Improving Operational Performance To Secure Future Profitability

2009 Speakers Included:

Sherman Glass

Sherman Glass

President
ExxonMobil Refining & Supply

Sherman Glass is President of ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Company and Vice President of Exxon Mobil Corporation. In this capacity, Mr. Glass is responsible for ExxonMobil's global refining, supply and transportation activities. Prior to this assignment, Mr. Glass was Senior Vice President of ExxonMobil Chemical Company, responsible for Exxon Mobil's global olefins, aromatics, intermediates and synthetics businesses. He joined Exxon in 1972 as a process engineer at the Baytown, Texas Refinery. After several engineering and supervisory assignments in Exxon Company, USA's (EUSA) Refining and Supply Departments, Mr. Glass was named Planning and Technical Manager for EUSA's Refining Department in 1983. In 1985, Mr. Glass moved to EUSA's Marketing Department as Market Development Manager and in 1987, he returned to the Baytown Refinery as Refinery Manager. In 1991, he became EUSA's Refining Operations Manager and in 1993, Mr. Glass moved to Exxon Chemicals as Vice President of Basic Chemicals in the Americas. In 1996 he relocated to Europe as Vice President of Basic Chemicals for that geography. In 1998, he became Manager of Exxon Company International's Refining Department responsible for oversight of Exxon's international refining operations and in late 1999, he became Regional Director for ExxonMobil's refining, supply and distribution activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In 2001, Mr. Glass was transferred to ExxonMobil Corporation as head of Corporate Planning and in 2002 he was named President of ExxonMobil Global Services Company.

Tom Botts

Tom Botts

Executive Vice President, Global Manufacturing
Shell Downstream

Tom Botts was appointed Executive Vice President for Shell’s Global Manufacturing portfolio March 2009, having previously held the role of Executive Vice President for Shell’s Exploration and Production activities in Europe. Tom joined Shell Oil Company in 1977 in Ventura, California, as a production engineer in the upstream. After various onshore and offshore engineering assignments he became Division Engineer in 1982 and then completed assignments in Staff Planning and Corporate Economics. In 1987 became Division Engineering Manager. In 1990 he became Division Operations Manager responsible for onshore upstream operations in the western half of the U.S. and later assumed responsibility for both engineering and operations as Division Production Manager. In 1993 he was appointed Manager of Corporate Planning for Shell Oil Company, a role that also covered the Oil Products and Chemicals businesses. In 1995 he was appointed Treasurer of Shell Oil, while retaining his Corporate Planning responsibilities. Tom moved to London in mid 1998, and then to Scotland in 2001, holding positions as UK Gas Director, UK Oil Director and UK Managing Director. During his various roles in the UK he was also Chairman of Step Change in Safety, and a member of the Industry Leadership Team and PILOT (the Industry/Government cooperative body in the UK). In October 2003, Tom moved to The Netherlands and became Executive Vice President for EP Europe, leading Shell’s largest E&P unit with activities across Europe.

Robert Pease

Robert Pease

President & CEO
Motiva Enterprises

Robert W. Pease is President and Chief Executive Officer of Motiva Enterprises LLC, based at corporate headquarters in Houston Texas. He was elected to his current position in November 2008. Most recently he was President of Shell Trading (US) Company. Prior to that he was Vice President of Supply for Motiva Enterprises LLC. Previous to these assignments he spent 15 years in leadership roles within downstream refining and marketing joint ventures involving Texaco, Saudi Refining and Shell in various combinations. Early in his career, he worked extensively in refining serving in various roles from technical positions to refinery operations and planning management. He also supported refinery operations from corporate offices as he worked in various roles including crude oil trading, and product supply and trading management. With close to 30 years in the industry, his experience encompasses all facets of U.S. downstream business and offers a global perspective from his years in supply and trading and his involvement in three joint venture companies.

