Agenda

Chet Thompson became president and CEO of AFPM in May 2015. He leads a staff that advocates for petroleum refiners and petrochemical manufacturers before Congress and the Executive Branch on a broad range of public policy issues. Under his leadership, AFPM works to emphasize the importance of petroleum refiners and petrochemical manufacturers and the essential products they produce that improve our lives, enable human progress and stimulate the U.S. economy.

Before coming to AFPM, Thompson had a successful legal career in Washington, D.C. for over two decades. Most recently he was a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, where he was Chairman of the Environment & Natural Resources Group, one of the country’s premier environmental practices. He previously served as Deputy General Counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the George W. Bush Administration where he provided legal advice to the agency’s Administrator, General Counsel and program offices. Before joining the EPA in 2004, he spent 10 years at Collier Shannon Scott PLLC.

Since joining AFPM, Thompson has been named to the U.S. Chamber’s Association Committee of 100, which is committed to advancing jobs, growth, and opportunity that help our nation prosper; and The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., which serves to promote a greater sense of community among the region’s top business and government leaders, and the diplomatic community.

In December 2018, The Hill named Thompson 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, and was awarded a Certificate of Accommodation by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2006. Thompson holds a B.A. in political science from Boston College and a J.D. from the Catholic University Columbus School of Law.

John was previously the team leader for TM&C’s market outlook publications and assignments and provided senior leadership to TM&C’s analyses of the worldwide refining industry and leads industry studies for the firm’s clients. He has specific expertise in the areas of refining economics and planning, LP modeling, downstream asset valuation, crude oil valuation and capital investment/strategic planning. John joined the firm in 1987 after a career with Exxon Corp., where he held various positions at its Baytown, Texas refinery. He holds a BS (1980) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nebraska and an MBA (1984) from the University of Houston-Clear Lake. He is a licensed professional engineer in Texas and Nebraska and is also a member of TSPE and AIChE.

Chet Thompson became president and CEO of AFPM in May 2015. He leads a staff that advocates for petroleum refiners and petrochemical manufacturers before Congress and the Executive Branch on a broad range of public policy issues. Under his leadership, AFPM works to emphasize the importance of petroleum refiners and petrochemical manufacturers and the essential products they produce that improve our lives, enable human progress and stimulate the U.S. economy.

Before coming to AFPM, Thompson had a successful legal career in Washington, D.C. for over two decades. Most recently he was a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, where he was Chairman of the Environment & Natural Resources Group, one of the country’s premier environmental practices. He previously served as Deputy General Counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the George W. Bush Administration where he provided legal advice to the agency’s Administrator, General Counsel and program offices. Before joining the EPA in 2004, he spent 10 years at Collier Shannon Scott PLLC.

Since joining AFPM, Thompson has been named to the U.S. Chamber’s Association Committee of 100, which is committed to advancing jobs, growth, and opportunity that help our nation prosper; and The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., which serves to promote a greater sense of community among the region’s top business and government leaders, and the diplomatic community.

In December 2018, The Hill named Thompson 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, and was awarded a Certificate of Accommodation by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2006. Thompson holds a B.A. in political science from Boston College and a J.D. from the Catholic University Columbus School of Law.

Michelle Poler is a creative and passionate social entrepreneur, keynote speaker, fear facer, branding strategist and author of Hello, Fears: Crush Your Comfort Zone and Become Who You’re Meant to Be.

She is the Founder of Hello Fears, a social movement empowering millions to step outside of the comfort zone and tap into their full potential. She has spoken at TEDx, Google, P&G, Facebook, ESPN, Netflix, Microsoft, Toyota, and many more.

Michelle is also the creator of the project 100 Days Without Fear. Her work has been featured on CBS, CNN, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, NBC and Daily Mail among many others.

Early on in her career she worked as an Art Director at Young & Rubicam for brands such as Hershey’s, Wendy’s, AT&T and Revlon. Michelle is originally from Venezuela and she holds a Masters in Branding from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Andy Woods is the Plant Manager at Chevron Phillips Pasadena plant. He has extensive manufacturing experience in both Operations and Maintenance mainly in Polymers and Ethylene processes. He has been a member of AFPM’s Reliability & Maintenance Conference committee for eight years. Andy holds a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland and has 34 years of experience in the chemical industry.

Mike Goranson, Turnaround Execution Coordinator, INVISTA. Mike has over 30 years’ experience in the industry, with 16 of those years in Turnaround Management. He is a 24-year veteran of INVISTA chemical, working his way up from Rigger Crane Operator to Turnaround Execution Coordinator. He is skilled in Gas, Petroleum, Pipelines, Polymers, and Inspection.

Daniel is a turnaround expert, having held a series of roles in turnarounds over the last 10 years and managed large teams of engineers located in different facilities. As President at Mobideo, he shares his turnaround knowledge, insights, expertise and understanding with customers, enabling them to appreciate how digitalization and automation can fundamentally change STO management and contribute to standardization of the STO market.

Since 2021 Mark has been focused on bringing sustainable solutions to Honeywell UOP’s customers in the more traditional Refining, Petrochemical and Gas Processing spaces.

Mark holds a BS Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from Northwestern University.

Mark holds three US patents in the areas of FCC, propylene separation membranes and other solids-fluids separation equipment. With Honeywell UOP, Mark has held positions in Field Service, Engineering, Offering Management, Optimization Services, Sales and Country Management before becoming the Senior Business Leader (SBL) for FCC, Alkylation & Treating followed by a similar role overseeing UOP’s Gas Processing portfolio. Prior to his current role, Mark was the Director for Technology Sales where he focused on driving the UOP Six Efficiencies (E6) to ensure that UOP offerings are the most Bankable solutions for our customers.

Rohan Dighe is a Process Monitoring and Optimization Engineer at Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. in the Houston area. He supports daily olefins unit optimization and troubleshooting efforts and is passionate about model development/application and data analytics, specifically as they relate to process optimization. He’s held previous roles in Process Engineering and Operations.

Morgan Bowling is an Industry Principal focused on the Energy Industry at Seeq Corporation. She has a BS in chemical engineering which she used when starting her career at ExxonMobil. Morgan joined Seeq in 2019 as an analytics engineer supporting enterprise rolls out of Seeq at large oil and gas companies. As an Industry Principal at Seeq, Morgan helps customers address their analytics problems to drive business value. She enjoys leading corporations on their digital transformation journeys to not only complete complex data analyses but to accelerate cultural change that leads to increased organizational effectiveness

Trevor Lane is a Senior Optimization Engineer at Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. in the Houston, TX area. He provides daily unit support for olefins operations and specializes in process monitoring and data analytics. He has spent 12 years in olefins with previous experience in Process Engineering and Feedstock Selection Modeling.

Yele Soyombo is Data Science Manager at Ascend Performance Materials in the Houston, TX Headquarters. He is responsible for Data Science, automation efforts and PowerBI for Manufacturing operations. He has extensive experience working in Analytics and Machine learning in the Chemical, Petroleum, and Technology industries. He is experienced in startup environments and established Data science teams.

Brian leads the continuous improvement organization for Ascend Performance Materials. His team works across manufacturing and functional teams to apply Lean and Six Sigma principles to improve stable ops, eliminate waste and drive down costs. Brian has held roles in Engineering, Business Development, Marketing, Finance and Manufacturing across a 30+ year career starting as a NASA contractor at Johnson Space Center and moving to GE, American Standard Companies and presently at Ascend. He holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Auburn University and St. Louis University, respectively, and earned his Master Black Belt certification at GE. He holds a patent from GE for his work to develop their Remote Monitoring & Diagnostic business for locomotives in the late ‘90s and has continued to apply advanced analytics in multiple areas ever since

Background in E/I, Front Line Leader, Reliability, Planning & Scheduling, Maintenance Manager (Excellence, Contract Manager, Mechanical)

Herb is Manager Maintenance and Reliability for CVR Energy at the Coffeyville Kansas Refinery. Herb earned his engineering degree from Auburn University and has over 30 years of professional experience in Maintenance, Reliability and Turnarounds for the refining and petrochemical industry most recently with LyondellBasell Industries, BP, Shell/Motiva and CVR Energy.

