Omar A. Talib

Omar A. Talib serves as President of ControlRooms, the first AI-assisted troubleshooting software for energy and chemical producers. Before founding ControlRooms, he served as Managing Director of Splice Machine where he created and led its Critical Infrastructure & Defense division. He seeded, built, and launched Livewire, the Operational AI platform for critical infrastructure. Prior to Splice Machine, Omar founded Crescent Groupe S.à r.l., a tech focused merchant bank where he led several strategic partnerships to scale breakthrough technologies. Omar established a consortium with Granahan McCourt to build a global manufacturer of highthroughput satellite equipment. Omar strategically positioned Crescent to deliver AI-driven energy efficiency solutions for energy producers in oil-exporting countries as they rapidly eliminated domestic subsidies. Prior toCrescent, Omar was a commodities trader at Goldman Sachs in New York. Omar holds a double bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.

Steve Lancaster

Steve Lancaster is the Chief Engineer at BD Energy Systems, responsible for steam methane furnace technology, in particular the thermal and process design.  He has worked with fired heaters in general, and steam methane reformers in particular, for 38 years, including at Kellogg/KBR for over thirty years, and IHI E&C (former Davy/Kvaerner).

BD Energy Systems, located in Houston, Texas, USA is a world leader in plant revamps and modernizations, specialized in executing turnkey projects, revamps, modernizations, and supply of engineered process equipment, including furnaces for ammonia, methanol, hydrogen, and gas-to-liquids (GTL).

Thomas Kline

With 45 years of experience in structural repair and rehabilitation of concrete structures. Mr. Kline has experience in investigation, design, planning, and execution – having worked on over 2,000 individual projects. He has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience both nationally and internationally, for Structural Group companies. He has led and developed a team of technical experts in providing design-build capabilities, developing turnkey repair strategies, and implementing sophisticated and verifiable repair programs for a wide range of concrete repair projects.

Kevin Boudreaux

Kevin Boudreaux received his BS degree in Zoology from Texas A&M and started his water treatment career in the early part of 2002.

After starting his career as a sales representative spanning all industries, Kevin moved into a technical consulting role focused purely on the Power Industry in 2010 and maintained this position until 2016, at which time he came to ChemTreat and the role changed to cover all industries. In 2020, Kevin moved into the Director of Boiler Technology role, and continues to work as part of ChemTreat’s Technical group supporting sales engineers globally.

Current responsibilities include boiler product development and innovation – to include chemistries and equipment, continued technical support for sales representatives in areas such as pretreatment and ROs, cooling water chemistry, boiler chemistry, and zero liquid discharge operations, customer support – to include troubleshooting and training, and development of performance monitoring programs (i.e. condenser and heat exchanger) for enhanced value added services.

Kevin has published papers in multiple industry journals, such as PPChem, Power Engineering, Combined Cycle Journal, and Power Magazine, with topics ranging from chemistry applications to performance monitoring.

Elena Truffa

Elena is a senior technical service engineer with 32 years of expertise in CO2-removal systems mostly during almost 30 years with UOP/Honeywell in the Gas Processing department.  Her experience spans from process design, simulations and technology development to HAZOPs, commissioning, and operational life support for CO2-removing solvent systems, namely amines, potassium carbonate and physical solvents.  Elena has provided direct technical support to more than 100 such solvent units focused on operations, troubleshooting, training, and plant start-up advisory roles.  She continues that direct service and product support for the last 2 years with Kinetix Solutions.

Khaled Elbassyouni

Mr. Elbassyouni holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Cairo university and a Master’s degree in chemical and energy engineering from the Otto-von-Guericke university of Magdeburg, Germany. Early interests were in chemical reaction engineering and quantum chemical simulations of homogenous catalysis. During his studies, Mr. Elbassyouni worked as a researcher at the Max Planck institute for dynamics of complex technical systems and upon graduation he worked as researcher and teaching assistant at the university of Aachen, Germany. Mr. Elbassyouni then obtained his engineering doctorate degree in 2019 from the technical university of Delft, The Netherlands. Afterwards, Mr. Elbassyouni joined Stamicarbon as a research and development engineer with focus on green ammonia process design, and is currently working as a process engineer for the design of grass-root urea plants.

Patrick Hayes

Pat Hayes graduated Rice University with a Chemical Engineering degree in 2013. He worked for four years as a service engineer in the syngas industry participating in loadings, reductions, and evaluations of catalyst performance for hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol plants. Pat joined Clariant 3 years ago as an account manager for ammonia plants in North America. 

