Chemicals and Polymers Conference: Americas

Andrew Brown

Senior Research Analyst

Wood Mackenzie

Nathan Schaffer

Vice President Petrochemicals

Wood Mackenzie

Nathan Schaffer is Vice President of Petrochemicals at Wood Mackenzie with over 25 years of industry experience in the upstream, refining and petrochemicals businesses. Most recently, he was a Partner at a boutique energy consulting firm focused on the changing dynamics of the oil and gas value chain. Nathan previously was a Director at PFC Energy (now IHS Markit) where he headed the North America downstream consulting practice. Prior to that, Nathan worked at ExxonMobil as a senior financial advisor with various assignments in the areas of refining and midstream. He began his career as a process engineer at Stone & Webster where he played key technical and managerial roles in a large number of global ethylene projects. Nathan holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and an M.B.A from the University of Houston.

Alexandra Tennant

Sr. Research Analyst, PET/RPET

Wood Mackenzie

Alexandra Tennant is a Senior Analyst with Wood Mackenzie covering PET and RPET for Mexico and South America. Alexandra initially joined the Houston office of Wood Mackenzie in 2018 in Consulting. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Alexandra was with ExxonMobil Chemical's Controller's organization beginning as a Financial Analyst for manufacturing sites and eventually as Global Financial Coordinator for the Chemicals Company. She began her career as a consultant at Accenture focused on energy and related manufacturing clients.   Alexandra holds a Bachelors of Arts degree (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Vanderbilt University in Economics and the History of Art as well as a Masters of Business Administration from the School of Management at Yale University.

Ashish Chitalia

Research Director

Wood Mackenzie

Currently leads Wood Mackenzie’s polyolefins service, with a decade of experience in research and consulting for the commodity and specialty polyolefins; has developed strategic research tools and analytics products to integrate commodity polyolefins into the existing Wood Mackenzie chemical research Has a broad background with projects ranging from refining to petrochemicals, solvents to specialty polymers and catalysts to plastics converted goods Before joining Wood Mackenzie, Ashish held several roles at Chemical Market Resources, Inc. Here, he consulted numerous clients with market entry strategy, mergers and acquisition, project feasibility, opportunity analysis, technology evaluation and market assessment of chemicals, polyolefins and catalysts sector. Graduated from SUNY Buffalo with a BS and MS in Chemical and Biological Engineering

Laura Murphy

Research Director, Fibres

Wood Mackenzie

Laura joined Wood Mackenzie in 2017 after more than 25 years in the nylon and polyester industrial fiber business. Prior to joining Woodmac, she worked for DuPont, Kordsa, Hailide America, and most recently Nexis Fibers. Her roles have included everything from process engineer to shift supervisor to market manager. Laura grew up in Rhode Island and received a chemical engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In her spare time, she is an avid underwater photographer and is currently trying to improve her golf handicap. She enjoys the occasional glass of pinot noir in her suburban Philadelphia home.

Steve Wilkerson

Principal Analyst, EO/EG

Wood Mackenzie

Steve joined Wood Mackenzie in 2020, with 12 previous years of experience in the chemical industry. He was most recently with Helm US Corp. as Product Manager for the Glycol’s North America business, where he managed a large portfolio of glycol products for domestic and international distribution. Prior to his years with Helm he worked for Berryman Chemical Inc., a world scale manufacturer of oilfield chemicals.   He is currently responsible for Ethylene Oxide and Ethylene Oxide derivatives analysis in the Americas region. His experience ranges within the chemicals business segments and their activities on Ethylene Glycol products. With a wealth of experience being involved in accounting, chemical blending and distribution, sales and procurement he can provide an inside perspective on EO/EG market analysis. Steve has a MS in accounting from The University of Houston Clear Lake campus and a bachelors degree in Exercise Sports Science from Texas State University in San Marcos, TX.

Gustavo Hernandez

Aromatics Research Director

Wood Mackenzie

Gustavo Hernandez has 30 years of experience in the petrochemical industries. Gustavo joined Wood Mackenzie in 2019 joining the Research team in Houston after a long career of 30 years in Alpek based in Monterrey, Mexico where he was the technology licensing VP for Alpek. Between 1999-2011, Gustavo held various positions within Alpek, from managing all operations at Alpek’s Hong Kong office (covering from Japan to Indonesia and India) and later when returning to the Mexican head office for Alpek, Gustavo was in charge of coordinating all commercial operations with all customers. Since 2011, Gustavo was he head of the technology licensing business unit for Alpek’s PTA and PET technologies. Gustavo’s key area of expertise is in the polyester business where he has been called upon to advise clients in the technology, planning and commercial aspects in the industry. Prior to 199, Gustavo had a 11-year career with Petrotemex (part of Alpek) where he held various positions in commercial team handling PTA and PET.