Experienced Maintenance Supervisor with a demonstrated history of working in the oil & gas industry. Skilled in Lean Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, Data Analysis, Electrical, Instrumentation, Mechanical, Piping and Leadership. Strong operations professional.

Mark Hutton is a Direct Services Category Manager with Contracts and Procurement in Houston. Mark has 13 years of experience in Contracts and Procurement managing service contracts with three owner companies in both Chemicals and Refining. Marks experience includes Strategic Sourcing, Contracting, Contract Negotiations and Supplier Relationship Management.

Hardy Kemp started his career with PetroSA as a mechanical engineer at their Gas-to-Liquids Refinery in Mossel Bay, South Africa. He entered the construction industry with CBI Constructors, a worldwide EPC contractor, where he executed a variety of small & large capital projects, maintenance as well as turnarounds with roles in Project Engineering, Construction Management, Business Development & Turnaround Execution in Africa, Middle East & USA. Hardy joined Flint Hills Resources, a subsidiary of Koch Industries in 2008 as Turnaround Manager. He was promoted Operations Manager in 2011, responsible for Gasoil, Naphtha & Diesel Hydrotreating, Crude distillation, Hydrogen Reforming, Hydrocracking & Sulfur recovery units. Currently, Hardy is the Director of Projects & Turnarounds at the Pine Bend Refinery and sits on the Refinery Leadership Team at the Rosemount refinery with responsibility for all Projects, Engineering & Turnarounds. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa.

Chemical Engineer that has worked as a process engineer and a process control engineer in the chemicals, refining, upstream, and midstream businesses. Have served in roles as a Supervisor, Senior Management, Executive at a Technology Corporation, and a Principal Engineer. My interests are in the application of models, statistical and first principles, to dynamically control processes for safe, reliable, and economic objectives. This can include APC, Dynamic Optimization, and automated control schemes. I’m also interested in the interactions between humans and machines to achieve effective results and how the two entities compliment the other. This typically involves Alarm Management and Operating limits, Transition Management, and State Based Control. I’m published in Process Control Engineering and Fuel Cell Research, with patents in APC and Control Loop Identification.

Mark has over 30 years of domestic and international experience in the Process Controls industry helping customers improve their process automation through innovative solutions using digital integration technologies. Marks’s deep understanding of process controls and product management skills are a welcomed addition to Yokogawa’s OPA Development team.

David DeBari is an Innovator and a Process Control Engineer for the ExxonMobil Engineering and Technology Company. He has many years of automation experience in both continuous and batch processes and has built, migrated, or replaced a variety of automation systems on numerous projects. David is the ExxonMobil Open Process Automation Program Technical Team Leader and one of the original members of ExxonMobil’s Program Team. He has provided technical leadership for the proof of concept and pilot unit prototype projects, and leads the current Test Bed and Field Trial activities for the ExxonMobil Program.

Kevin has spent the last 25 years driving business and digital transformations as an executive with international consulting and software firms. As an executive advisor, he specializes in sustainable business transformation in the hydrocarbon and chemical sectors though a combination of organizational effectiveness, operational optimization, and digital transformation, with an emphasis on the engagement, empowerment, and enablement of the core technical workforce.

Robert Ohmes is the Division Manager for Strategic Business Planning with Becht. With over 30 years of experience in refining and technical consulting working, Robert has extensive business planning and optimization expertise. He has broad experience consulting domestically and internationally throughout Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Robert brings with him a passion for helping clients succeed and developing long-term partnerships. Prior to joining Becht, he worked as a Principal Consultant with KBC Advanced Technologies in Houston, Texas and as a refinery engineer for Flint Hills Resources in Corpus Christi, Texas. Ohmes holds degrees from Kansas State University (BSChE) and Tulane University (MBA) and is a licensed professional engineer in Louisiana and Idaho.

Marc Coggeshall is the Commercial Development Leader for North America with Koch Engineered Solutions (KES). His team at KES drives the Stewardship and Sustainability initiatives developing solutions for customers utilizing the KES capability set. His experience with Koch companies spans over 20 years, as he has held various leadership and business development roles. Prior to his role at KES, he worked at Flint Hills Resources on transformational projects involving crude oil transportation and processing. Marc has degrees in Geologic Sciences from Fresno State University, Hydrogeology from University of Arizona and an MBA from Wichita State University.

Kenneth Bloch is a Process Safety Supervisor with Marathon Petroleum Company. He has over 30 years of experience in managing reliability, PSM, technical, and operations responsibilities. He regularly shares information at AFPM, API, and AIChE process safety symposiums to prevent process safety failures throughout the manufacturing industry. In 2016 Ken published Rethinking Bhopal, which uses an independent investigation approach to explain the sequence of events behind history’s worst industrial disaster. Ken graduated with honors from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas with an Environmental Science Degree in 1988.

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.

Background in E/I, Front Line Leader, Reliability, Planning & Scheduling, Maintenance Manager (Excellence, Contract Manager, Mechanical)

Herb is Manager Maintenance and Reliability for CVR Energy at the Coffeyville Kansas Refinery. Herb earned his engineering degree from Auburn University and has over 30 years of professional experience in Maintenance, Reliability and Turnarounds for the refining and petrochemical industry most recently with LyondellBasell Industries, BP, Shell/Motiva and CVR Energy.

Experienced Maintenance Supervisor with a demonstrated history of working in the oil & gas industry. Skilled in Lean Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, Data Analysis, Electrical, Instrumentation, Mechanical, Piping and Leadership. Strong operations professional.

Mark Hutton is a Direct Services Category Manager with Contracts and Procurement in Houston. Mark has 13 years of experience in Contracts and Procurement managing service contracts with three owner companies in both Chemicals and Refining. Marks experience includes Strategic Sourcing, Contracting, Contract Negotiations and Supplier Relationship Management.

Tracy leads the Process Design and Project Engineering group and also sponsors the She Leads women’s employee resource group at Monroe Energy. Prior to joining Monroe, Tracy held several positions at Sunoco, Inc. and Philadelphia Energy Solutions, both in Philadelphia, PA. During her tenure with the two companies, she gained extensive experience in finance, process engineering, business development, and economics and planning. Tracy holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Master of Business Administration, from Drexel University.

Alex Kalafatis is a Sr. Director of Product Management responsible for the roadmap of AspenTech APC solutions. He has over 20 years of application experience in the area of Advanced Process Control and Optimization. He is a co-author of a US Patent for Nonlinear Control Technology. Alex Kalafatis holds a Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto.

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.

Yugender Chikkula is Manager of Technology-Advanced Process Control & Digitalization with Motiva Enterprises and is responsible for scouting, evaluation and deployment of innovative technologies that can make a difference. Yugender holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University.

Patrick has 12 years of refining industry experience in the areas of automation, optimization, and leadership. Specific experience includes:

• Process Controls Engineer
• LP & Modeling Engineer, Planning & Economics
• Process Controls & Modeling Team Lead
• Digital Business Lead
• Operations Business Team Lead of Oil Movements

Patrick holds a Chemical Engineering degree by training with a focus on dynamic modeling and control (Lehigh University PhD, New Jersey Institute of Technology BS)

Rajan is the Process Optimization Engineer for Phillips 66. He has 20+ years of research and industry experience in Process Monitoring, Process Engineering & Optimization, Process Control, Advanced Process Control, Unit Operations, DCS, Process Fault Detection & Diagnosis, working with Fortune 500 companies. Rajan is also a visiting Adjunct Professor at VIT University teaching Process Control for Chemical Engineering students.