Susan P. Harris

• B.S. Biochemistry, Texas A&M University
• MBA, University of Houston
• Daniel Industries - Gas Chromatograph lab test manager.
• Zellweger Analytics - sales specialist for liquid analysis - pH, conductivity and various H2O quality analyzers
• Servomex – regional sales manager for oxygen systems and emissions monitoring
• PAC - product manager for total sulfur and physical properties on-line analyzers for refineries.
• ThermoFisher Scientific - product manager for total sulfur analyzers
• Endress+Hauser, Inc. - product business manager for Optical Analysis (spectroscopy solutions) - includes TDLAS and Raman systems.

She has been at Endress for 9 years helping to promote the gas analyzer solutions for downstream processing plant applications.

David Polerstock

David Polerstock has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin, TX. For the last 17 years, he has been working for Topsoe, Inc. in Houston, TX. He has had the pleasure of working with all things catalyst related to the design, startup, commissioning, and technical sales efforts within the Hydrogen, Ammonia, Methanol, and Syngas industry. He currently holds the position of Sales Director for Chemicals & Clean Air in the North American market; Topsoe are looking forward to the very bright future that our industry has as we all work to provide clean energy of the future.

Ken Wohlgeschaffen

Ken Wohlgeschaffen has been with Chevron for 19 years, based at their Richmond Refinery, in various roles in the Technical and Operations Departments. He is currently the Team Leader for Hydrogen Plants supporting the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of the plants located in Chevron's North American and overseas refineries and complex facilities, including operated and non-operated joint ventures. Prior to joining Chevron, Ken spent 7 years at the Exxon Chemical Canada (now Nutrien) Redwater fertilizer complex. And 8 years with FMC (now Evonik), a major hydrogen peroxide producer. Ken received his bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Calgary in 1989.

Matthew Caserta

Matthew K. Caserta is a registered professional engineer in the states of Ohio and Texas. He has over 20 years of a wide breadth of engineering experience in oil refining, chemical processing, and consulting. Mr. Caserta's varied background provides unique insights into process interactions, equipment reliability, and corrosion and materials concerns. He currently oversees Becht’s corrosion control document (CCD) /integrity operating window (IOW) implementation team and risk-based inspection (RBI) team. He has personally been involved in development of CCDs and IOWs for over 100 different process units and RBI analysis for over 200 process units.

Shakti Jagmohan

Shakti Jagmohan, a professional with a cumulative 17 years of expertise in Chemical and Process engineering within the Methanol and Ammonia industry. Currently serving as the Regional Sales Manager and Head of Country for JM Trinidad. Shakti seamlessly integrates his extensive background in process engineering with a strategic approach to business analysis. His dedication to leading and inspiring high-performing teams, fostering lasting client partnerships, and employing strategic tactics has been a cornerstone of his success.

Daragh Blennerhassett

Daragh Blennerhassett is the Snr Business Development manager for the Technology Led Industrial Solutions business of KBR, focused on operational excellence of existing KBR designed Ammonia and Nitric Acid facilities. Daragh is a chemical engineer with 10 years experience in the Syngas and Oil & Gas industry, working with Johnson Matthey and AECOM prior to KBR.

Guido Geurts

Guido Geurts received a bachelor’s degree in industrial instrumentation and process control in 1990. In 1992 he received his bachelor’s degree in Process Engineering. He started his career in 1990 as a Process Control Engineer with DSM Dyneema. In 1997 he started working as a Project Engineer for DSM Engineering Stamicarbon and there from 1999 till 2005 was involved in licensing for lLDPE, LDPE and Caprolactam. In 2005 and 2006, Guido worked as a Process Control and Instrumentation Project Lead for Sabic Europe. He worked for DSM Dyneema Greenville NC USA from 2006-2010, as Process Control and Instrumentation Project Lead Engineer. In 2010 he re-joined DSM Dyneema in the Netherlands as a Senior Process Control and Instrumentation Engineer on special projects. In 2013 he joined Stamicarbon, where he has the position of Senior Process Control and Instrumentation Engineer.

Jesus Gonzalez Rebordinos

Jesus is a Chemical Engineer by the University of Valladolid with a PhD on Chemical Reaction Engineering from the Technical University of Dortmund.Jeths has been dedicated professionally to the fields of modeling, simulation and digitalisation in the process industry.Currently he is a Digital Process Engineer at Stamicarbon where he is involved in the design of dynamic and static modelling libraries, the delivery of Operator Training Simulators and the development of digital products.