Hugh Hartzog

Senior Research Analyst, Wood Mackenzie Chemicals

Wood Mackenzie

Hugh joined Wood Mackenzie’s Chemical Research team as an analyst in October of 2018, where he has played a pivotal role in building out the global aromatics service for Wood Mackenzie. His primary product coverage centers around mixed xylenes and paraxylene for the Americas. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie in 2018, Hugh worked as lead cost control engineer and accounting manager for Performance Contractors, Inc., overseeing the cost forecasting, budgeting, and control for large capital industrial construction projects along the US Gulf South. After joining Wood Mackenzie, Hugh initially took responsibility for coverage of short-term benzene markets in North America before moving to focus primarily on xylenes coverage. Hugh also helps develop new chemical research products and services and provides ad hoc analysis for chemicals consulting projects. Hugh graduated from Louisiana State University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and completed a Master of Science in Finance from Tulane University in 2018.

Shruthi Vangipuram

Research Analyst

Wood Mackenzie

Shruthi joined Wood Mackenzie’s Chemical Research team as an Associate in June of 2018. Shruthi leads research coverage for the Americas benzene, styrene and derivative markets. She also supports long-term research analysis for the ethylene and propylene markets. Prior to joining Woodmac, Shruthi was a researcher at the Baker Institute for Public Policy. Her research focused on the future of Petrochemicals as a key revenue generator in the Oil & Gas industry. Shruthi graduated from Rice University in 2018 with a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering and completed a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering in 2016

Patrick Kirby

Principal Analyst - EMEARC Olefins

Wood Mackenzie

Patrick joined Wood Mackenzie’s Chemicals team in 2013 as an experienced chemical industry professional, holding almost a decade of direct experience. Patrick is regularly sought out by clients and the industry for his detailed knowledge and insight into the regional olefins markets. He is a regular speaker at Wood Mackenzie events and external conferences across the olefins and derivatives space. In his current role, Patrick is integral to developing and forming Wood Mackenzie’s light olefins forecast for the EMEARC region. He also holds the responsibility of global service lead for Wood Mackenzie’s ethylene asset analysis. Patrick holds significant experience working in the CIS region. Patrick gained prior chemicals consulting experience with CMAI, where he was involved in leading and performing strategic advisory projects across all of the major petrochemical value chains, with significant project experience in the development of the petrochemical projects in the CIS region. Prior to his working in chemicals research and consulting, Patrick held both project and operations based positions in the olefins division of SABIC – including feedstock flexibility, propylene train de-bottlenecking and butadiene uprate strategic projects. Patrick gained prior olefins industry experience with Huntsman Corporation. Patrick graduated with a first class MEng degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester, UK (formerly UMIST).

Thomas Spagnoli

Analyst

Wood Makenzie

Alan Gelder

VP Refining, Chemicals & Oil Markets

Wood mackenzie

Alan is VP Refining, Chemicals and Oil Markets, responsible for formulating our research outlook and integrated cross-sector perspectives on the global downstream sector. Alan joined the business as part of our Downstream Consulting Team in 2005 and later went on to lead the division. He has managed consulting assignments all over the world, focusing on major transactions (projects and M&A) and their alignment with key success factors for industry players and third parties. He then transitioned into research upon his return to London from Houston in 2011. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Alan spent 10 years as an industry consultant after working for ExxonMobil in a variety of project planning and technical process design roles. Education MSc, Chemical Engineering, Imperial College, London MBA, Henley Management College

Nate Bridgewater

Manager

PowerAdvocate

Ann-Louise Hittle

Vice President, Oils Research

Wood Mackenzie

Ann-Louise Hittle brings to Wood Mackenzie over 25 years of experience in analysing global oil markets. Her career began with Gulf Oil, where she focused on OPEC and markets in Asia. She then worked as a Middle East/Oil Markets research associate with Kissinger Associates and a Senior Oil and Gas Futures Analyst with Shearson Lehman Brothers. During her decades in the industry, Ann-Louise established an international reputation for her analyses of short- to long-term oil markets. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Ann-Louise worked at Cambridge Energy Research Associates, where she was Research Head of the Upstream Oil Service with responsibility for world oil market analysis and writing long-term scenarios. After joining Wood Mackenzie in 2003, she directed the development of the Macro Oils Service, launched in April 2005, and led it until her promotion to Vice President. In addition to overseeing the oils research team, Ann-Louise is a frequent contributor to numerous industry publications and conferences, where she shares her trusted insights on the futures of oil markets. Ann-Louise's extensive experience and deep understanding of Middle East markets make her an invaluable member of the Wood Mackenzie team. With oil markets becoming more complex due to production cuts and the growth of renewables, her guidance helps our research team provide clients with timely, accurate market outlooks. Anne-Louise holds a Master's in Middle East Studies from Harvard University and a BA in History from St. Lawrence University.