Bill Clark is the Director, Reliability for Phillips 66, responsible for reliability excellence programs across the Refining organization. Bill has worked for Phillips 66 and its heritage companies for over 30 years, including time spent at multiple refineries and the company’s headquarters office. He has held leadership positions in maintenance, reliability, turnaround, operations, and process safety. Bill holds an Electrical Engineering degree from California State University, Fullerton and an MBA from California State University, Long Beach.

Priyesh Thakker is Principal Hydroprocessing Engineer at Haldor Topsoe in Houston, TX. He is responsible for process design and providing technical support for various hydroprocessing technologies with a focus on Renewable Diesel and Renewable Jet operations. He has experience both in execution of Major Capital Projects as well as in Operations, troubleshooting and Startups in Renewable Diesel, Naphtha Hydrotreating, FCC PT and Hydrocracking technologies. Over the years, he has provided engineering and Operations support on revamps and Newbuild construction in these areas.

Priyesh holds a MSChE from Carnegie Mellon University and has 15+ years of experience in the refining industry.

Arnold Austin is a Lead Engineer with Emerson Control and Operator Performance. He has 18 years experience designing and implementing advanced process, regulatory, and state-based controls across multiple platforms. The most recent 6 years have been mostly focused on providing advanced/dynamic alarm solutions.

Karen Kuhn is the Process Control Manager at Cenovus’s Lima Refinery. She has 42 years of industrial experience and 22 years’ experience in alarm management. Karen is responsible for the DCS controls at the refinery and the Industrial Controls Network.

Prior to working at Cenovus Lima Refinery she worked as a Process Controls engineer at Hess Port Reading Refinery, and at Ultramar Refinery, and as a Process Engineer at Elf Atochem Mercaptan plant and at Texaco’s Port Arthur Research Laboratories.

Patrick has 12 years of refining industry experience in the areas of automation, optimization, and leadership. Specific experience includes:

• Process Controls Engineer
• LP & Modeling Engineer, Planning & Economics
• Process Controls & Modeling Team Lead
• Digital Business Lead
• Operations Business Team Lead of Oil Movements

Patrick holds a Chemical Engineering degree by training with a focus on dynamic modeling and control (Lehigh University PhD, New Jersey Institute of Technology BS)

Troy has been with Motiva Port Arthur 32 years and have work in operations, projects and currently our Alarm Management Team Leader. I was on the first Alarm Management Team in 2002 at the Port Arthur facility.

Josh has 17 years of experience in the refining industry, with special emphasis on crude and vacuum operations. Over 10 years of his career has been spent in process design roles. He has completed several major projects at Marathon Petroleum Company's Catlettsburg, KY refinery. Successfully completed projects include a new Condensate Fractionation unit to process local distressed tight oil feedstocks, as well as, major revamps on crude/vacuum units, sat gas plants, and solvent deasphalting units.

Sim is a heavy oils subject matter expert with over 40 years experience as a Chemical Engineer.

Sim’s expertise is in Delayed Coking, Fluid/Flexicoking and general heavy oils.
His expertise includes simulating delayed coker operations, test run execution and analysis, delayed coker yields and furnace model development, unit optimization and reliability management, unit troubleshooting, unit start-up, and general delayed coker operations. Additionally, Sim has expertise in other heavy oil operations – vacuum units, visbreakers, ROSE and solvent deasphalting units.

Sim also has expertise in Python data analytics and machine learning and has applied this to delayed coker yields and KPIs, coker heater fouling and coke drum crack/maintenance and monitoring.

Tracie Gurtler is Process Engineer for Project Development at Holly Frontier in El Dorado, KS. She is responsible for process technical support of refinery operations in the Crude/Vacuum unit and capital project development for the site. She has experience in Process Engineering, Operations and Capital Projects in the areas of Crude/Vacuum Distillation, Alkylation, and Gas Oil Hydrotreating.

Tracie holds a BSChE from the Kansas State University and has 13 years of industrial experience.

Tim Oubre is a Senior Technical Specialist with Athlon, a Halliburton Service based near Houston, TX. He is responsible for process technical support and training of our field services teams as well as managing others in the same capacity. The majority of Tim's experience is in desalting and corrosion control but he has supported many refinery and chemical process applications. He started his career as a process engineer at a major Gulf Coast refiner and after 5 years transitioned to the specialty chemical supplier industry where he has worked for several companies since 2004.

Tim holds a BSChE from Lamar University in Beaumont, TX and has over 22 years of experience in the refining and petrochemicals industries.

Jason Nigg is the Director of Crude, Fractionation, & Heat Transfer Technology for Phillips 66, responsible for support in operations, projects, troubleshooting, and training in these areas. Prior to joining Phillips 66, Jason worked at a small consulting firm specializing in revamp design and troubleshooting, designed & quoted tower internals for a major internals vendor, and was a unit process engineer in a refinery. Jason graduated from Kansas State University in 1994 with a B.S. in chemical engineering.

Mike Achacoso is Vice President for Solomon’s global Refining and Logistics Business Unit. He has more than 32 years of downstream industry experience. During his career, Mike has worked in both domestic and international locations, including the United States, Asia/Pacific, and Canada. His expertise ranges from refinery operations to strategic planning, economics, and commercial.

Mike has held numerous leadership positions, including Technical Manager, Maintenance Manager, EH&S Manager, Planning & Economics Manager, Operations Manager, Refinery Manager, Vice President – Refining, and Vice President – Fuels Marketing. Prior to Solomon, he worked for ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Syncrude Canada Ltd., Sinclair Oil, and HollyFrontier. Mike holds a Bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University and an MBA from the University of Wyoming.

Alan is VP Refining, Chemicals and Oil Markets, responsible for formulating our research outlook and integrated cross-sector perspectives on the global downstream sector.

Alan joined the business as part of our Downstream Consulting Team in 2005 and later went on to lead the division. He has managed consulting assignments all over the world, focusing on major transactions (projects and M&A) and their alignment with key success factors for industry players and third parties. He then transitioned into research upon his return to London from Houston in 2011.

Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Alan spent 10 years as an industry consultant after working for ExxonMobil in a variety of project planning and technical process design roles.

Todd Hochheiser is Global Technical Service Manager at Johnson Matthey. He leads a team responsible for technologies including FCCs and hydrogen plants. Todd obtained his Bachelor in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware and Master of Business Administration from the University of California Irvine. Prior to joining Johnson Matthey, Todd held engineering, operations, and planning & economics positions with Valero Energy and ExxonMobil.

Vasilis is the Global Innovation and Evaluation manager for Refining catalysts at BASF. Prior to this role he was the technology manager, refining catalysts for Europe, Middle East and Africa at BASF. He holds BS and MS degrees in chemistry and a PhD in chemical engineering from Aristotle University, Greece. Prior to joining BASF, he worked as a Researcher at CPERI Institute of catalysis in Thessaloniki, Greece and as a research Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department of the University of South Carolina.

Hardy Kemp started his career with PetroSA as a mechanical engineer at their Gas-to-Liquids Refinery in Mossel Bay, South Africa. He entered the construction industry with CBI Constructors, a worldwide EPC contractor, where he executed a variety of small & large capital projects, maintenance as well as turnarounds with roles in Project Engineering, Construction Management, Business Development & Turnaround Execution in Africa, Middle East & USA. Hardy joined Flint Hills Resources, a subsidiary of Koch Industries in 2008 as Turnaround Manager. He was promoted Operations Manager in 2011, responsible for Gasoil, Naphtha & Diesel Hydrotreating, Crude distillation, Hydrogen Reforming, Hydrocracking & Sulfur recovery units. Currently, Hardy is the Director of Projects & Turnarounds at the Pine Bend Refinery and sits on the Refinery Leadership Team at the Rosemount refinery with responsibility for all Projects, Engineering & Turnarounds. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa.