Gary Heminger

Gary Heminger

President
Marathon Petroleum Company

Mr. Heminger, a Tiffin, Ohio, native, earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Tiffin University in 1976 while already employed by Marathon Oil Company in Findlay, Ohio. He earned an MBA from the University of Dayton in 1982. Mr. Heminger’s 33 years with Marathon include experience in a variety of groups and functions. In addition to five years in various financial and administrative roles, he spent three years in London, England, as audit supervisor of the Brae Project. He worked eight years with Emro Marketing, the predecessor of Speedway SuperAmerica LLC, in several marketing and commercial roles and was named vice president of the subsidiary’s Western Division in 1991. From 1995 to 1996 he served as president of Marathon Pipe Line Company; he assumed the position of manager, Business Development & Joint Interest of Marathon Oil Company in November 1996. He was named vice president of Business Development for Marathon Ashland Petroleum Company LLC upon its formation January 1, 1998 and was named senior vice president, Business Development, one year later. In January 2001, Mr. Heminger was named executive vice president, Supply, Transportation and Marketing. He assumed his current responsibilities as president of Marathon Petroleum Company LLC, September 1, 2001. He is past chairman of both the American Petroleum Institute (API) Downstream Committee and Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, and a member of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Fifth Third Bancorp.

John Hofmeister

John Hofmeister

Founder & CEO
Citizens for Affordable Energy
& Former President
Shell Oil Company

John Hofmeister, upon retirement from Shell Oil Company in July, 2008, founded and heads the nation-wide membership association, Citizens for Affordable Energy. This Washington, D.C.-registered, public policy education firm will exist to promote sound U.S. energy security solutions for the nation, including a range of affordable energy supplies, efficiency improvements, essential infrastructure, sustainable environmental policies and public education on energy issues. Hofmeister was named President of Houston-based Shell Oil Company in March 2005, heading the U.S. Country Leadership Team, which included the leaders of all Shell businesses operating in the United States. He became President after serving as Group Human Resource Director of the Shell Group, based in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Robert Jones

Robert Jones

Vice President
Keystone Pipeline Project

Robert Jones was appointed vice-president of Keystone Pipelines in June, 2006. Prior to this appointment, he provided leadership to the Keystone project team for more than three years while developing the project from the conceptual stage. Mr. Jones has overall accountability for the development and construction of all phases of the Keystone project including securing land and permits, engineering, procurement and construction management of the project as well as the processes required for operations build-up of the Keystone Pipeline system. Prior to joining TransCanada in 1998, Mr. Jones worked for Interprovincial Pipe Line, now Enbridge, for more than 10 years. He has more than 26 years of professional experience in business development, management, engineering and operations of natural gas and liquid hydrocarbon pipeline systems.

Congressman Gene Green

Congressman Gene Green


29th Congressional District of Texas

Congressman Gene Green was first elected to Congress from the 29th Congressional District of Texas in 1992 after twenty years in the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate. In 1996, Green was appointed to the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, and currently serves on four of its subcommittees - Health; Energy and Environment; Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection; and Oversight and Investigations. Green is also a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

José Carlos Cosenza

José Carlos Cosenza

Downstream Refining Executive Manager
Petrobras Downstream

José Carlos Cosenza is the Executive Manager of the Refining in Petrobras Downstream since June, 2008. He is also currently Member of the Board of Downstream Participações Ltda., Member of the Council of Alberto Pasqualini Refinery and Member of the Council of Abreu e Lima S.A. Refinery. Mr. Cosenza has a degree in Chemical Engineering from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. He has also attended several technical and managerial training programmes, in Brazil and overseas, such as Management Business Administration at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Executive Development Program at J.L. Kellog Graduate School of Management in USA. Mr. Cosenza has been with Petrobras for over 33 years, where he held several management positions in production area. He was appointed Superintendent of Presidente Getulio Vargas Refinery - REPAR (1995/1999) and also Superintendent of Paulinia Refinery - REPLAN (1999/2000). Abroad, he was the General Manager in UN-Argentina (2002/2005), General Manager in UN-Uruguay (2005/2006) and Vice President of the Refinery Revamp of Pasadena, USA (2006/2008).

Peter Whitman

Peter Whitman

Policy Analyst, Office of Policy and International Affairs
US Department of Energy

Dr. Whitman is a Policy Analyst in the Office of Policy and International Affairs of the Department of Energy. For the last 15 years, he has been involved with energy policy analysis and forecasting, including analysis of restructured electricity markets and climate change policies for the Energy Information Administration. He also has performed market analysis for the Independent Market Monitor of the Midwest ISO, an electricity regional transmission organization, and is currently performing analyses of transportation energy and climate change issues including alternative and low carbon fuels.

