. He leads their SIS Network and is responsible for establishing and maintaining SIS related company standards and best practices. He has been in the Process Automation industry for about 20 years and has a master’s degree in Control Systems Engineering from Oklahoma State University and is a Licensed Professional Engineer in Texas. Muthu serves as the ISA84 Committee Secretary and co-leads SIS demands and SIS bypassing sub-group within the Digitalization of SIS Working Group.

Breanna Busker serves as Technologist for Refined Technologies. She is accountable for the integration of new processes and technologies for all RTI supported applications. She also provides technical support for reactor and reactive chemistry projects. She has 9 years of refining experience in process engineering and asset management in the areas of Crude Distillation, Delayed Coking, FCC, Alkylation, Hydroprocessing and Reformation. She specializes in operations optimization and asset risk evaluation and management. Busker earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University.

Ziad Jawad is the Director of FCC Technology at Phillips 66 in Houston TX where he supports Fluidized Catalytic Cracking operations to deliver a competitive advantage. He is responsible for setting technical strategy via catalyst selection, capital projects / improvement opportunities, and implementing best-practices across the organization. He supports plant operations, focuses on improving process-safety and assuring regulatory compliance. Prior to joining P66 Ziad was Director Catalytic Cracking Technology at Technip Stone & Webster Process Technology and Vice President / General Manager Houston at Emtrol LLC. Ziad holds a BSChE from the Virginia Tech University and has over 26 years of experience in the refining industry.

Richard Grove is an FCC Subject Matter Expert with the Chevron Global Manufacturing Process Technology Team. Richard received B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alabama (Roll Tide). Prior to assuming his current position at Chevron in 2007 Richard worked as the West Coast Regional Manager for GRACE Davison. Richard worked as the FCC Process Engineer at Chevron Pascagoula refinery before his employment at GRACE Davison. Richard has given many presentations on the wonderful aspects of FCC Units and loves bringing new people into the FCC family.

Clint Cooper is a Technical Services Manager for W.R. Grace & Co.'s FCC business. In addition to providing technical service for Grace's North American accounts, Mr. Cooper utilizes his experience in FCC kinetic modeling to support the broader technical service teams. He joined Grace in 2019 with the acquisition of Rive Technology, where he had worked for 5 years as a Technical Services Manager to commercialize the novel FCC zeolite technology. Mr. Cooper began his career as an FCC Design Specialist for Stone & Webster and Lummus Technology, and he holds a BS degree in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Mike DeHart is Executive Director of Maintenance Excellence for Valero Energy. He is responsible for developing and implementing best practices to support routine and turnaround maintenance across Valero’s refineries. Mike has experience in Fixed Equipment Reliability, Inspection, Turnarounds, Maintenance, Operations and Refinery Optimization. He has provided leadership in these areas in refineries and in a corporate capacity.

Casey Long is the Director of Field Services for Flint Hills Resources® Corpus Christi and member of Refinery Leadership Team (RLT) for last 9 years. Casey has 32 plus years of industry experience, the last 30 year he has held various Leadership roles in Turnaround, Projects, Maintenance, Asset Management, and Construction in a broad cross section of industrial business segments with a heavy focus in Chemicals and Refining the last 16 years. Casey has worked at multiple sites within Koch Industries of which he spent 6 years at INVISTA® before joining Flint Hills Resources in 2014 to present.

Moiz Sultan is a professional engineer and crude planner with Parkland Fuels Corporation, Burnaby, BC with responsibility for planning and optimization to maximize gross margin. He has a decade of experience solving complex and challenging problems with a focus and an in-depth knowledge of crude oil’s value chain from reservoir, production, transportation, storage & refining.

David Hunt is a Senior Principal FCC Technologist for W.R. Grace & Co.

David has 30 years of FCC experience ranging from process design and operations to troubleshooting and catalyst technical service.

David has spent most of his career at W.R. Grace & Co but worked for several years at Stone & Webster (now Technip Energies) and Shell Oil.

As a member of Grace’s Global Customer Technology (GCT) group, David provides technical consulting to Grace’s global FCC customer base.

David holds a BS degree from the University of Wyoming and a MS degree from University of Houston both in Chemical Engineering.

Derek Froehle is a Senior Technical Services Specialist in the FCC Technology Services group at Honeywell UOP. He has spent 9 years with UOP Services focusing on FCC, RTP, and Co-processing technologies. Derek supports customers around the globe with their unit operation, optimization, and troubleshooting to keep units operating safely & profitably.  He also leads the development and commercial testing of novel technologies in the FCC portfolio and refinery integration of biogenic feedstocks.

Derek holds a BS degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of Wisconsin—Madison.

B.S. Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University,
25 years Oil and Gas Industry experience.
14 years in Naphtha Reforming and related technologies.
Worked roles in process design, operations, major capital projects, and organizational capability.