Robin Knowles is Senior Manager of the Global Technical Learning Solutions team at LyondellBasell in Houston, TX. Over the last six years, she has led a team of manufacturing experts and learning professionals to design, deliver and continuously improve technical and HSE performance. In addition to her role, she is currently leading a Human Organization Performance (HOP) team to integrate HOP into company culture. Previous to her role at LyondellBasell, Robin provided learning consulting to the chemical industry at TDS Inc. and held several manufacturing roles at Bayer MaterialScience (now Covestro). A chemical engineer by background, her experience includes operations management, project leadership, change management and facilitation

Dawn Wurst is the Senior Vice President of Health & Safety at Georgia Pacific. Dawn has 29 years of EH&S experience including both environmental and safety roles. Dawn spent the majority of her career in the energy industry and shifted to the paper industry 5 years ago. Dawn earned her B.S. in engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dawn is responsible for the safety capability within GP to support their 35,000 employees, including leadership of their Human & Organizational Performance integration effort.

David Hammons is the Organizational Learning Manager at Chevron. David has 24 years experience at Chevron. He joined Chevron as an Operations Supervisor at the Port Arthur Lubricants Plant and later became the America’s Region Procurement Operations Manager and then served as the Americas Region Operational Excellence Manager. He has most recently served as the Operations Manager at the Port Arthur Lubricants Plant and Chevron’s Human and Organizational Performance Manager.

Josh has 17 years of experience in the refining industry, with special emphasis on crude and vacuum operations. Over 10 years of his career has been spent in process design roles. He has completed several major projects at Marathon Petroleum Company's Catlettsburg, KY refinery. Successfully completed projects include a new Condensate Fractionation unit to process local distressed tight oil feedstocks, as well as, major revamps on crude/vacuum units, sat gas plants, and solvent deasphalting units.

Sim is a heavy oils subject matter expert with over 40 years experience as a Chemical Engineer.

Sim’s expertise is in Delayed Coking, Fluid/Flexicoking and general heavy oils.
His expertise includes simulating delayed coker operations, test run execution and analysis, delayed coker yields and furnace model development, unit optimization and reliability management, unit troubleshooting, unit start-up, and general delayed coker operations. Additionally, Sim has expertise in other heavy oil operations – vacuum units, visbreakers, ROSE and solvent deasphalting units.

Sim also has expertise in Python data analytics and machine learning and has applied this to delayed coker yields and KPIs, coker heater fouling and coke drum crack/maintenance and monitoring.

Tracie Gurtler is Process Engineer for Project Development at Holly Frontier in El Dorado, KS. She is responsible for process technical support of refinery operations in the Crude/Vacuum unit and capital project development for the site. She has experience in Process Engineering, Operations and Capital Projects in the areas of Crude/Vacuum Distillation, Alkylation, and Gas Oil Hydrotreating.

Tracie holds a BSChE from the Kansas State University and has 13 years of industrial experience.

Tim Oubre is a Senior Technical Specialist with Athlon, a Halliburton Service based near Houston, TX. He is responsible for process technical support and training of our field services teams as well as managing others in the same capacity. The majority of Tim's experience is in desalting and corrosion control but he has supported many refinery and chemical process applications. He started his career as a process engineer at a major Gulf Coast refiner and after 5 years transitioned to the specialty chemical supplier industry where he has worked for several companies since 2004.

Tim holds a BSChE from Lamar University in Beaumont, TX and has over 22 years of experience in the refining and petrochemicals industries.

Jason Nigg is the Director of Crude, Fractionation, & Heat Transfer Technology for Phillips 66, responsible for support in operations, projects, troubleshooting, and training in these areas. Prior to joining Phillips 66, Jason worked at a small consulting firm specializing in revamp design and troubleshooting, designed & quoted tower internals for a major internals vendor, and was a unit process engineer in a refinery. Jason graduated from Kansas State University in 1994 with a B.S. in chemical engineering.

Dr. David C. Dayton is a RTI Senior Fellow (Chemistry) and the Director of the Biofuels Program at RTI International with over 25 years of project management and research experience in biomass thermochemical conversion R&D projects involving biomass combustion, gasification, and pyrolysis. He has been awarded over $26MM in federal funding to support his current research activities on alternative fuels research, particularly catalytic biomass pyrolysis technology development, biocrude separations and upgrading, synthesis gas conversion, cleanup, and conditioning, and experimental programs relating to biomass thermochemical conversion for biofuels and bioproducts. These R&D activities are focused on expanding integrated biorefinery technology development activities for advanced biofuel production. Dr. Dayton came to RTI in July 2007 following 14 years at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory where he managed biomass thermochemical conversion projects for the U.S. Department of Energy. He was a postdoctoral research associate at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD from 1991-1993. He received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC in 1990 and a B.S. in Chemistry from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA in 1985.

Dr. Dayton has published over 70 technical papers, book chapters, and government reports. He recently co-authored a book entitled “Analytical Methods for Biomass Characterization and Conversion” and has adjunct faculty positions in the Energy and Environmental Systems Department at North Carolina A&T State University and in the Forest Biomaterials Department, College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University.

Todd Hochheiser is Global Technical Service Manager at Johnson Matthey. He leads a team responsible for technologies including FCCs and hydrogen plants. Todd obtained his Bachelor in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware and Master of Business Administration from the University of California Irvine. Prior to joining Johnson Matthey, Todd held engineering, operations, and planning & economics positions with Valero Energy and ExxonMobil.

Vasilis is the Global Innovation and Evaluation manager for Refining catalysts at BASF. Prior to this role he was the technology manager, refining catalysts for Europe, Middle East and Africa at BASF. He holds BS and MS degrees in chemistry and a PhD in chemical engineering from Aristotle University, Greece. Prior to joining BASF, he worked as a Researcher at CPERI Institute of catalysis in Thessaloniki, Greece and as a research Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department of the University of South Carolina.

Hardy Kemp started his career with PetroSA as a mechanical engineer at their Gas-to-Liquids Refinery in Mossel Bay, South Africa. He entered the construction industry with CBI Constructors, a worldwide EPC contractor, where he executed a variety of small & large capital projects, maintenance as well as turnarounds with roles in Project Engineering, Construction Management, Business Development & Turnaround Execution in Africa, Middle East & USA. Hardy joined Flint Hills Resources, a subsidiary of Koch Industries in 2008 as Turnaround Manager. He was promoted Operations Manager in 2011, responsible for Gasoil, Naphtha & Diesel Hydrotreating, Crude distillation, Hydrogen Reforming, Hydrocracking & Sulfur recovery units. Currently, Hardy is the Director of Projects & Turnarounds at the Pine Bend Refinery and sits on the Refinery Leadership Team at the Rosemount refinery with responsibility for all Projects, Engineering & Turnarounds. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa.

Robin Knowles is Senior Manager of the Global Technical Learning Solutions team at LyondellBasell in Houston, TX. Over the last six years, she has led a team of manufacturing experts and learning professionals to design, deliver and continuously improve technical and HSE performance. In addition to her role, she is currently leading a Human Organization Performance (HOP) team to integrate HOP into company culture. Previous to her role at LyondellBasell, Robin provided learning consulting to the chemical industry at TDS Inc. and held several manufacturing roles at Bayer MaterialScience (now Covestro). A chemical engineer by background, her experience includes operations management, project leadership, change management and facilitation

Dawn Wurst is the Senior Vice President of Health & Safety at Georgia Pacific. Dawn has 29 years of EH&S experience including both environmental and safety roles. Dawn spent the majority of her career in the energy industry and shifted to the paper industry 5 years ago. Dawn earned her B.S. in engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dawn is responsible for the safety capability within GP to support their 35,000 employees, including leadership of their Human & Organizational Performance integration effort.