Lisa Epifani

Lisa Epifani

Counsel
Van Ness Feldman

Lisa works with Van Ness Feldman's electricity, natural gas, biofuels, and public policy practices. With a background that traverses the full spectrum of energy issues, including infrastructure siting, biofuel mandates, oil and gas policy, and renewable and nuclear expansion, Lisa assists clients in developing sound energy policies with a keen awareness of the political realities that face the industry. Lisa has spent the last decade in key governmental and private sector roles developing energy policy. She most recently served in the Bush administration as Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Energy (DOE). As DOE’s lead contact with Congressional Members and staff, Ms. Epifani promoted the Administration’s energy policies and negotiated positions on appropriations and authorization bills like the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Further, she worked closely with DOE program offices, such as the Loan Guarantee Program office, to coordinate agency decisions and goals. Lisa also served at the White House on the National Economic Council as a Special Assistant to the President. Before her Administration tenure, she was a lead Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee staffer for then-Chairman Domenici and worked on key provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Ms. Epifani also practiced energy law at a major DC firm.

Karl Simon

Karl Simon

Director, Compliance and Innovative Strategies Division, Office of Transportation and Air Quality
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Mr. Simon is the Director of the Compliance and Innovative Strategies Division of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. His role includes managing the certification, registration and compliance activities associated with all engines and fuels sold in the United States. Some of the major activities he has been extensively involved in are the 2004 Clean Nonroad Engine and Fuel Program, the National LEV program, the Tier 2 Gasoline and Clean Highway Diesel Programs, and the 1998 heavy-duty diesel engine enforcement case. He also works on international mobile source harmonization issues. Prior to his current position, he was the Assistant Director for the Office, worked in the mobile source recall branch at EPA, and the submarine construction and design division at Newport News Ship building and Dry Dock Company.

Carmen Difiglio

Carmen Difiglio

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Analysis, Office of Policy and International Affairs
US Department of Energy

Carmen Difiglio is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Analysis in the Office of Policy and International Affairs (U.S. Department of Energy). He is responsible for DOE’s analyses of energy policies. Carmen Difiglio previously served as Head of the Energy Technology Policy Division at the International Energy Agency (IEA). There he, and his staff, developed a new world energy model and publication series (Energy Technology Perspectives) and also contributed to IEA’s World Energy Outlooks. Before joining DOE, Carmen worked as an economist for the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, the Transportation Studies Center of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Difiglio has chaired various energy committees including the Transportation Research Board’s Committee on Energy and Transportation and the IEA Energy Efficiency Working Party. He is now a member of the Permanent Monitoring Panel on Energy of the World Federation of Scientists and Vice Chair of the IEA Committee on Energy Research and Technology. Difiglio is the author of many papers on energy economics, travel forecasting, fuel economy policies and other topics.

Stephany Romanow

Stephany Romanow

Senior Process Editor
Hydrocarbon Processing

Stephany Romanow is the senior process editor for Hydrocarbon Processing- one of the international energy technical journals published by Gulf Publishing Company. She has over 25 years of experience in the hydrocarbon processing industry. Since joining the publication in 1992, she reviews and researches licensed technologies for the crude oil refining, petrochemical, and natural gas industries for HP’s engineering handbooks. She prepares HP’s annual industry forecasts for the crude oil refining (renewable fuels) and petrochemical industries. Her core research areas include technology developments, economic trends, environmental legislation, and social and political concerns. Before joining HP, Stephany worked for several polymers companies on the U.S. Gulf Coast. She is a contributing editor for Riegel’s Handbook of Industrial Chemistry.

Dr Frigyes Lestak

Dr Frigyes Lestak

General Manager, CO2 Efficiency
Royal Dutch Shell

In his current role, he is responsible for part of the CO2 programme in the Royal Dutch Shell, with focus on the CO2 efficiency of the company. Dr Lestak has 25 years experience with the oil and gas industry, he started his career as a lecturer at the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology. He spent nearly ten years with front-end design of refinery, LNG, ammonia and ethylene plants at MW Kellogg Ltd. in London, where as a Technology Manager he set up an Advanced Chemical Engineering group, commercialised a number of modern design methods and a high efficiency distillation apparatus. Prior to joining Shell he worked as a Process Integration manager in BOC, developing integrated commercial solutions for large-scale industrial applications

Randy Armstrong

Randy Armstrong

Environmental Issues Director
Shell Oil Company

James Randolph (Randy) Armstrong, Jr., Environmental Issues Director for Shell Oil Company, began his career with Shell 1975. Randy has over 30 years environmental experience and has held various technical assignments in operations, engineering, health, safety and environmental. Randy has compliance and engineering experience in air, water and waste He has been involved in environmental issues ranging from the Great Lake’s Basin study in the mid 70’s to his present role of coordinating Shell’s US activities on Climate Change. Past activities have included hazardous waste incinerator testing, biotreater design, groundwater recovery activities, landfill operations, and the implementation of Clean Air Act requirements.