Rahul Patil

Mr. Patil has a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India. After his graduation Mr. Patil pursued a Professional doctorate in Engineering from the Technical University of Eindhoven, The Netherlands in Process and Product Design group. After his studies, Mr. Patil started working as a Process Control Engineer for Stamicarbon in 2011, the Licensing and IP Group Center of Maire Tecnimont. Momentarily, Mr. Patil holds the role as a Process Engineer. Within this position Mr. Patil is responsible for the design of grass-root urea melt technology projects, and his current focus is on the Ultra-low energy urea melt plants technology projects as the Lead Process engineer.

Dan Barnett

More than 40 years of experience in execution of Furnace related work. Currently serving as VP of Engineering for BD Energy Systems, LLC. in Houston, TX, USA. Experience includes design of high-temperature reaction furnaces concentrating on steam-methane reformer furnaces for ammonia, methanol, hydrogen, & GTL plants, and cracking furnace designs for ethylene plants. Experience includes commissioning, start-up, and field advisory services on all types of furnaces in grassroots plants, furnace revamps, and plant expansions. BS Chemical Engineering, 1981, Drexel University, Philadelphia Member of AIChE. Member Ethylene Producers Conference – Maintenance & Reliability Subcommittee Named in five furnace-related Patents plus two Patents Pending.

Beau Dale

Beau is a process engineer at LSB Chemical dedicated to optimizing chemical processes and driving innovation through data analytics and automation. Before joining LSB Chemical, Beau served the chemical industry through mass and heat transfer technologies as a Design Engineer and then became an Application Manager.

Beau received his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Oklahoma State University and is currently pursuing his Master of Business Administration at Northeastern State University.  

Ares Panagoulias

Ares Panagoulias directs the sales, operations, and engineering of IIOT Condition Monitoring products and services for Hydro in the Hydro Centaur business unit. He works directly with customers to analyze data to improve rotating equipment maintenance strategies, increase availability, and reduce downtime in the Nuclear, Power Utility, Pipeline, and Oil & Gas industries. In addition, Ares is responsible for operations and management of all functions related to testing of high energy pumps, primarily for the Nuclear (safety and non-safety related), Power Utility, Pipeline, and Oil & Gas industries at Hydro’s Pump Test Lab. He has contributed to numerous internal and external R&D projects, including ongoing efforts to improve condition monitoring equipment in field installations.

Kevin Wofford

Kevin's career in the Inspection field spans 27 years across various industries including petrochemicals, refining, and fabrication. He currently holds certifications including API 510, API 570, API 580, and AWS CWI. He is employed at Natgasoline as the Site Inspection Specialist, and has held this position for 5 years. Previously he worked 16 years for Total Petrochemicals in various roles including Site Unit Inspector, Risk Based Inspection Specialist, and Project Manager. Prior to working at Total, he worked across various industries in both an NDE technician and API inspector role covering run and maintain, new construction projects, turnarounds and equipment inspection and repair. 

Taylor Archer

Taylor Archer – Senior Sales Manager, Syngas – has over 30 years’ experience in the Syngas industry including operations/engineering/project management experience in ammonia plants and catalyst sales and technical service expertise

Anita Chadee

Anita is a Technical Service Engineer at Johnson Matthey currently based at the Trinidad and Tobago office for the past year.She holds a BSc in Chemical and Process Engineering and is a certified PMP and Life Coach. During her 15 years of industrial experience, she has worked on world scale Ammonia and Methanol plants with focus on plant optimization, troubleshooting, coordinating catalyst replacement and reductions with vendors and other stakeholders.Anita has worked extensively with steam-methane reforming, shift conversion, methanation and ammonia/methanol synthesis technologies throughout her career. She has a passion for sustainability and emerging technologies by working to improve efficiencies both economically and technically.

Brett Tossey

Mr. Tossey holds a M.S. in Engineering (The Ohio State University) and has been a practicing metallurgical engineer for over twenty years. He has authored over 20 papers, holds a US patent, chaired technical symposia, and presented peer-reviewed work.  He is the Market Manager for Emerging Markets and high temperature alloys for Haynes International, Inc.

Giuseppe Puleo

Giuseppe Puleo has a master's degree in mechanical engineering Polytechnic University of Milan. He has 20 years' experience as mechanical engineer specialized in pressure equipment for oil & gas and chemical industry. He also gained experience as project specialist leader in large scale EPC projects in multicultural and multidisciplinary contexts. Mr. Puleo joined Casale in 2018 as Senior Mechanical Engineer, he was involved in several projects ranging from conceptual studies till complex revamping projects of which he also supervised the installation of Casale's proprietary equipment.