David Hammons is the Organizational Learning Manager at Chevron. David has 24 years experience at Chevron. He joined Chevron as an Operations Supervisor at the Port Arthur Lubricants Plant and later became the America’s Region Procurement Operations Manager and then served as the Americas Region Operational Excellence Manager. He has most recently served as the Operations Manager at the Port Arthur Lubricants Plant and Chevron’s Human and Organizational Performance Manager.

Darwin Logerot, P.E. is a Principal Operator Performance Consultant and Manager at Emerson Automation Solutions. Since joining in 2006, he has become one of the company’s leaders in alarm management. He has completed a number of major alarm management projects. He is currently a voting member and work group leader on the ISA 18 (Alarm Management) committee.

Karen Kuhn is the Process Control Manager at Cenovus’s Lima Refinery. She has 42 years of industrial experience and 22 years’ experience in alarm management. Karen is responsible for the DCS controls at the refinery and the Industrial Controls Network.

Prior to working at Cenovus Lima Refinery she worked as a Process Controls engineer at Hess Port Reading Refinery, and at Ultramar Refinery, and as a Process Engineer at Elf Atochem Mercaptan plant and at Texaco’s Port Arthur Research Laboratories.

Patrick has 12 years of refining industry experience in the areas of automation, optimization, and leadership. Specific experience includes:

• Process Controls Engineer
• LP & Modeling Engineer, Planning & Economics
• Process Controls & Modeling Team Lead
• Digital Business Lead
• Operations Business Team Lead of Oil Movements

Patrick holds a Chemical Engineering degree by training with a focus on dynamic modeling and control (Lehigh University PhD, New Jersey Institute of Technology BS)

Troy has been with Motiva Port Arthur 32 years and have work in operations, projects and currently our Alarm Management Team Leader. I was on the first Alarm Management Team in 2002 at the Port Arthur facility.

Mr. Moreaux holds a B.S in Chemical Engineering from Lamar University and has been with LyondellBasell for over 20 years in various roles of increasing responsibility in the manufacturing organization. Through multiple assignments in Channelview, Corpus Christi, Bayport and Chocolate Bayou, Lawrence has gained broad knowledge and experience in Olefins, Intermediates and Derivates and Polymers. He is also a member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leadership Council and chair of the American Fuel and Petrochemicals Manufacturers Walk the Line group. Mr. Moreaux is now the Associate Director of Digital Technology Integrations and Partnerships for LyondellBasell.

Deidra is the Director of Operational Excellence for Sinclair Oil Corporation. Deidra has 20 years of work management, business process and project management experience. Deidra’s current role in the organization is to identify opportunities for increased efficiencies, productivity, and return on investment. Taking a holistic approach working dynamically with business units to result in a comprehensive solution, based on industry best practice and a focus on management systems, business processes, workflows and innovation through digital transformation.

Abi Mukund is the Head of Product Marketing and Strategy at Imubit. In this role, he works in product management and leads the business front to help define product vision and growth, while educating customers about Imubit’s novel approach. Prior to product marketing and strategy, Abi was the Implementation Engineering Manager, managing technical execution and delivery of Imubit’s solution to customers. Before joining Imubit, Abi worked at LyondellBasell in refining and olefins, mainly within process engineering teams with experience in controls and planning and optimization. Abi has an MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago and received his B.Sc in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech.

John Myers is a Process Engineering Team Lead for Monroe Energy, located in Trainer, PA. He and his team support half of the process units in the refinery including a hydrocracker, reformer, various hydrotreaters and utility units. He has worked in the refining industry for 9 years, with about half of that being at Monroe. He has also spent time as the unit engineer on an FCC and has supported numerous turnarounds on various units.

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 this time with hydrogen production 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 40 years and with Johnson Matthey for 35 years.

Ms. Anderson is the Americas Technical Services Manager for Albemarle Catalysts. Prior to her time with Albemarle, she worked as a process engineer for Flint Hills Resources. She has 20 years of experience in the refining industry.

Mary Cotturo is a process engineer at the Marathon Petroleum Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, TX. She currently supports the diesel hydrocracker and previously supported HF alkylation and sulfur recovery units. Mary previously worked as a process engineer supporting a platformer unit at American Refining Group in Bradford, PA. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA

Sim is a heavy oils subject matter expert with over 40 years experience as a Chemical Engineer.

Sim’s expertise is in Delayed Coking, Fluid/Flexicoking and general heavy oils.
His expertise includes simulating delayed coker operations, test run execution and analysis, delayed coker yields and furnace model development, unit optimization and reliability management, unit troubleshooting, unit start-up, and general delayed coker operations. Additionally, Sim has expertise in other heavy oil operations – vacuum units, visbreakers, ROSE and solvent deasphalting units.

Sim also has expertise in Python data analytics and machine learning and has applied this to delayed coker yields and KPIs, coker heater fouling and coke drum crack/maintenance and monitoring.

Leif Forer, MBA brings nearly two decades of hands-on experience in building and scaling manufacturing operations and production processes to his work as a sustainability consultant. At the start of his career Leif cofounded Piedmont Biofuels, an early leader in the production of biodiesel from waste feedstocks. He later led the scaleup from lab to commercial production as Chief Operating Officer for bioMASON, a pioneer in leveraging microorganisms for carbon-neutral manufacturing of building materials. Leif has also worked in finance and management consulting specializing in renewable energy, chemical, biotechnology, food, and consumer product manufacturing. His knowledge of sustainability solutions is informed by his experience as a greenhouse gas (GHG) verifier and accredited lead auditor for Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) across many Tier 1 and 2 fuel and feedstock pathways, International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC), International Organization for Standardization 9001 (ISO), and Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Leif earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Arts in applied design from Hampshire College.

Karen Green is the corporate Focus on Water Technologist at Marathon Petroleum and is based at their Los Angeles refinery, California. She is responsible for the company’s water reduction program across MPC’s 13 petroleum refineries and has developed a Water Management Framework to sustain performance and drive continuous improvement. In a previous role, Karen led water conservation and drought contingency planning at the Galveston Bay Refinery, achieving 2+millions gallon/day sustainable water reduction. Karen is also a Waste Water Technologist for the MPC 13 petroleum refineries. Karen has lead implementation of an OSHA compliant operating limits program, DCS keylock and Alarm management amongst other programs requiring robust, sustainable and effective solutions.

Karen holds a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham, England and a Bachelor Science in Chemistry from the University of Liverpool, England. Karen has 27 years of experience in the refining industry.

Mark Knight is an environmental and sustainability specialist with over 15 years of experience in both the Water and Energy sectors. Currently, Mark is the Global Sustainability & ESG Leader for Veolia Water Technologies and Solutions (VWTS). Before joining Veolia WTS, he was a Senior Engineer, Environmental Excellence & Sustainability at Suncor Energy. Mark has published, presented, and won awards on various topics including Industrial Water Treatment, Sustainability & ESG, Biotechnology, Digital Solutions, and Bioethics. He is also extremely active in organizations including the Water Environment Federation (WEF), the International Water Association (IWA), and the Capitals Coalition and is a board member for Ecologos/WaterDocs. Mark has a M.A.Sc. in Environmental Applied Science & Management, a B.Sc. in Chemical & Bioengineering, and is a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) in Ontario, Canada.