Jonathan Trent

Jonathan Trent

Project Scientist, Global Research into Energy and the Environment
NASA Ames Research Center

Dr. Jonathan Trent spent nine years studying the open ocean and was among the first so-called “blue-water divers,” who developed SCUBA techniques to explore the surface waters of the open ocean, hundreds of miles from shore in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In addition to his own SCUBA research, he worked with Navy Saturation Divers to explore water column depths beyond the range of SCUBA and used the research submersible “Alvin” to explore the bottom of the deep sea. Dr. Trent spent six years in Europe at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Germany, the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and the University of Paris at Orsay in France. He returned to the USA to work at the Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine at Yale Medical School for two years before establishing a biotechnology group at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. In 1998, he moved to NASA Ames Research Center where in 1999, he established the Protein Nanotechnology Group focused on building nanostructures using biomolecules from extremophiles—organisms adapted to extreme environments. In 2006, Dr. Trent was awarded the prestigious Nano50 award for Innovation in Nanotechnology. Besides his work at NASA, in 2004, Dr. Trent was appointed Adjunct Professor in the Dept. of Biomolecular Engineering at UC Santa Cruz and in 2006, he was elected a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. In 2007, with support from Google, Dr. Trent assembled a team of scientists and engineers focused on GREEN (Global Research into Energy and the Environment at NASA). The GREEN team is developing a system for producing an inexhaustible, sustainable, carbon-neutral, solar-powered, economically viable feedstock for the oil refineries of the future. Dr. Trent’s recent research and inventions are focused on methods for obtaining alternative fuels, processing municipal wastewater, and economically producing freshwater by desalination.

Robert Mason

Robert Mason

Managing Director, Head of Oil Sands, Investment Banking Global Energy & Power Group
TD Securities Inc.

Based in Calgary, Robert oversees a number of TD Securities' senior energy relationships and heads its oil sands business in Canada. Over the past decade he has executed over C$8 billion of oil sands related equity and debt financings led by TD for each of Western Oil Sands, UTS Energy, OPTI Canada, Petrobank, Value Creation, Synenco Energy, North American Oil Sands, Oilsands Quest, Shell Canada, Pembina Pipelines & E-T Energy. Robert has also led over 40 advisory assignments for many of TD’s oil sands clients in the past 4 years, including Total’s C$1.7 billion acquisition of Deer Creek, Talisman on its asset sales, North American Oil Sands on it’s C$2.2 billion sale to Statoil, Marathon on its oil sands JV RFP process, Western Oil Sands on its C$7.1 billion sale to Marathon, Synenco Energy on its C$550 million sale to Total, OPTI Canada on its C$735 million disposition to Nexen, UTS Energy on its successful defense vs. Total’s unsolicited takeover offer, EnCana on strategic matters and PetroChina on its pending C$1.9 billion acquisition of 60% of 2 projects from Athabasca Oil Sands.

David Maguire

David Maguire

Project Manager, Implementation Group
Metegrity

David Maguire had over 20 years’ experience as a corrosion specialist with Shell Canada before joining the Metegrity team and is a member of NACE, National Association of Corrosion Engineers, in Canada. At Shell, he was the corporate lead in implementing Metegrity’s premier product, Visions Enterprise and training users in it at all Shell Canada sites. His extensive expertise in plant management software, facility corrosion, and the production and financial challenges faced in his industry, made his introduction to Visions Enterprise more meaningful. It impressed upon him the results a highly successful risk-based inspection management product can have on a process facility’s profits, operations and equipment lifespan.

Pat Swafford

Pat Swafford

Solutions Consultant
Spiral Software

Pat Swafford is a Solutions Consultant for Spiral Software with deep expertise in crude oil quality, refinery planning and scheduling, and refinery performance monitoring. Mr. Swafford has over 20 years of refinery economics, optimization and scheduling experience in operating companies, consulting and software firms. He also has an extensive knowledge of the markets for crude oil and refined products and the economic effects of these on refinery operations.

