2023 ADI Forum

The 2023 ADI Forum featured dual keynotes from Jeff Hammad, CCO of Golden Pass LNG, and Heath DePriest, VP of Renewable Fuels at Phillips 66. With 5 panels and around 20 speakers from Commonwealth LNG, Energy Transfer, Equinor, Crestwood, MAN Energy Systems, and Chevron New Energies, the event covered LNG, upstream and midstream gas, CCUS, hydrogen, and decarbonization.

FlexPO+ kicked off with keynote from Bob Maughon, EVP, CTO, and CSO of SABIC. With 7 panels and around 15 speakers from Dow Chemical, Ara Partners, Borealis, Mathiesen, PPT GC. Chemstations, Nexceris, and Nexeo Plastics, the event covered feedstocks, polyolefins markets, specialty polymers, recycling, decarbonizing chemicals, and investments in chemicals industry.

Jeff Hammad Golden Pass LNG, CCO

Jeff Hammad Golden Pass LNG, CCO Jeff Hammad is the Chief Commercial Officer for Golden Pass LNG. Hammad has broad responsibilities for managing the commercial group at Golden Pass. Prior to this role, Hammad joined Qatar Petroleum in Doha as Qatar was emerging into a global LNG powerhouse and managed the commercial development of a portfolio of international LNG receiving terminals. Hammad began his career in the energy industry with Enron as Financial Analyst. Asset development remained his primary focus for the next 20 years, where he held commercial managerial roles. Hammad received his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Houston following his enlistment in the United States Marine Corps.

Dan McGinnis Commonwealth LNG, CCO

Dan McGinnis Commonwealth LNG, CCO Dan McGinnis is currently Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer for Commonwealth Projects, LLC. Commonwealth is developing an LNG export terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. McGinnis is an industry executive with extensive background in the areas of strategy, business development, marketing & trading, government & regulatory issues and media relations. Before Commonwealth, he was SVP & Global Director for Worley Parsons (now Worley) for Unconventional Oil & Gas. Prior to this, he was an Officer at GDF SUEZ (now Engie), as VP in charge of LNG development in North America and all business development in Mexico. McGinnis also spent 18 years at Atlantic Richfield Company in various leadership roles. McGinnis holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, and an MBA in Finance, both from the University of Northern Colorado.

Amy C. Davis Energy Transfer, VP, Lake Charles LNG

Amy C. Davis Energy Transfer, VP, Lake Charles LNG Amy Chen Davis is VP of LNG in Energy Transfer. Davis leads the marketing effort for Lake Charles LNG. Prior to joining Energy Transfer, she spent seven years marketing Mozambique LNG, the biggest project finance project in Africa. Davis started her LNG career working for RasGas (now part of Qatargas) in Doha, Qatar. Prior to LNG, she worked in US gas trading and structuring for a number of years. Davis has an MBA degree from University of Texas Mccombs School of Business and a finance undergraduate degree from University of Houston.

Blake Littauer Puget LNG, President

Blake Littauer Puget LNG, President Blake Littauer is President of Puget LNG and is responsible for all business development activities for the company. Located in the Port of Tacoma, WA, Puget LNG is the first LNG bunkering terminal on the west coast of North America. Prior to Puget LNG, Littauer was the Director of Sales and Marketing for Clean Energy and was responsible for developing natural gas fueling partnerships with over the road transportation fleets as well as policy development and government relations to promote natural gas as a transportation fuel in the United States.

Maryam Schellstede University Lands, SVP, Planning & Development

Maryam Schellstede University Lands, SVP, Planning & Development Maryam Schellstede started her career at ConocoPhillips as an operations and reservoir engineer. She then worked as a team lead responsible for the revitalization of a conventional Permian field. Prior to this role, Schellstede worked in the Unconventional Eagle Ford Reservoir Performance group. At University Lands, Schellstede and her team work closely with other technical, land and operational professionals to ensure the successful development of University Lands’ oil, gas, and water resources. Schellstede in an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and a life member of Texas Exes, and volunteer for the Girl Scouts of America. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Allie Thurmond Equinor, Asset Manager, US GoM, Exploration

Allie Thurmond Equinor, Asset Manager, US GoM, Exploration Allie Thurmond is the Asset Manager for US GoM Exploration in Equinor – an international energy company headquartered in Norway. During her 17-year career in Equinor, she has held roles such as VP for Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and Exploration Manager for Mexico as well as numerous leadership roles in Research and Development in both the US and Norway. Prior to joining Equinor, she had a career working as a Senior Supervisory Statistician for the US Department of Commerce. Thurmond has a Ph.D. in Geosciences from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Diaco Aviki Crestwood Midstream Partners EVP & COO