Abi Mukund is the Head of Product Marketing and Strategy at Imubit. In this role, he works in product management and leads the business front to help define product vision and growth, while educating customers about Imubit’s novel approach. Prior to product marketing and strategy, Abi was the Implementation Engineering Manager, managing technical execution and delivery of Imubit’s solution to customers. Before joining Imubit, Abi worked at LyondellBasell in refining and olefins, mainly within process engineering teams with experience in controls and planning and optimization. Abi has an MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago and received his B.Sc in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech.

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.

John Myers is a Process Engineering Team Lead for Monroe Energy, located in Trainer, PA. He and his team support half of the process units in the refinery including a hydrocracker, reformer, various hydrotreaters and utility units. He has worked in the refining industry for 9 years, with about half of that being at Monroe. He has also spent time as the unit engineer on an FCC and has supported numerous turnarounds on various units.

Herb is Manager Maintenance and Reliability for CVR Energy at the Coffeyville Kansas Refinery. Herb earned his engineering degree from Auburn University and has over 30 years of professional experience in Maintenance, Reliability and Turnarounds for the refining and petrochemical industry most recently with LyondellBasell Industries, BP, Shell/Motiva and CVR Energy.

Mr. Moreaux holds a B.S in Chemical Engineering from Lamar University and has been with LyondellBasell for over 20 years in various roles of increasing responsibility in the manufacturing organization. Through multiple assignments in Channelview, Corpus Christi, Bayport and Chocolate Bayou, Lawrence has gained broad knowledge and experience in Olefins, Intermediates and Derivates and Polymers. He is also a member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leadership Council and chair of the American Fuel and Petrochemicals Manufacturers Walk the Line group. Mr. Moreaux is now the Associate Director of Digital Technology Integrations and Partnerships for LyondellBasell.

Jonathan Arana is a Lead Hydroprocessing Technology Specialist at Honeywell UOP in Des Plaines, IL. He is responsible for process technical support of refinery operations in Hydroprocessing and Renewable Fuels. He has experience in Grassroots Commissioning, Revamps, Operations, and Troubleshooting of units all over the world as he traveled 100% for 3+ years in UOP Field Service. Prior to going on the road, he was an R&D engineer in Renewable Fuels/Hydroprocessing working on catalyst development and flow scheme development.

Jonathan holds a BSChE from the University of Illinois Chicago and has 9 years of experience in the refining industry.

Tiffany Clark is a corporate FCC Technologist with Marathon Petroleum Company. Tiffany has spent over half of her twenty-year refining career supporting FCC Operations in Technical Services, Operations and FCC Catalyst roles, in addition to various roles in Process Engineering, Operations, Refinery Economics, Planning and Scheduling. She holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University and MBA from the University of Houston.

Background in E/I, Front Line Leader, Reliability, Planning & Scheduling, Maintenance Manager (Excellence, Contract Manager, Mechanical)

Bruce is a recently retired former senior management professional with Sinclair Oil Corporation. Bruce has more than five decades of experience developing and implementing leading edge information technologies. Beginning his career supporting the Apollo lunar mission and subsequent space based programs, Bruce transitioned to the commercial market where he has now spent more than forty years in the oil industry focused on enabling Operational Excellence through the effective application of technology. Bruce actively shared his knowledge and experience during his career as a dedicated contributing member of numerous industry committees and special interest groups.

Wade has worked 40+ years in Process Control and Information Technology with major companies, such as Shell, Basell, Oxy, Union Carbide, Amoco, and now with Emerson. He has held various positions related to Information Technology and Process Control Automation in addition to leading services organizations within these companies.

Wade delivers, extends, and manages the Industrial Intranet of Things with intelligent, industrial application platforms. These Solutions include multiple industrial applications that address all of your critical safety, security, compliance, and performance needs for Communications, Condition Monitoring, Location Awareness, Video, and Workforce Mobility.

Formal training includes Naval Tactical Defense System from the US Navy, a BS in Electrical Engineering and he has attended many courses with the leading process control and informational technology vendors.

Thomas Cobb is Innovation Leader at Motiva Enterprises in Port Arthur, TX. He is responsible for digital transformation guidance and implementation for the refinery and petrochemical facilities. Thomas has a background in Process Engineering, Process Safety, Reliability, Operations, Data Engineering, Automation, Machine Learning, and AI.

David Bailey is a Product Owner of Chevron Phillips’ Connected Worker Team under Digital Transformation. He oversees the development and execution of electronic permitting and operator rounds solutions. David also supports mobility efforts in the field and finding new solutions that reach 3rd party vendors and contractors ability to access systems that will help CPChem achieve a 100% paperless environment.

Ryan Pratt is a graduate of Texas A&M University with dual degrees in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry and is currently a process engineer for ExxonMobil's Beaumont Refinery. During his tenure with ExxonMobil he has supported Hydroprocessing, Hydrocracking , Sulfur Recovery, Amine Treating, and various distillation units. He has extensive experience supporting plant operations, turnarounds, and capital projects and combining those experiences into innovative solutions for the facility

Scott Fowler is a Principal Process Engineer with T.EN Stone & Webster Process Technology, Inc. Mr. Fowler is a registered Chemical P.E. with more than nine years of process engineering and design experience of multidiscipline projects. He is experienced in all aspects of hydrogen plant design, from proposal and FEED packages to complete EPC projects. This includes revamps, design of CO2 removal units, PFDs, P&IDs, process simulations, heat integration, plant optimization, plant troubleshooting, heat and mass balances, and relief calculations.

Background in E/I, Front Line Leader, Reliability, Planning & Scheduling, Maintenance Manager (Excellence, Contract Manager, Mechanical)

Bruce is a recently retired former senior management professional with Sinclair Oil Corporation. Bruce has more than five decades of experience developing and implementing leading edge information technologies. Beginning his career supporting the Apollo lunar mission and subsequent space based programs, Bruce transitioned to the commercial market where he has now spent more than forty years in the oil industry focused on enabling Operational Excellence through the effective application of technology. Bruce actively shared his knowledge and experience during his career as a dedicated contributing member of numerous industry committees and special interest groups.

Wade has worked 40+ years in Process Control and Information Technology with major companies, such as Shell, Basell, Oxy, Union Carbide, Amoco, and now with Emerson. He has held various positions related to Information Technology and Process Control Automation in addition to leading services organizations within these companies.

Wade delivers, extends, and manages the Industrial Intranet of Things with intelligent, industrial application platforms. These Solutions include multiple industrial applications that address all of your critical safety, security, compliance, and performance needs for Communications, Condition Monitoring, Location Awareness, Video, and Workforce Mobility.

Formal training includes Naval Tactical Defense System from the US Navy, a BS in Electrical Engineering and he has attended many courses with the leading process control and informational technology vendors.

Thomas Cobb is Innovation Leader at Motiva Enterprises in Port Arthur, TX. He is responsible for digital transformation guidance and implementation for the refinery and petrochemical facilities. Thomas has a background in Process Engineering, Process Safety, Reliability, Operations, Data Engineering, Automation, Machine Learning, and AI.

David Bailey is a Product Owner of Chevron Phillips’ Connected Worker Team under Digital Transformation. He oversees the development and execution of electronic permitting and operator rounds solutions. David also supports mobility efforts in the field and finding new solutions that reach 3rd party vendors and contractors ability to access systems that will help CPChem achieve a 100% paperless environment.

Over 25 yr supporting the refining industry with a focus on FCC catalysts, zeolites and chemical catalysts. Half my industry career was focused on new product development/ manufacturing and the second half has been focused on commercial market topics. A BS Chemical Engineer from Purdue with a MBA from University of Florida.