Robert Jablonski

Robert Jablonski

General Manager
Metegrity

Robert Jablonski is General Manager of Metegrity, an asset management company for the process industry. Its flagship product Visions Enterprise is considered the leading and most-proven lifecycle management software product on the market. Mr. Jablonski has over 18 years’ background in business management, Information Technology and software development and is the author, designer and developer of the premier Visions Enterprise product which incorporates a risk-based inspection basis to ensure profits and top facility production. He has extensive experience in overseeing the IT operations of large companies as well as intricate knowledge of the specific requirements and details of the process industry and plant operations. With the unique expertise of Mr. Jablonski and other Metegrity team members, Visions Enterprise is flawlessly implemented at renowned client installations while incorporating each company’s unique requirements and requests.

Reinhold H. Bietzker

Reinhold H. Bietzker

Global Industry Manager - Oil & Gas
Endress+Hauser

Born in 1954 he started his professional carrier as an assistant engineer on heavy lift cargo ships carrying oil field equipment to the Middle East region. After graduating as a Chief Marine Engineer, he worked for four years for Mobil Oil Corp. on oil tankers before he joined Schlumberger in 1983. During this time he held many positions in numerous countries in wireline, welltesting and utility services. In 2000 he joined Endress+Hauser in Weil am Rhein. As the Global Industry Manager Oil&Gas he is responsible for the promotion and business development of this industry for Endress+Hauser.

Karim Essemiani

Karim Essemiani

Business & Marketing Manager
Veolia Water S&T Oil and Gas

Karim Essemiani is the Business and Marketing manager of Oil and Gas division of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies North America. Mr Essemiani has about 10 years experience in the design of industrial process and waste water technologies, with core expertise in refineries and onshore produced water. Mr Essemiani has a PhD in Chemical Engineering and a MS degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is the co-inventor of Veolia’s proprietary technologies TURBOMIX and CLARIFLO.

Alastair Painter

Alastair Painter

Business Development Leader, North America
DNV

Alastair Painter is Business Development Leader and a Principal Consultant for DNV’s Energy Solutions business in North America. Alastair has more than 20 years experience in the energy industries, the last 12 of which have focused on assisting major energy operators with reliability and asset performance issues. Alastair has an honors degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom. He is widely recognized in the industry as a subject matter expert in Performance Simulation and its application to upstream E&P facilities, refineries and petrochemical plants.

Rick Birnbaum

Rick Birnbaum

Sales Manager
Cansolv Technologies

Rick Birnbaum is a chemical engineer and has over thirty years experience in the use of amines to remove acid gas contaminants from natural gas, refinery gas and flue gas process streams. In 1974, he began work at Union Carbide’s plant in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he supervised operations in the alkanolamine and fine chemicals production units. From 1981 to 2005, Rick worked for Union Carbide and then the Dow Chemical Company to provide sales and technical support to their specialty gas treating product businesses throughout North America. During this time, Rick spent five years helping to develop the CANSOLV SO2 Scrubbing System technology. From 1993 until he left the Dow Chemical Company, Rick served as the technical service engineer for UCARSOL Gas Treating Solvents to refiners in the northeastern United States. In 2005, Rick joined CANSOLV Technologies Inc. in Montreal to provide Process Engineering and Sales Management support for CANSOLV’s SO2 and CO2 Scrubbing Technologies.

Dr Mat Malladi

Dr Mat Malladi

President, Corporate Business development
Reliance Industries

Dr. Mat Malladi is a Refining executive with more than 30 years' experience in Refining technology transfer, business development, acquisitions/alliances, and strategic planning. With Reliance Industries, Dr. Malladi serve’s as the President of Corporate Business Development. As part of this effort Dr. Malladi program managed Reliance's petroleum retailing implementation at 1200 sites across India with state-of-the-art automation. Recently, at Reliance Dr.Malladi was responsible for leading basic engineering design of the world's most advanced Reliance Jamnagar export refinery that has started up in 4Q 2008. Current he heads organizational streamlining efforts of Technical services for the 1.2 Million barrels per day Reliance jamnagar super site in India. Prior to this he also spent 20 years at Mobil Oil Corporation in various roles including Technology R&D management, Operational and Technical management of Mobil Torrance refinery in Los Angeles, California. During his tenure at the refinery he played a key role in improving production, operational reliability, safety and returning the plant to profitability. He holds several US patents and publications on various aspects of Oil refining technology and has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He serves on the boards of eVisionglobal as a CEO and also ANRAK Aluminium corporation as a Director.