Diaco Aviki Crestwood Midstream Partners EVP & COO Diaco Aviki is the EVP and COO at Crestwood Midstream Partners. Prior to this role, he was the SVP, Business Development and Commercial Operations for the Gathering and Processing Division. Aviki began his career with Exxon in 1995, where he held various positions in their downstream, chemicals, and gas marketing business units. Aviki lead the gas marketing team involved with the commissioning of the ExxonMobil Golden Pass LNG Terminal where it set a global record for re-gassified LNG send-out prior to joining BHP Billiton. At BHP Billiton, Aviki initially served as the Atlantic Basin Marketing Manager. Prior to joining Crestwood, Aviki served as the President of various midstream assets at BHP and led their commercial efforts. Aviki has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University and has an MBA in Finance from the University of Texas.

Joseph Gentry GTC Vorro VP, Licensing

Joseph Gentry GTC Vorro VP, Licensing Joseph Gentry is currently Vice President of the Technology Division of GTC Vorro Technology LLC. Gentry was one of the original founders of GTC Technology, which was the first global process licensing firm to be established in many years. He has 40 years of experience in the industry as a specialist in aromatics processing, advanced distillation, clean fuels, and sulfur removal from natural gas streams. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas, USA. Gentry earned a BS Chemical Engineering from Auburn University and MBA from University of Houston.

Heath DePriest Phillips 66, VP, Renewable Fuels

Heath DePriest Phillips 66, VP, Renewable Fuels Heath DePriest is the VP, Emerging Energy for Phillips 66. He has nearly 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Prior roles include GM, Corporate Strategy, Managing Director, Terminals Business Development, and Manager of the Midstream Growth Program. DePriest started his career with Koch Industries at the Pine Bend Refinery in Minnesota before joining Conoco in 1997 as a refinery engineer at the Lake Charles Refinery. He served in various roles in Refining. He worked on the strategic integration team during the formation of ConocoPhillips in 2002 and then later in 2012 was on the corporate strategy team responsible for leading the spin-off of Phillips 66 from ConocoPhillips. DePriest holds a BS in chemical engineering from Oklahoma State University.

Brandon Schwertner Priority Power Management CEO

Brandon Schwertner Priority Power Management CEO Brandon Schwertner is the CEO of Priority Power Management. Schwertner was the past co-founder of MP2 Energy, an industry-leading electricity and services platform company, sold to Shell Energy North America in 2017, and former Founder and Managing Partner for Teleios Commodities. He is a serial entrepreneur in the energy industry and has been responsible for the creation of two energy services businesses and two commodity trading hedge funds. Schwertner began his career as the former head of electricity trading at Credit Suisse and Sumitomo.

Chris Fraughton MAN ES, Director, CCS & Heat Pumps – Americas

Chris Fraughton MAN ES, Director, CCS & Heat Pumps – Americas Chris Fraughton is the Director of Carbon Capture and Heat Pumps across the Americas for MAN Energy Solutions. He has been instrumental in the strategy and rollout of MAN ES solutions to help customers decarbonize their operations in the region. Chris uses more than ten years of diverse industrial experience to move impactful decarbonization projects to the finish line. He has previously worked in site construction management, engineering, and sales. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University– Corpus Christi.

KC Littlefield Chevron New Energies GM, Tech. Commercialization CCUS

KC Littlefield Chevron New Energies GM, Tech. Commercialization CCUS KC Littlefield is the GM of Technology Commercialization in Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage within the Chevron New Energies organization. Littlefield joined Chevron in 2008 and held various roles in Supply Chain across Environmental Management, Upstream, and Wells organizations. Littlefield has also held positions in Operations and Business Performance, and most recently was responsible for the Enterprise deployment of Chevron’s Competitive Performance framework. Prior to joining Chevron, Littlefield was at Waste Management (WM) and had multiple roles of increasing responsibility in Operations and Supply Chain in including the management of fleet fueling and alternative fuels (CNG, biodiesel), and collaboration with the California Air Resource Board to reduce vehicle emissions through various fleet retrofit and replacement campaigns.

Markus Digruber Hoerbiger, EVP, Head of Innovation & Business Dev.