Aishwariy Baheti serves as Manager, Digital Solutions at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited Mumbai Refinery with a keen interest in leveraging technology to drive innovation. Aishwariy's expertise lies in navigating the intersection of technology and refinery operations, contributing to the advancement of the energy industry which played a pivotal role in various digitalization initiatives at both the Mumbai and Kochi Refineries. Aishwariy is a Computer Science graduate from NIT Bhopal and currently pursuing a master's at IIM Indore,

Operational Excellence and Knowledge Automation expert in the process industry. Based in Houston. Former management consultant focused on technology and big industry. A broad international background and education. Thanks to his family, studies and career, he has lived and worked in the US, UAE, UK, France, Germany, Russia and Spain.

Leandro Martins is Manager of Corporative Refining Operations and Technical Assistance at Petrobras. He began his career at the Duque de Caxias refinery where he worked in several activities related to Operation, Process Optimization and Product Quality Control, which allowed the development of a comprehensive view on refining processes and products.

Dorothy Ortego is the Training Manager at LyondellBasell Industries in Lake Charles, LA She has 20 years of industrial experience, ten years in the hazardous waste industry and 10 years in petrochemical with Sasol and LyondellBasell. She was also an educator in the fields of Environmental Chemistry at Lamar State College Orange for 7 years and Chemistry and Process Technology at McNeese State University for 17 years. Outside of her direct work responsibilities she has chaired several organizations, including the Education Committee for the State of Louisiana Process Technology programs and the NAPTA Endorsement committee, and is Vice Chair of the Advisory Board for Sowela Technical Community College. She served as learning consultant at Sasol where she developed the maintenance training for the new processes and equipment, as well as being a co-instructor in onboarding 220 new operators. Dorothy holds a BS and MS in Chemistry.

Mike DeHart is Executive Director of Maintenance Excellence for Valero Energy. He is responsible for developing and implementing best practices to support routine and turnaround maintenance across Valero’s refineries. Mike has experience in Fixed Equipment Reliability, Inspection, Turnarounds, Maintenance, Operations and Refinery Optimization. He has provided leadership in these areas in refineries and in a corporate capacity.

Casey Long is the Director of Field Services for Flint Hills Resources® Corpus Christi and member of Refinery Leadership Team (RLT) for last 9 years. Casey has 32 plus years of industry experience, the last 30 year he has held various Leadership roles in Turnaround, Projects, Maintenance, Asset Management, and Construction in a broad cross section of industrial business segments with a heavy focus in Chemicals and Refining the last 16 years. Casey has worked at multiple sites within Koch Industries of which he spent 6 years at INVISTA® before joining Flint Hills Resources in 2014 to present.

Brent is the Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Chevron Phillips Chemical Company. He has 19 years' experience at Chevron Phillips Chemical Company in various departments: Information Technology (software development, project management), Commercial Lines (sales and operations planning), Supply Chain (managing warehousing, packaging, drayage), and Analytics (business intelligence and data science).

Drake Wilson is a Project Manager at Monroe Energy, LLC at the Trainer, PA Refinery. Over the last few years, he served as a lead project engineer on major capital projects including the FCC Reactor Replacement. Drake holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science in Project Management from Drexel University.

Piotr Majcher is a project manager in the capital projects group at Monroe Energy, LLC Trainer, PA Refinery. Over the last 8 years, he has served in various roles in the organization including maintenance reliability support, management of small and large capital projects, as well as turnaround planning and execution. Prior to Monroe, Piotr held technical positions with several chemical and petrochemical companies in the greater Philadelphia region, mainly focused around fixed and rotating equipment reliability. Piotr has a mechanical engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology and a total of 16 years in the chemical/petrochemical fields.

Kevin Harkness is the operations area lead for the FCC and HF alkylation units at the Trainer, PA refinery for Monroe Energy. He is responsible for day-to-day safe, reliable, and environmental performance of the area. He has at the trainer refinery since 2012 in various process engineering and operations roles and has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Widener University and has 14 years of experience in the refining industry.

Steve is responsible for the overall management of the Refining Technology department, providing oversight for licensing, projects, proposals and technology development programs. He has over 25 years of experience in refining process design and licensing. Steve holds a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Houston and a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Oklahoma.

Richard Grove is an FCC Subject Matter Expert with the Chevron Global Manufacturing Process Technology Team. Richard received B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alabama (Roll Tide). Prior to assuming his current position at Chevron in 2007 Richard worked as the West Coast Regional Manager for GRACE Davison. Richard worked as the FCC Process Engineer at Chevron Pascagoula refinery before his employment at GRACE Davison. Richard has given many presentations on the wonderful aspects of FCC Units and loves bringing new people into the FCC family.

Nikolas Larsen is FCC & Alkylation Technology Manager and a Cat Cracking subject matter expert for Marathon Petroleum Company located in Findlay, Ohio. As a corporate technologist he provides technical/operational expertise and support for Marathon’s thirteen FCC units. Nik has also held a variety of other technical and supervisory positions within Marathon at different refinery locations. Nik holds a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and has nearly 20 years of experience in the refining industry.