In 1978, Emil joined Exxon Research and Engineering Company (ER&E) as a research engineer at their development laboratory in Baytown, Texas. He held various technical positions in synthetic fuels and petroleum processing R&D. He also had assignments as site operations manager and leader of the site safety, health and environmental activities. In 1986, Emil transferred to Exxon Chemical Company in Houston, Texas. He held a number of management positions in Basic Chemicals Technology, Basic Chemicals Planning, and Polyethylene Marketing.
In 1995, Emil moved to England to become the global manager for Exxon's fuel additives business. A year later he returned to Houston as the global Vice President for the Elastomers business. In 1999, Emil was appointed global Vice President, Basic Chemicals and Intermediates Technology. As part of this assignment, he was quite involved in the Exxon/Mobil merger transition team for the Chemical Company. In 2002, Emil was appointed to his current position.
Emil is a member of the Chemical Engineering Advisory Council at Princeton, the Advisory Board of the College of Chemistry at University of California (Berkeley), the Board of Trustees at Liberty Science Center, the Industrial Research Institute, and the Research and Development Council of New Jersey. He is also a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Emil has a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Rice University and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University.