Rush Khan

Rush Khan

Deputy Director, Technology Program, Engineering Services
Saudi Aramco

Dr. M Rashid Khan was selected as the Distinguished Lecturer by the Society of Petroleum Engineering for 2006-2007, and is a member of MIT Energy Club. Dr. Khan provides leadership in developing and commercialization of Intellectual Properties for Saudi Aramco and was instrumental for licensing the first technology for the company. Rashid served 13 years with Texaco prior to joining Saudi Aramco where he received numerous International Innovation awards including Texaco’s highest technical award for creativity and the American Chemical Society’s Research Award. Rashid briefly served as a technical advisor to the US White House and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Dr Gerald Hill

Dr Gerald Hill

Senior Technical Advisor
Southern States Energy Board

Gerald (Jerry) Hill is Senior Technical Advisor to the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB). He has over thirty years experience with the petroleum and electric utility industries, and has a Doctorate in Civil Engineering from the University of Iowa. Dr. Hill is coordinating technical aspects of climate change projects for the SSEB. In 2003 SSEB entered into a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy to lead the Southeastern Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB). The Southeast partnership currently is conducting four Phase II small-scale CO2 injection experiments and has initiated activities for two Phase III large-scale CO2 injection experiments.

Michael Ziesemer

Michael Ziesemer

Executive Board Member and Chief Operating Officer
Endress+Hauser

Michael Ziesemer is an Executive Board Member, Endress+Hauser Holding AG. Starting out as a telecommunications engineer, Michael Ziesemer soon began a career as R+D Engineer for flow and level measurement systems. In 1981 he joined Endress+Hauser as head of Product Management. In 1992 he became Managing Director of Endress+Hauser GmbH+Co. KG, Maulburg, and 4 years later of Endress+Hauser Messtechnik GmbH+Co. KG. In 1999 he joined Endress+Hauser Consult AG, Reinach/CH, as Corporate Director Sales + Marketing. Since 2002 Michael Ziesemer is a member of the Executive Board of the Endress+Hauser Group. 2008 he became Chief Operating Officer (COO). Michael Ziesemer takes an active part in a number of professional organizations like ZVEI, VDI, HART, ISA.

Mike Yitref

Mike Yitref

Vice President, Sales
Endress+Hauser

Walid Mourtada

Walid Mourtada

Vice President, Energy Oil & Gas Practice
Pcubed

Mr Mourtada joined Pcubed in 2003 and currently heads the energy practice focused on delivering value to customer through program & portfolio management. Walid has worked with major global energy organizations on diverse projects from optimizing multi-billion dollar project portfolios, to streamlining global initiatives that maximize value while minimizing business disruptions. Walid joined the management consulting field in 1999 after earning his Masters in Engineering from the University of Michigan, through the course of his career his focus has been on capital intensive industries such as manufacturing, automotive, construction and energy, where he leveraged his experience to deliver on business critical and turn around initiatives for several of the top 10 fortune 500 companies.

Gerhard Abel

Gerhard Abel

Vice President
TUV SUD America

Gerhard Abel is Vice President at TÜV SÜD America Inc. with joint responsibility as President of TÜV SÜD Industry Services, Inc. and PetroChem Inspection Services, Inc., both divisions of TÜV SÜD America Inc. He has been with TÜV SÜD for seventeen years, fifteen of which have been spent in the United States in various roles and numerous offices nationwide. Mr. Abel holds a Mechanical Engineering degree and is a Certified Welding Engineer. He began his career at TÜV SÜD as an Authorized Inspector and Pressure Vessel Engineer, a certification he still holds under the European Pressure Equipment Directive. Gerhard splits his time between TÜV SÜD America’s San Diego office and PetroChem Inspection’s Pasadena, Texas headquarters. He can be reached via email at gabel@tuvam.com.

Shunlan Liu

Shunlan Liu

Program Director, Bitumen Upgrading
Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI)

Shunlan Liu is program director, bitumen upgrading for AERI. She is responsible for strategic planning and project management of AERI’s R&D investments on bitumen upgrading technologies. In 1992, she joined China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) as an assistant chemical engineer at CNPC’s Oilfield Chemicals Company. After a few technical and operational assignments, she became a manager supervising the R&D of oilfield chemicals. In 1999, she was transferred to the head office of PetroChina Company Ltd. in an operation management role at Division of Chemical Operations, responsible for oversight of PetroChina’s synthetic ammonia and fertilizer production. She joined AERI in 2006.