Markus Digruber Hoerbiger, EVP, Head of Innovation & Business Dev. Markus Digruber holds a Master’s degree and PhD in mechanical engineering from Vienna University of Technology. For 25 years, Digruber has been with the HOERBIGER group, holding various vice president positions in regional operations and both regional and global service management for our Compression Division. Digruber was recently EVP of the OEM Division, and since 2001 is leading the Innovation and Business Development team of HOERBIGER Compression. In this capacity, HOERBIRGER is focusing on technologies for Hydrogen Compression, Digital Service offerings, and technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from oil & gas equipment.

Anthony Borski Nel Hydrogen Director Program Mgmt. Office

Anthony Borski Nel Hydrogen Director Program Mgmt. Office Anthony Borski is the Director of the Project Management Office at the Nel Hydrogen PEM division. His current role oversees the tendering, purchasing, manufacturing, delivery, and installation of the Megawatt projects. Before joining Nel, Borski spent 14 years in oil and gas. Beginning in 2008, Borski worked in Project Management roles at Cameron Subsea in Leeds, England, and Houston; then moving to a Project Engineering role in Newcastle, England and La Rochelle, France. Finally, Borski moved to management and commercial roles for Schlumberger Deepwater Drilling (post Cameron acquisition). Borski studied Technology Development at Texas A&M University and holds an MS in Finance from the University of Houston.

Bob Maughon SABIC, EVP, CTO, and CSO

Bob Maughon SABIC, EVP, CTO, and CSO Bob Maughon is the EVP, Sustainability, Technology & Innovation and Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer at SABIC. He oversees a global organization with 21 research centers around the world and a talented team focused on driving process, product and application innovation to support SABIC’s growth agenda. Additionally, Maughon has responsibility for Corporate Sustainability, Product Stewardship, Technology Licensing and Technology Ventures. Prior to joining SABIC in 2019, Maughon served the R&D vice president for Packaging & Specialty Plastics and Hydrocarbons at Dow. Maughon serves as a board member for the University of Michigan Engineering Leadership Advisory Board. He holds nine U.S. Patents and has numerous publications and presentations at external conferences. Maughon earned his BA degree in chemistry from Rice University and his PhD in organic chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.

Joseph Gentry GTC Vorro VP, Licensing

Thomas Marthinsen Borealis, Head of North America Alliance Office

Thomas Marthinsen Borealis, Head of North America Alliance Office Thomas Marthinsen began his career at Borealis in 2003 as part of the shared services finance team in Belgium. Over his 18 year career with Borealis, he has held progressively more senior roles with the company, including Controller at Borealis’ compounding plant in New Jersey, USA Manager in the Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) department in Vienna, Austria and Regional Controller for Asia North at Borouge, Borealis’ joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, in Shanghai, China. Marthinsen currently serves as the Head of Borealis’ Office in Houston, TX, and is a management team member of the Joint Venture and Growth Projects business group and a board member in the Baystar Joint Venture. Marthinsen has a degree in Economics from the University of Toronto, Canada and completed his MBA from Columbia University in New York.

Nathan Wiker Nexeo Plastics, GM & VP, Commodities and Packaging

Nathan Wiker Nexeo Plastics, GM & VP, Commodities and Packaging Nathan Wiker currently serves as the North America General Manager and Vice President for Commodities and Packaging at Nexeo Plastics. In this role, he directs the strategy and manages the profit and loss for polyolefin and related product lines, as well as growing sales into the packaging market. Wiker began his career at Dow Chemical in 2004 in polyethylene research and development and then moved into several business management roles for polyethylene and specialty copolymers in both North America and Europe/Middle East/Africa, before returning to the US for roles in global marketing for health and hygiene, sustainability, and flexible packaging. Wiker returned to sales as a senior sales director at Dow before moving to Nexeo Plastics as Vice President of Sales for North America in 2021. Wiker graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Clemson University and an MBA from Northwood University.