Lisa Wolschlag is the Senior Business Development Manager for Co-Processing Renewable Fuels. In this role, Lisa is responsible for the development of new business and new relationships in pursuit of growth for Honeywell’s renewable fuels business. Lisa has over 25 years of experience with UOP that has included Business, Research and Development, Field Operating Service, Technical Service and Process Development assignments. Lisa holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago. She holds 6 US patents and is a published author in Hydrocarbon Processing.

Liz Manning is the Process Safety & Operational Excellence Manager for LyondellBasell’s Houston Refinery. In her twenty plus years with LyondellBasell, Liz has served in a variety of technical and leadership roles in both Chemicals and Refining, including roles in Process Engineering, Performance Improvement, Engineer Development, Process Safety, and Operational Excellence. Liz has a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Daniel McGraw is the Technical Services Manager for Marathon Petroleum’s St. Paul Park Refinery. In his 15 years with MPC, Daniel has served in technical and leadership roles at various MPC refineries, including roles in Technical Services, Operations, and Economics and Planning. Daniel has a Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University.

Tiera Lacorte is the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Learning Programs Lead at Monroe Energy in Trainer, PA. In her 9 years with Monroe Energy, she has held roles in Operations and People and Organization (Human Resources). As a Certified Diversity Professional, Tiera’s current role includes the development and execution of DE&I initiatives as well as talent management and employee engagement.

Katie Taylor is the Director of Engineering at Becht, an engineering consulting firm. She leverages nearly 15 years of industry experience to provide multi-discipline solutions to complex manufacturing facilities around the world. Prior to joining Becht, she held various technical and operational leadership roles at the Chevron El Segundo refinery. Originally from Atlanta, she earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and has spent the last 12 years in Long Beach, California.

Rob Dugan is an Operations Day Foreman for Marathon Petroleum’s Canton Ohio Refinery. In his 10 years with MPC, Rob has served in technical and leadership roles at various MPC refineries, including roles in Technical Services and Operations. Rob has a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Ohio State University.

Wendy Wildenberg is the Flint Hills Hydroprocessing Lead and has worked primarily in Hydroprocessing in areas of process safety, damage mechanism understanding, design, and operating envelope improvements, catalyst selection, reaction kinetics understanding improvement, and other large capital improvements. Wendy holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Madison and has worked in various process and operational roles for FHR since 1992.

Joe Rydberg, CITGO Petroleum, has 20 years experience in the refining industry and has been at the Lemont refinery for 15 years. Joe’s current position is Process Design Engineering Group Leader. He and his team are responsible for process design of short and long term Strategic, Reliability, Safety and Regulatory projects. He and his team are also responsible for refinery relief valve design and maintaining relief valve documentation. His prior experience is in Hydroprocessing, Sulfur, and operations process engineering technical support and troubleshooting. Joe holds a BSChe degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana

Jeff Johns has over 35 years’ experience in the petroleum refining industry and currently works for Becht as a Hydroprocessing Advisor and Trainer. He was honored to be named a Chevron Hydroprocessing Fellow (Chevron’s highest technical recognition) for contributions to Chevron and to the industry. Jeff has expert knowledge of hydrocracker and hydrotreater design/operation, optimization, and troubleshooting, and has substantial experience in other key refinery processes. Jeff managed hydrocracking and hydrotreating technology in Chevron’s refineries worldwide where he developed and implemented best practices and projects to improve safety, reliability, and profitability. One of his special interests as a technology mentor was developing and delivering training. For 20 years, Jeff led an ad hoc Industry Committee of hydroprocessing experts dedicated to sharing safety and reliability information among North American Refiners. He was a member of the AFPM Q&A Panel in 2004 and directed multiple technology seminars as a member of the AFPM Q&A screening committee. Jeff served on the Board of Directors for Advanced Refining Technologies (ART). Jeff holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Utah. He holds six patents in hydroprocessing technology.

Liz Manning is the Process Safety & Operational Excellence Manager for LyondellBasell’s Houston Refinery. In her twenty plus years with LyondellBasell, Liz has served in a variety of technical and leadership roles in both Chemicals and Refining, including roles in Process Engineering, Performance Improvement, Engineer Development, Process Safety, and Operational Excellence. Liz has a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Daniel McGraw is the Technical Services Manager for Marathon Petroleum’s St. Paul Park Refinery. In his 15 years with MPC, Daniel has served in technical and leadership roles at various MPC refineries, including roles in Technical Services, Operations, and Economics and Planning. Daniel has a Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University.

Tiera Lacorte is the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Learning Programs Lead at Monroe Energy in Trainer, PA. In her 9 years with Monroe Energy, she has held roles in Operations and People and Organization (Human Resources). As a Certified Diversity Professional, Tiera’s current role includes the development and execution of DE&I initiatives as well as talent management and employee engagement.

Katie Taylor is the Director of Engineering at Becht, an engineering consulting firm. She leverages nearly 15 years of industry experience to provide multi-discipline solutions to complex manufacturing facilities around the world. Prior to joining Becht, she held various technical and operational leadership roles at the Chevron El Segundo refinery. Originally from Atlanta, she earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and has spent the last 12 years in Long Beach, California.

Rob Dugan is an Operations Day Foreman for Marathon Petroleum’s Canton Ohio Refinery. In his 10 years with MPC, Rob has served in technical and leadership roles at various MPC refineries, including roles in Technical Services and Operations. Rob has a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Ohio State University.

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.

Joe joined Delek in 2020 as a FCC SME supporting all four Delek refineries. Prior to joining Delek, Joe worked for UOP starting in their Engineering Department as a Mechanical Design Engineer before transitioning to the Tech Service Group as a FCC Tech Service Specialist. Joe brings unique expertise to Delek having many years of experience in FCC mechanical design, detailed design, process design, turnaround inspection, troubleshooting, and optimization. Among his responsibilities at Delek, he supports site project teams with reliability and performance improvement projects. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and has two patents.

Ben joined Suncor Energy in 2006 supporting the Commerce City Refinery. He has over 10 years of experience supporting both site FCCs as the Contact Engineer. In those roles Ben has championed multiple efforts that have resulted in step change improvements to Unit performance and profitably, supported major Projects including implementation of Emergency Shutdown Systems, and supported multiple TAs that included major FCC equipment replacement. Prior to joining Suncor, Ben was in the US Navy for 10 years serving in both Enlisted and Officer roles supporting conventional and nuclear propulsion. Ben has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado.

Mike Achacoso is Vice President for Solomon’s global Refining and Logistics Business Unit. He has more than 32 years of downstream industry experience. During his career, Mike has worked in both domestic and international locations, including the United States, Asia/Pacific, and Canada. His expertise ranges from refinery operations to strategic planning, economics, and commercial.

Mike has held numerous leadership positions, including Technical Manager, Maintenance Manager, EH&S Manager, Planning & Economics Manager, Operations Manager, Refinery Manager, Vice President – Refining, and Vice President – Fuels Marketing. Prior to Solomon, he worked for ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Syncrude Canada Ltd., Sinclair Oil, and HollyFrontier. Mike holds a Bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University and an MBA from the University of Wyoming.

Easton is a Solutions Engineer at Sphera, focused on the Operations Risk Management product family.

Easton’s expertise is in Control of Work Safety, Plant Maintenance and Reliability, and Culture Change. For the last five years, Easton has been a Process Consultant and Implementations Manager focused on permitting and safety for the Oil and Gas, Petrochemical, Energy Distribution, Mining and Metals, and Pharmaceutical industries. He has managed the implementation of domestic and international rollouts to improve permitting process and end-user safety at various Fortune 100 companies. He is driven by knowing that he is constantly improving the safety of hundreds of thousands of employees worldwide.