Dr Chris Ryan

Dr Chris Ryan

Executive Vice President, Business Development
Gevo

Chris Ryan comes to Gevo with more than 15 years of strategic leadership, business development, research and product development in bio-based materials. Most recently, Ryan served as chief operating officer and chief technology officer for NatureWorks LLC. As a founding member of NatureWorks, Ryan was involved in the development and commercialization of the company’s new bio-based polymer from lab scale production through the introduction and growth of PLA through its $300 million world-scale production facility.

Dr Steve Whittaker

Dr Steve Whittaker

Senior Project Manager
PTRC

Steve Whittaker is the Senior Project Manager at the Petroleum Technology Research Centre in Regina, Canada where he oversees the management of all research programs, including the IEA GHG Weyburn-Midale CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project, JIVE, Aquistore and the EOR Program. He comes to the PTRC from Canadian Capital Energy Corporation, a Saskatchewan-based oil exploration company. Prior to this Steve was a Senior Research Geologist for the Geological Survey of Saskatchewan, and has also worked as an independent consultant and researcher at Queen’s and McGill universities. Steve is a registered professional geologist, and has a Ph. D. in Geology.

John Paisie

John Paisie

Partner & Head of Downstream & Petrochemicals Practice
PFC Energy

John Paisie is a Partner and Head of the Downstream and Petrochemicals practice, which focuses on the development of corporate and operational strategies. John specializes in assisting clients to undertake strategic reviews and to implement major change initiatives. Prior to joining PFC Energy, John spent eight years with IBM Consulting Services (formerly PriceWaterhouseCoopers, PwC Consulting) as a member of the Global Energy Strategy practice, and was an Associate Partner at the time of his departure. While at PwC Consulting, he was based for three years in Asia, during which time he consulted with major international companies, such as Shell and Caltex, and national oil companies, such as Petronas, Pertamina and CNPC. He also participated in several merger, acquisition, and restructuring projects involving the petrochemical industry. Also while with PwC, John spent 2 years in Europe consulting for major international and regional oil companies, including BP and ChevronTexaco. Before joining PwC, John spent 10 years in the oil industry, including various management and technical positions with Sun Oil, and three and a half years in the Middle East with Saudi Aramco.

Richard Green

Richard Green

Principal Consultant, Climate Change & the Environment
DNV

Rob Hile

Rob Hile

Director, Integrated Security Solutions
Siemens Industry, Inc., Building Technologies

Rob has extensive experience in the security industry. Prior to his position at Siemens he spent two and a half years as Vice President, Business Development at Adesta. He held a similar position at Convergint Technologies, LLC. Prior to those positions, he was Senior Vice President at GVI Security, Inc. Throughout his career, Hile has been responsible for P&L management, corporate sales and marketing strategy, forecasting, bookings, revenue and collections. In addition, he has managed sales and marketing efforts and coordinated nationwide contracts with the Federal government. He is a Vice-Chairman of the Security Industry Association Board of Directors and also serves as Chairman of the Physical Security Interoperability Alliance.

John Plaza

John Plaza

President & CEO
Imperium Renewables, Inc

Mr. Plaza is President, CEO and Founder of Imperium Renewables in Seattle, Washington. A recognized national expert in the field of biodiesel and alternative fuels, he has testified before Congressional committees and presents regularly at forums and events related to energy policy and renewable fuels in Europe, the America’s and Australasia. His expertise has been requested at several conferences to illustrate the importance of biofuels to the aviation industry, as well as the opportunities for growth with 2nd generation feedstocks. Mr. Plaza founded Imperium Renewables in February 2004 by building Seattle Biodiesel, the first commercial scale biodiesel production facility in the Western United States. The company’s core focus was to develop and build advanced technology for biofuel production which differentiated itself in the market with fuel quality and scale. This innovative direction which was led by Mr. Plaza helped Imperium to grow significantly over short time period. By 2007, Imperium developed, built and now currently operates one of the largest biodiesel production facilities in the world at 100 million gallons per year, Imperium Grays Harbor. From 2005 to 2008 Imperium has raised $155 million in equity funding from Venture Capital, Hedge Funds and Private Equity around the world. Imperium Renewables is now focused on the solidifying the biodiesel industry, as well as expanding bio-distillate industry from 2nd generation feedstocks and production technologies. Prior to founding Imperium Renewables, Mr. Plaza was a commercial airline pilot for 20 years, starting his career in Alaska as a bush pilot then going on to fly for Northwest Airlines for the last 10 years of his career.

