Jim Conner joined CCPS as a Staff Consultant in 2011. He has 35 years of experience in chemical process engineering, chemical manufacturing operations, and R&D across operations in Asia, Europe, Middle East, and North America. Most recently Jim held the position of Sr. Vice President, Operations for Enerkem, a solid waste-to-chemicals startup venture. Prior to Enerkem, he served as Vice President, Operations and Technology for Celanese, with responsibility for domestic and international operations and R&D facilities. He also was accountable for the design and startup of a world-scale greenfield plant in China. His career has included management positions in Plant Operations, Process Safety, Process Engineering and Process Control in both chemical manufacturing and the manufacture of synthetic fibers. He has expertise in chemical plant management, process optimization and control, management of process safety, incident investigation, Conduct of Operations, and Organizational Change Management. Jim has both a BS Chemical Engineering and Masters Environmental Engineering from Rice University in Houston, TX.