Jason Danos

Jason Danos is an owner of Kinetix Solutions.  Jason received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University in 1997, Summa Cum Laude.  Jason Has 27 years of experience in industrial plant process engineering and specialty chemical sales & service.

Jason began his career in Koch Industry’s Nitrogen division and then moved to CF Industries’ Donaldsonville facility.  After spending 5 years in the production sector, Jason began his supplier career with Chemtech Chemical Services where he spent 10 years.  Jason has been part of Kinetix since 2013.

Jason has been involved with many aspects of the plant engineering, production, and operations sectors. This includes but is not limited to CO2 removal, catalyst, utilities (water and steam), rotating equipment, heat exchange, process optimization, water treatment, etc.  Kinetix has a key presence in the nitrogen sector including specialty chemicals as well as technical services and consulting.

Alina Green

Alina Green is the Market Segment Manager at WIKA, a leading industrial process instrumentation manufacturer. She has a degree in Chemical Engineering and has been in the industry for over ten years in various roles, from operations to project management. Through her experience, she has developed a comprehensive understanding of the market demands and needed products for the industry’s challenging applications. Alina is an active member of industry associations such as API and AIChE and supports customers in the chemical and petrochemical markets.

David Keen

David Keen is a Metallurgist with over 45yrs experience in fertilizer and explosives manufacturing facilities across 12 countries globally. David is a Subject Matter Expert on equipment integrity management and has developed a series of training modules focused on preventing equipment failures through experiential learning and team problem solving sessions.

Charlie Stephen

Charlie joined CRU’s London office in July 2023 as a Senior Analyst to lead the Fertilizer Cost & Emissions Team. Charlie is a Chartered Chemical Engineer with a decade of experience working in engineering and operations functions within manufacturing plants in the Australian fertilizer industry.

Joe Moreno

Joe Moreno is the Technical Director and CEO of FlexElement Couplings in Houston, Texas. Prior to his involvement with FlexElement, he spent thirty years in industry as an end user in the petrochemical and refining sectors as a machinery engineer.  He is a mechanical engineering graduate of Texas A&M, a member of the Texas A&M Turbomachinery Advisory Committee, a member of ASME Apollo Subchapter and a member of the API 671 Task Force for Special Purpose Couplings. 

George Galloway

George Galloway has been with Chevron for 15 years, based at their Pascagoula Refinery, in various roles in the Technical Department.  He is currently the Hydrogen Senior Process Engineer supporting the safe, reliable, and efficient operation primarily of Chevron’s North American plants while also supporting both operating and non-operating joint ventures overseas.  Previous roles within Chevron include plant support engineer (Hydrogen, Alky, Crude, and Hydrotreating), Senior Process Engineer, Heat Exchanger Specialist, and Process Engineering Team Lead.  George received his bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from Mississippi State University in 2009.

Kraig Simpson

Kraig Simpson is the Vice President of Technology for Rotating Machinery Services (RMS). He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Mississippi State University. Prior to RMS, Kraig worked for ExxonMobil for 10 years. His professional experience has been primarily focused on turnaround, maintenance, and project support. Much of his experience is related to leveraging technology and innovative solutions to reinvent maintenance techniques for turbomachinery. He has applied the virtual assembly philosophy for numerous applications including turbomachinery overhauls and brownfield project execution.

Karen Braden

Karen started her career as a refinery process engineer. She then moved onto process engineering with an EPC and then landed at Clariant doing technical sales in 2017. Karen is currently an account manager with the Syngas group.  

William Kusnanto

William Kusnanto earned his bachelor's degree from Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia and his master's degree from UNSW, Sydney, Australia both in Chemical Engineering. William is a certified Energy Manager. He currently works as VP of Technology and Operation Synergy in PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero). Previously, he dedicated his professional career as Process Engineer in subsidiary, PT Pupuk Sriwidjaja Palembang, since 2008. He is now responsible for the implementation of operational excellence in all the ammonia and fertilizer plants while maintaining high productivity, energy efficiency and product quality.

Matteo Fumagalli

Matteo Fumagalli graduated in Chemical Engineering from Polytechnic University of Milan in 2009. After graduation he worked five years as Process Engineer in a chemical plant. After a brief experience as process engineer in a chemical plant where he got acquainted with field operations of a chemical facility, in 2014 he joined the Urea process department in Casale. During its career as process engineer, he was involved in several projects ranging from conceptual studies till complex revamping projects of which he also supervised the start-up. Since 2022 he devoted himself to the strengthening and development of Casale's urea know-how assuming the role of Urea Technology Manager, position which he currently holds. Position/Experience: After graduation he worked five years as Process Engineer in a chemical plant. Since 2014 he is part of CASALE. His current position is Urea Technology Manager in the Urea & Melamine Process Department. 