Srini Godavarthy PTT GC, VP, Strategic Planning, Portfolio Mgmt & Finance

Srini Godavarthy PTT GC, VP, Strategic Planning, Portfolio Mgmt & Finance Srini Godavarthy is the Vice President of Strategic Planning, Portfolio Management & Finance at PTT GC. Prior to joining PTT GC, Srini was the Global Business Director at W.R. Grace. He was also the Global Business Director at Albemarle Chemicals where he led their Lithium Specialties and Downstream Chemicals. Srini started his career at Huntsman International as an Engineer and over the course of 10 years moved from an individual contributor to business leadership in Operations, Asset Management, Sales & Marketing. Srini serves as a board observer on several portfolio companies held by PTT GC including allnex and Vencorex which are part of GC’s coatings resin platform, as well as Emery Oleochemicals and Nature Works which are part of GC’s Green/ Bio-degradable chemicals platform. He holds an MBA in Finance and Business Strategy from Colorado State University, a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Oklahoma State University, and a B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Anna University, India.

Jose M. S. Sanchez Mathiesen USA, Business Director, Plastics & Polymers

Jose M. S. Sanchez Mathiesen USA, Business Director, Plastics & Polymers Jose Manuel Sanchez Mendez is the Business Director of plastics and polymers at Mathiesen USA. His prior role was as Ethylene Acrylic Acid Copolymers and PVDC Global Business Director at SK Global Chemical Americas. Mendez has more than 20 years of experiences working in the Plastic Industry. He had various executive positions at Dow Chemical. After spending 14 years at Dow, in 2017 he successfully sold/divested the business to SK Global Chemicals. In about three years, he has reshaped SKGCA into an important supplier for the whole EAA Copolymers & PVDC market. Mr. Mendez has a degree in Chemical Engineer from Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico. He has also an MBA degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

Richard Shaw Americas Styrenics, Director, Circular Economy & Sust.

Richard Shaw Americas Styrenics, Director, Circular Economy & Sust. Richard Shaw is the Director of circular economy & sustainability at Americas Styrenics LLC, he came to the company after wrapping up a 30-year career in the paper and packaging industry where he oversees the sustainability and circular economy targets for AmSty’s polystyrene. Prior to joining AmSty, he served in the U.S. Coast Guard for four years, then he earned a bachelor’s degree in forest management from Texas A&M and a master’s degree in forest economics at the University of Georgia that prepared him for a position at International Paper in Arkansas in 1991 where he spent his early days managing forestland and helping to provide a sustainable supply of wood fiber to the company’s manufacturing facilities. He develops and oversees recycling projects, and advocates on behalf of plastic circularity.

Carlo Badiola Encina, SVP, Engineering & Technology

Carlo Badiola Encina, SVP, Engineering & Technology Carlo Badiola is the SVP of Technology and Engineering for Encina Development Group. He previously served as a technical expert for the ExxonMobil Corporation with a focus on pyrolysis steam cracking, field operations, and product optimization. His experience includes detailed reactor design, operations and maintenance, technology implementation, and continuous asset value improvement. Badiola achievements include successful design of a commissioned pyrolysis asset, economic improvements in asset optimization, yields, safety, and reliability in various United States and Singapore facilities. He provided leadership to commercialize novel technology concepts into ExxonMobil’s pyrolysis steam cracking fleet.

Carlos Villa Dow Chemical R&D Fellow

Carlos Villa Dow Chemical R&D Fellow Carlos Villa is R&D Fellow at Dow Chemical. Villa began his Dow career in 2000, supporting the scale up of polymer manufacturing processes through a combination of modeling and experimental work. This work has focused primarily on two technologies: olefin polymerization and alkoxylation. Throughout his Dow career, he has collaborated with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, and Georgia Tech. Before joining Dow, Villa spent 12 years at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, first as a graduate student and later as a Research Associate. During this period, he developed his expertise in electrochemical engineering and in polymer reaction engineering, working under the guidance of Professors Thomas Chapman and Harmon Ray, respectively. He is currently exploring the potential use of more sustainable, electrochemical manufacturing technology at Dow.

Matthew Seabaugh HeatPath Solutions VP, Product Launch

Matthew Seabaugh HeatPath Solutions VP, Product Launch Matthew M. Seabaugh is the Vice President of New Product Launch, and founder of HeatPath Solutions. Seabaugh is responsible for providing new product launch activities, and marketing of Nexceris’ HeatPath platform, a catalyst carrier technology demonstrated to enhance fixed bed reactor performance for reforming and synthesis processes. Seabaugh has led Nexceris work on the development of catalyst materials for compact reformers and internal reforming for solid oxide fuel cells for over 20 years. Seabaugh holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University, and a B.S. in Ceramic Engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Katy Boettcher Ara Partners, Principal