Olivia Loa

Research Analyst, Plastics and Recycling Markets

Wood Mackenzie

Olivia is an Analyst at Wood Mackenzie’s Chemical Research team, covering the sustainability sector within the plastics and recycling markets. She develops the plastic packaging end-of-life module under the Materials Application Platform (MAP) and leads the chemical recycling strategic analysis. Olivia initially joined Wood Mackenzie in 2018 as a consultant in the Americas Gas & LNG practice. Before joining Wood Mackenzie, she worked as an R&D engineer at Virent, where she was focused on catalyst synthesis and optimization for bio-PX production. Olivia holds an MS in Energy and Earth Resources from the University of Texas at Austin and a BS in Chemical Engineering (Distinction honor) from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Nathan Schaffer

Vice President Petrochemicals

Wood Mackenzie

Nathan Schaffer is Vice President of Petrochemicals at Wood Mackenzie with over 25 years of industry experience in the upstream, refining and petrochemicals businesses. Most recently, he was a Partner at a boutique energy consulting firm focused on the changing dynamics of the oil and gas value chain. Nathan previously was a Director at PFC Energy (now IHS Markit) where he headed the North America downstream consulting practice. Prior to that, Nathan worked at ExxonMobil as a senior financial advisor with various assignments in the areas of refining and midstream. He began his career as a process engineer at Stone & Webster where he played key technical and managerial roles in a large number of global ethylene projects. Nathan holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and an M.B.A from the University of Houston.

Shruthi Vangipuram

Research Analyst

Wood Mackenzie

Shruthi joined Wood Mackenzie’s Chemical Research team as an Associate in June of 2018. Shruthi leads research coverage for the Americas benzene, styrene and derivative markets. She also supports long-term research analysis for the ethylene and propylene markets. Prior to joining Woodmac, Shruthi was a researcher at the Baker Institute for Public Policy. Her research focused on the future of Petrochemicals as a key revenue generator in the Oil & Gas industry. Shruthi graduated from Rice University in 2018 with a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering and completed a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering in 2016

Andrew Brown

Senior Research Analyst

Wood Mackenzie

Laura Murphy

Research Director, Fibres

Wood Mackenzie

Laura joined Wood Mackenzie in 2017 after more than 25 years in the nylon and polyester industrial fiber business. Prior to joining Woodmac, she worked for DuPont, Kordsa, Hailide America, and most recently Nexis Fibers. Her roles have included everything from process engineer to shift supervisor to market manager. Laura grew up in Rhode Island and received a chemical engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In her spare time, she is an avid underwater photographer and is currently trying to improve her golf handicap. She enjoys the occasional glass of pinot noir in her suburban Philadelphia home.

Hugh Hartzog

Senior Research Analyst, Wood Mackenzie Chemicals

Wood Mackenzie

Hugh joined Wood Mackenzie’s Chemical Research team as an analyst in October of 2018, where he has played a pivotal role in building out the global aromatics service for Wood Mackenzie. His primary product coverage centers around mixed xylenes and paraxylene for the Americas. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie in 2018, Hugh worked as lead cost control engineer and accounting manager for Performance Contractors, Inc., overseeing the cost forecasting, budgeting, and control for large capital industrial construction projects along the US Gulf South. After joining Wood Mackenzie, Hugh initially took responsibility for coverage of short-term benzene markets in North America before moving to focus primarily on xylenes coverage. Hugh also helps develop new chemical research products and services and provides ad hoc analysis for chemicals consulting projects. Hugh graduated from Louisiana State University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and completed a Master of Science in Finance from Tulane University in 2018.

Alexandra Tennant

Sr. Research Analyst, PET/RPET

Wood Mackenzie

Alexandra Tennant is a Senior Analyst with Wood Mackenzie covering PET and RPET for Mexico and South America. Alexandra initially joined the Houston office of Wood Mackenzie in 2018 in Consulting. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Alexandra was with ExxonMobil Chemical's Controller's organization beginning as a Financial Analyst for manufacturing sites and eventually as Global Financial Coordinator for the Chemicals Company. She began her career as a consultant at Accenture focused on energy and related manufacturing clients.   Alexandra holds a Bachelors of Arts degree (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Vanderbilt University in Economics and the History of Art as well as a Masters of Business Administration from the School of Management at Yale University.