Andrea Zambianco

Chemical Engineer with 27 years of experience in Fertilizer and Syngas chain Technologies, with increasing responsibilities in the whole phases of the projects from design till start-up and project completion. Technical Manager and Project Manager of large-scale Fertilizer Projects. Project Manager for development of innovative solutions in the Carbon Capture and Energy Transition. Shape Saipem value propositions for Low Carbon solutions worldwide. Focused on customer satisfaction since early phase of commercial engagement till the assistance post plant take over. Proud to contribute to the Saipem Vision to be leader in making the future of our market sustainable.

Sean Balkissoon

Sean Balkissoon holds the position of Syngas Specialist - Americas with Johnson Matthey. He has a career spanning 30 years in the natural gas based synthesis gas industry in Trinidad, and has served the industry there in plant engineering, commissioning and operating roles at various synthesis gas plants. More recently he was a former director of the National Gas Company and now holds the position of Syngas Specialist with Johnson Matthey. Mr. Balkissoon graduated in 1993 with a BSc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of the West Indies and in 2017 he attained an Executive MBA from the University of the West Indies Graduate School of Business.

Drew Sahli

Drew Sahli is an experienced Chemical Engineer who is responsible for leading safety investigations into some of the most complex and severe process safety incidents in industry. After earning his bachelor's in Chemical Engineering from Oklahoma State University, he worked ten years in the food and combustible dust manufacturing industries before leaving private industry to join the Chemical Safety Board. Drew and his fellow investigators work towards a future of a nation free from chemical accidents, helping workers, companies, government agencies and industry trade groups learn from past incidents and prevent future ones. At the CSB, Drew has served as the lead investigator for four investigations, and has deployed as part of the field team to three other incident scenes. He has investigated incidents all across industry, including oil refineries, specialty chemical plants, and food manufacturing facilities.

Andrew Kline

Matthew Caserta

Matthew K. Caserta is a registered professional engineer in the states of Ohio and Texas. He has over 20 years of a wide breadth of engineering experience in oil refining, chemical processing, and consulting. Mr. Caserta's varied background provides unique insights into process interactions, equipment reliability, and corrosion and materials concerns. He currently oversees Becht’s corrosion control document (CCD) /integrity operating window (IOW) implementation team and risk-based inspection (RBI) team. He has personally been involved in development of CCDs and IOWs for over 100 different process units and RBI analysis for over 200 process units.

Stephen Richardson

Stephen Richardson graduated from Iowa State with a degree in chemical engineering in December 2019. After graduating he hired in at Koch Fertilizer as a Fixed Equipment Reliability Engineer in Dodge City, Kansas before transitioning to Process engineering in Ft Dodge, Iowa in August 2020. In Ft Dodge he was responsible for the Ammonia process unit including catalyst optimization, troubleshooting, and changeouts. Stephen now provides senior engineering support for 3 Koch Fertilizer sites as the Amine program and Catalyst Program Owner. This support has included leading the catalyst reduction of multiple ammonia synthesis converters.

Jeron Chin

Jeron has over 15 years in the Petrochemical Industry with strong leadership, engineering and business analytical capabilities fuelled with a passionate drive for excellence. His key focus is on decarbonized solutions technology for the hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol industry.

Winandyo Mangkoto

Winandyo Mangkoto is a graduate of Diponegoro University with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He has dedicated his professional journey to PT Pupuk Sriwidjaja Palembang since 2014. Initially serving as an Operations Engineer for two years, Winandyo currently works as a Process Engineer. In the dynamic world of process engineering, merging academic skill with hands-on experience, He is driven to continually enhance operations, ensuring excellence and compliance in every facet of his work. Alfredo’s Energy Auditor and Hazops Leader certifications underscore his commitment to energy efficiency and process safety.

Harry Margatama

Harry Margatama holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Sriwidjaja University. Working at PT Pupuk Sriwidjaja Palembang since 2013, Harry is a Process Engineer. Certified in Energy Auditing, Beginner Project Management, and Hazops Leadership, Harry’s daily job involves checking processes in the Ammonia, Utility, and Urea Plants and fixing any issues. He has solved problems in the Ammonia plant, dealing with the Kellogg Process. His goal is to keep the fertilizer production running smoothly and safely.

Christian Chanel

Christian Chanel is a heater efficiency expert and provides technical sales expertise to clients of IGS from within the oil, gas, refining, power, and petrochemical sectors.