Katy Boettcher Ara Partners, Principal Katy Boettcher is a Principal at Ara Partners and is involved with all aspects of the firm’s investment process. Prior to joining Ara, Boettcher served as a VP at White Deer, a private equity firm focused on industrials and infrastructure, where she was responsible for origination, structuring, due diligence, execution and monitoring of investments. Prior to White Deer, she was an Associate in Evercore’s investment banking group. Boettcher holds a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University, where she graduated magna cum laude. She received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

John Griffin The Sterling Group, Director

John Griffin The Sterling Group, Director John Griffin joined Sterling in 2018 from McKinsey & Company’s Houston office where he was an Engagement Manager focused on strategy and operational initiatives for industrial and energy businesses. Previously, Griffin worked at Madison Dearborn Partners on investments in the Industrials, Business Services, and Financial Services sectors. Griffin received a B.S. in Systems Engineering and Mathematics from the University of Virginia, and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management and M.S. from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University.

Jason Gislason Chevron Phillips Chemical Company Chief Digital Officer

Jason Gislason Chevron Phillips Chemical Company Chief Digital Officer Jason Gislason is Chief Digital Officer at Chevron Phillips Chemical Company. He has over three decades of experience spanning the Energy, Chemicals, Technology, and Aviation industries in both Fortune 50 companies and start-ups. He applies innovation to expand opportunities for large manufacturing companies and harnesses new technologies to meet industrial needs leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in margin, annually. Gislason holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Auburn University, an MBA from Oklahoma State University, a MS in Strategic Intelligence from the American Military University, and a PhD in Computational Physical Chemistry from South Dakota State University.

Vikram Gopal Ascend Performance Materials, SVP, CTO

Vikram Gopal Ascend Performance Materials, SVP, CTO Vikram Gopal has broad experience in the advanced materials industry with expertise in research and development, product development, process engineering, and applications development. Before joining Ascend in May 2015, he was Vice President of Technology at Invista Engineering Polymer Solutions. He is credentialed as a Six Sigma black belt.

Steve Brown Chemstations, Inc, CEO & COO

Steve Brown Chemstations, Inc, CEO & COO Steve Brown is currently President of Chemstations, Inc, a Datacor company, a worldwide leader in process simulation software. Chemstations offers CHEMCAD, an integrated suite of intuitive chemical process engineering software. He helped define and grow the business as a privately held entity and continues to lead the division after the 2021 acquisition by Datacor where he has had roles in technical support, sales, marketing, and management. For 29 years, he has devoted his career to chemical process simulation software and promoting the impact of chemical engineers and chemical engineering on a variety of humanity’s challenges. Steve received a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Event Sponsors

Your vision.
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We are incredibly grateful to our esteemed sponsors for their vision and support, which empowered us to deliver a truly impactful event.

It is a great venue and a well-organized event. The topics covered and the market intelligence were valuable.

Reinaldo Bermudez Head of Industrial Segment – Americas Region

Connecting face-to-face during ADI’s networking sessions was a key highlight.

James Seaba Program Director

The most valuable part of the ADI Forum was the future-focused insights on supply, demand, trends, and application dynamics.

Fariha Rashid Strategic Marketing Analyst

Good market overview with useful insights from different perspectives.

Joseph Gentry VP, Technology

Gallery

ADI Forum archives

2022 ADI Forum

Cheniere Energy’s SVP Christopher Smith opened the 2022 ADI Forum, which included 6 panels and over 25 speakers from Devon Energy, BP, Phillips 66, NextDecade, Huntsman, and Surge Energy. The agenda focused on upstream and midstream oil and gas, LNG, hydrogen, fuels, and innovation, with a strong emphasis on navigating the energy transition. FlexPO+ featured […]

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2020 ADI Forum

Chris R. Chandler, EVP & COO of Plains All American, kicked off the 2020 ADI Forum, which featured 7 panels and 20+ speakers from Shell, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, Neste, and MAN Energy Solutions. Topics included upstream and midstream oil and gas, LNG, petrochemicals, power, and the energy transition, offering a strategic snapshot of a rapidly […]

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2019 ADI forum

James Steffes, EVP of Corporate Affairs at Direct Energy, delivered the keynote at the 2019 ADI Forum, which hosted 7 panels and over 20 speakers from Shell, Equinor, Saudi Aramco Ventures, and LyondellBasell. The event connected upstream, midstream, downstream, LNG, and new energy, highlighting North America’s growing role in global energy exports. Event Sponsors Your […]

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2023 ADI Forum

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