Bill Hayward

Bill Hayward

Chief Executive Officer
LS9

Bill Haywood is Chief Executive Officer of LS9. He brings over 30 years of fuel manufacturing, refining, and marketing experience to the company. Most recently, he was the SVP of Manufacturing for Tesoro Petroleum, where he was responsible for the company's seven refineries and over $20 billion in revenue. Under his leadership, Tesoro became a leading independent refiner by integrating refinery acquisitions, driving operational excellence, and building over $1 billion in capital projects. During this period, shareholder value increased by more than 86% and earnings per share increased almost fivefold - resulting in recognition by the Wall Street Journal as a top oil and gas performance leader and a number one ranking by Forbes Magazine in the oil and gas category for the 400 Best Big Companies of 2008. Mr. Haywood has a strong track record of environmental stewardship and bringing clean fuels to market in partnership with regulatory agencies such as the California Air Resources Board (CARB), Bay Area Air Quality Management District and South Coast Air Quality Management District. His leadership approach centers on alignment around common goals and helping team members exceed their own expectations. He is a pragmatist who is known for balancing vision with risk, finance with safety, and people with processes. Previously, Mr. Haywood served as Regional Vice President of Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corporation, where he was responsible for the company's California refineries. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Northern California Special Olympics, Texas Special Olympics and the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach, California.

Joel Butler

Joel Butler

Vice President, R&D
Solix Biofuels

Joel Butler has over twenty years of management experience in both early stage and Fortune 500 firms. He has worked in the management consulting, high tech, software and defense industries. Prior to joining Solix, Mr. Butler was a founding member of Accenture’s supply chain strategy practice where he led transformation projects at large firms such as Verizon, Nokia and Best Buy. He also led projects to assist in the launch of new technology businesses at firms including Bright House Networks and TerreStar. Prior to Accenture, Mr. Butler was Co-Founder and CTO of SwiftRivers; an analytical software optimization firm. Mr. Butler has also worked at Quantum Corporation, where his roles included Director of Technology Licensing and Director of Software Applications.

James Fawley

James Fawley

Vice President, Business Development & Corporate Strategy
Coskata

John Scott

John Scott

CEO
PetroAlgae

Dr. Scott, age 58, serves as the Director and Chairman of PetroAlgae Inc. He became chief scientist of a US public company in the early 1980s following a highly regarded and successful first career as an astrophysicist, academic and consultant to a number of governments, including the USA and several NATO countries. He then started his first company which was funded in the traditional angel / venture capital manner. This was sold approximately three years later and was followed quickly by his second company, both being sold for a profit. By the early 1990s, Dr. Scott had become an investor in several venture funds and was on the board of various venture-backed companies. In 1993, together with some of the current XL TechGroup management team, he formed in 1993 a company called XL Vision, later changed to XL TechGroup where PetroAlgae, in turn, was founded. Dr. Scott has authored business theories surrounding the development of successful technology enterprises and lectures to business schools throughout the USA. He has served in a number of technical and management positions in the private sector, including chairmanship of two public companies. Previously, he was a professor at the universities of Maryland and Arizona and a visiting professor at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Scott has also been a consultant to the US and various European governments and was a National Research Council fellow at NASA. Dr. Scott holds numerous patents and has been published extensively in refereed scientific journal papers. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Astrophysics at Michigan State University and a PhD in the astrophysics/physics dual program from the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory.

James Wasas

James Wasas

Chief Science Officer, Executive Vice President
SWAPSOL Corp.

Jim Wasas is chief science officer, executive vice president for SWAPSOL, Corp. During the last several years he has spent his efforts along with his co-inventor Ray Stenger on developing the Stenger-Wasas Process, a unique process which enables a reaction between hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. He has spent much of his career engaged in corporate management, chemical research as well as chemical product and process development in the United States and Ecuador. Over the years, Wasas has designed, constructed and provided operator training of three gold refineries for U.S. companies and seven gold and silver refineries for Ecuadoran companies, including one that produced aerospace grade 99.9999 percent pure gold. Wasas is a former head of the Research and Development division of Geevor, PLC where he invented a chemical process for recovering refractory gold from metallic ores native to Ecuador. Wasas earned his bachelor of arts degree in chemistry from Rutgers University in 1968 and served as a captain in the U.S. Army, stationed both in Japan and Thailand. Wasas is member of the American Chemical Society.

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