AIChE 2024 Leadership

Darlene S. Schuster, Ph.D. is an established chemical engineer, with over 20 years of experience leading a technology and development professional consulting company, along with vast work experience in the chemical and bio-pharmaceutical fields, who now serves as the Executive Director and CEO of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

Alan E. Nelson is the Senior Vice President of Battery Materials at Redwood Materials, and previously was the Chief Technology Officer for Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC), Chief Technology Officer and CEO of New Business Development for Johnson Matthey, Global R&D Director for The Dow Chemical Co., and Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Univ. of Alberta.

Joseph D. Smith works at Missouri Univ. of Science and Technology (MST; previously Missouri Rolla) and leads Elevated Analytics Consulting as Chief Technology Officer.

Billy B. Bardin, PE, is the Global Climate Transition Director for Dow. He joined Dow in 2000 and has held global leadership roles in research, development, and manufacturing.

MaryKathryn (Kathy) Lee has been a researcher at ExxonMobil Corporate Strategic Research for 30 years. She has been an active AIChE member for more than 10 years and was recently elected Fellow.

Ana Davis heads Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) in North America for Syngenta, a global agriculture company.

Dr. Norma A. Alcantar is Professor and Associate Dean for Research in the Dept. of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering at the Univ. of South Florida. She is a global pioneer in developing innovative, natural technologies for environmental, medical, and industrial applications.

Jim Beilstein is Vice President of Advanced Manufacturing at Owens Corning. In this role, he has responsibility for the technology of manufacturing operations, process innovation, capital engineering, and equipment purchasing.

David Dixon joined AIChE as a student and recently became an AIChE Fellow. He served for four years in the military, primarily overseas, and worked for Dow Corning in process development before earning his PhD in chemical engineering from UT Austin. He then began his academic career at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Omolola (Lola) Eniola-Adefeso is the Associate Dean for Graduate and Professional Education in Engineering and the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Univ. of Michigan.

Hugh James is the Chief Executive Officer at Project Commercialization Group (PCG), Inc. Chemical engineering is challenging, changing, and exciting. Hugh’s long career has taken full advantage of this fact. He has worked in industries including engineering and construction, gas, fertilizers, chemicals, power, pipelines, mining, and venture capital — with experiences ranging from small to Fortune 100 organizations.

Concetta La Marca is a Senior Principal Consultant at the Chemours Co., with 35 years of industrial experience.

Laura Matz is the Chief Science and Technology Officer for Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, driving innovation and digitalization across the company’s life sciences, healthcare, and electronics sectors.

Anne O’Neal is Manager of Process Safety Culture and Competency at Chevron, and an AIChE Fellow. Her 40-year career includes senior positions in process safety, as well as health, environment and safety.

Dave Parrillo is currently the Vice President of R&D for Dow’s Packaging and Specialty Plastics and Hydrocarbons division.

Daryl Roberts is Chief Operations and Engineering Officer at DuPont. He has 32 years of experience in chemical engineering in a number of leadership positions with companies including Arkema, Inc. and Eastman Kodak.

Jean Tom is the Executive Director of Development Engineering, Chemistry Process Development at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS).

Jessica O. Winter is a Distinguished Professor in the William G. Lowrie Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and past Associate Director of the Center for Emergent Materials, an NSF Materials Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at The Ohio State Univ.