Kerry Siggins is the CEO of StoneAge, Inc. a fast growing manufacturing and technology company based in Colorado. Under Kerry’s leadership, StoneAge has experienced double digit growth, year over year. In 2015, she successfully transitioned the company’s ownership structure to an ESOP, ensuring that all employees share in the success of the company through employee ownership. Kerry is a helpful and impactful board member and business advisor due to her success and experience in scaling companies and building world-class cultures.

Kerry is a dynamic, sought-after speaker who presents worldwide at corporations, universities, seminars, and conferences. She hosts several podcasts, including the wildly popular podcast Reflect Forward. She is an author, blogger, and contributor to Forbes, Entrepreneur, Authority Magazine, and BIC Magazine, and her blog is visited by thousands of readers each month.

andy 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.

Stephen Gill is currently the Vice President of Safety and Regulatory Excellence for Sinclair Oil Corporation. He has 26 years experience in refining and chemicals, having held various roles in process design, operations, technical management, and process safety with Sinclair, SABIC, Huntsman, DOW, and Union Carbide. Over the past few years he has been involved with AFPM’s Advancing Process Safety program, participating in and providing leadership in the Process Safety Regional Networks and other subgroups. He holds BS and MS degrees in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University.

Professor Venkat Venkatasubramanian is Samuel Ruben-Peter G. Viele Professor of Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University. For over 35 years, Venkat has been at the forefront of developing and applying novel AI-based solutions to challenging problems in design, control, optimization, and safety in the chemical and allied industries. He won the Computing in Chemical Engineering Award from AIChE and is a Fellow of AIChE.

Rajan is the Process Optimization Engineer for Phillips 66. He has 20+ years of research and industry experience in Process Monitoring, Process Engineering & Optimization, Process Control, Advanced Process Control, Unit Operations, DCS, Process Fault Detection & Diagnosis, working with Fortune 500 companies. Rajan is also a visiting Adjunct Professor at VIT University teaching Process Control for Chemical Engineering students.

Hardy Kemp started his career with PetroSA as a mechanical engineer at their Gas-to-Liquids Refinery in Mossel Bay, South Africa. He entered the construction industry with CBI Constructors, a worldwide EPC contractor, where he executed a variety of small & large capital projects, maintenance as well as turnarounds with roles in Project Engineering, Construction Management, Business Development & Turnaround Execution in Africa, Middle East & USA. Hardy joined Flint Hills Resources, a subsidiary of Koch Industries in 2008 as Turnaround Manager. He was promoted Operations Manager in 2011, responsible for Gasoil, Naphtha & Diesel Hydrotreating, Crude distillation, Hydrogen Reforming, Hydrocracking & Sulfur recovery units. Currently, Hardy is the Director of Projects & Turnarounds at the Pine Bend Refinery and sits on the Refinery Leadership Team at the Rosemount refinery with responsibility for all Projects, Engineering & Turnarounds. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa.

Jeff Johns has over 35 years’ experience in the petroleum refining industry and currently works for Becht as a Hydroprocessing Advisor and Trainer. He was honored to be named a Chevron Hydroprocessing Fellow (Chevron’s highest technical recognition) for contributions to Chevron and to the industry. Jeff has expert knowledge of hydrocracker and hydrotreater design/operation, optimization, and troubleshooting, and has substantial experience in other key refinery processes. Jeff managed hydrocracking and hydrotreating technology in Chevron’s refineries worldwide where he developed and implemented best practices and projects to improve safety, reliability, and profitability. One of his special interests as a technology mentor was developing and delivering training. For 20 years, Jeff led an ad hoc Industry Committee of hydroprocessing experts dedicated to sharing safety and reliability information among North American Refiners. He was a member of the AFPM Q&A Panel in 2004 and directed multiple technology seminars as a member of the AFPM Q&A screening committee. Jeff served on the Board of Directors for Advanced Refining Technologies (ART). Jeff holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Utah. He holds six patents in hydroprocessing technology.

Tim Olsen is an AIChE Fellow with 31 years of experience in the refining industry, 23 of which have been with Emerson Automation Solutions. He is a process engineer with refining business knowledge within Emerson’s Control and Operator Performance group. Previously, Tim was with UOP for 8 years as a Technical Advisor on refinery startups around the world. He is the past chair of AIChE’s Fuels and Petrochemicals Division, and just finished his 3-year term on the AIChE Board of Directors. Tim also served on the Board of Directors for Emerson’s Global Users Exchange, and currently an active member of AFPM’s OPCAT Steering Committee. He has a BS in chemical engineering from Iowa State Univ. with an emphasis in industrial engineering and process control, and an MBA from the Univ. of Iowa.

Stephen Gill is currently the Vice President of Safety and Regulatory Excellence for Sinclair Oil Corporation. He has 26 years experience in refining and chemicals, having held various roles in process design, operations, technical management, and process safety with Sinclair, SABIC, Huntsman, DOW, and Union Carbide. Over the past few years he has been involved with AFPM’s Advancing Process Safety program, participating in and providing leadership in the Process Safety Regional Networks and other subgroups. He holds BS and MS degrees in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University.

Nicole Birchall is an Operations Excellence Manager with Marathon Petroleum Corporate Refining with a focus on Operations Standards and Quality Assurances. She has a background in process engineering, operations support and process safety in the areas of Crude/Vacuum Distillation, FCCU and HF Alkylation. Nicole holds a BSChE from Michigan Technological University and MSChE from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Dustin Beebe serves as Emerson’s Vice President of Performance Services. He is responsible for the alignment of the Control Performance, Operator Performance, and Simulation businesses globally. Prior to his current role, Dustin served as Vice President for Emerson’s Control and Operator Performance Center of Excellence. Previously, Dustin served as the President of ProSys until it was acquired by Emerson in 2018. He has been in the industrial automation business since 1996. Dustin holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He earned his Professional Engineer designation in 2001 and was inducted into the Arkansas Academy of Chemical Engineers in 2017.

Jon Peters is a Fluidized Catalyst Cracker subject matter expert and Senior BIN Leader-FCC for Chevron based out of El Segundo, California. Jon has 32 years of refining experience working in three different facilities with roles in operations management, technical and environmental. Jon holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Long Beach.

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.

With more than a decade of experience with Emtrol-Buell, Steve has been involved in every aspect of FCC cyclone system design. In addition to cyclone design, he provides troubleshooting and inspection expertise for clients that are experiencing elevated catalyst losses or mechanical failures. Steve has been involved in the cyclone system design for the smallest and largest FCCU’s in world, and he enjoys working closely with clients to solve problems and improve FCC operation. Steve holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Messiah College.

Hayden Poppe is a Principal Mechanical Engineer for Technip Energies USA, Inc. with a focus on Fluidized Catalytic Crackers. He has 9 years of experience in the petrochemical industry and has performed mechanical engineering activities for many FCC projects including field advisory services. Hayden holds a BS in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University.

Hardy Kemp started his career with PetroSA as a mechanical engineer at their Gas-to-Liquids Refinery in Mossel Bay, South Africa. He entered the construction industry with CBI Constructors, a worldwide EPC contractor, where he executed a variety of small & large capital projects, maintenance as well as turnarounds with roles in Project Engineering, Construction Management, Business Development & Turnaround Execution in Africa, Middle East & USA. Hardy joined Flint Hills Resources, a subsidiary of Koch Industries in 2008 as Turnaround Manager. He was promoted Operations Manager in 2011, responsible for Gasoil, Naphtha & Diesel Hydrotreating, Crude distillation, Hydrogen Reforming, Hydrocracking & Sulfur recovery units. Currently, Hardy is the Director of Projects & Turnarounds at the Pine Bend Refinery and sits on the Refinery Leadership Team at the Rosemount refinery with responsibility for all Projects, Engineering & Turnarounds. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa.