Luc Vernhes

Director, Business Development
Velan Inc.

Luc joined Velan in 2003 and has held multiple positions over the years. He is currently Director, Business Development. He holds a PhD in Engineering Physics and is a Mechanical Engineer.

Daniel Sack

Group Lead Mechanical Division
Becht

Daniel Sack, P.E., is a Senior Engineering Advisor and Group Lead at Becht. Mr Sack has 20 years of structural and mechanical engineering experience in the field of petrochemical, refining, utility, and industrial power generation, with focus on structural design at elevated temperatures. He has extensive experience with the design of plate structures, utility, industrial boilers and environmental equipment.

Jose Corcega

Product Integration Leader
Kes Global

Jose is an engineering leader with a commitment to delivering value through innovativetechnologies and services at John Zink, where he has worked for the past 10 years. He holds aMaster’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and has spent his career focused on combustionequipment design, testing, development, and furnace operation. Jose is dedicated to developingsolutions that enhance the profitability of fired heaters and furnaces. His approach to engineeringchallenges emphasize collaboration and continuous improvement, aiming to meet the evolvingneeds of clients while focused on advancing combustion technology in a way that supportssustainable and efficient energy use

Daniel Starr

HWI, A Member of Calderys
Application Specialist

Daniel Starr is an Application Specialist at HarbisonWalker International (HWI), a leading manufacturer of high-performance refractory products serving a wide range of industrial markets. As part of HWI’s Energy, Environmental, and Chemical (EEC) team, he provides technical and application support to refining, petrochemical, and chemical operations. His role involves supporting refractory selection, application, and performance optimization for demanding high temperature environments including sulfur recovery units and other critical process equipment. Daniel graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science, earning honors as a member of the Schreyer Honors College.

Andrew McCord

CEO – Carolina Filters
Carolina PEC (A Division of Carolina Filters)

Andrew McCord holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and brings over 15 years of experience in industrial manufacturing and engineered services. He currently serves as the CEO of Carolina Filters, Inc. and was instrumental in the development of specialized cleaning technologies for metallic filtration in refinery applications. Andrew sets the strategic direction of the company, with an emphasis on broader filtration services and engineered cleaning technologies.

Miguel Perilla

Senior Project Director – Delayed Coker SME
Richard EPC

Miguel A. Perilla, P.E. is a recognized Delayed Coker expert and inventor who has dedicated most of his professional life to the design and construction of Delayed Coker Units for Foster Wheeler USA. Some reference Coker Units are: Shell Martinez California; Valero Port Arthur, Texas; Valero, Texas City, Texas; Sincor - Jose, Venezuela; Sinclair -Tulsa, Oklahoma; OMV Petrom - Ploiesti, Rumania; and Tupras Izmit, Turkey.
Education: Mechanical Engineer (University of Valle, Colombia), master’s in business administration (University of EAFIT – Colombia), and master’s in industrial and system engineering (University of Michigan – Ann Arbor).

Alex Bildey

Director – Fired Heaters & Syngas Americas
Wood

Alex Bildey, P.E., is the Director of Fired Heaters and Syngas for the Americas at Wood, where he leads technical sales and supports strategic growth across refining, syngas, hydrogen, and petrochemical markets. He specializes in fired heater design, engineering, and lifecycle solutions, with experience supporting major revamps, reliability improvements, and grassroots projects worldwide. Alex works closely with clients to develop practical, value-driven engineering solutions that enhance performance and long-term operability. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in New Jersey and holds degrees in Chemical Engineering and Business Management.

Abdullah Al-Mutairi

Operation specialist
KNPC – Kuwait national petroleum company

Abdullah Fahad is a seasoned operations professional with over 13 years of specialized experience in gas processing and petrochemical operations. Currently serving as Operations Specialist at Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), he brings deep expertise in Sulfur Recovery Units (SRU) and gas sweetening technologies.
His distinguished career includes serving as SRU and Gas Sweetening Unit Section Head (2023-2024), where he led critical operations in acid gas treating and sulfur recovery systems. With 7 years of proven leadership as Operations Section Head at KNPC, Abdullah has demonstrated excellence in operational optimization, process safety management, and team development.
Abdullah's technical contributions include successfully commissioning major projects, establishing pioneering pre-startup safety procedures, and developing comprehensive operations training programs. He is a certified HAZOP member and BSS trainer, with active participation in GPA and GDA GCC technical conferences.
His expertise spans operational improvement, workforce management, and effective leadership in complex gas processing environments, making him a recognized authority in SRU operations and gas treatment technologies.

Ehsan Askari

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Team Lead
Wood

Dr. Ehsan Askari provides advanced fluid flow analysis and technical consultation on CFD-related projects, supported by over 13 years of hands-on experience in industrial CFD simulations within the oil and gas industry. He specializes in multiphase flows, reacting flows, flow-induced vibration analysis, and heat transfer. Ehsan is a licensed Professional Engineer in both Canada and the USA and has published 23 technical papers in the areas of multiphase flows and combustion.

Ederson Ricardo da Silva Moraes

Operation Coordinator
Petrobras – Paulinia Refinery

Chemical Technician with a career at Petrobras since 2003, having worked exclusively at the Paulínia Refinery (REPLAN). Experienced in the operation of delayed coking, sulfur recovery, tail gas treatment, and sour water treatment units. Brings expertise in refining processes, operational risk management, and decision-making in complex industrial environments. Since 2019, has served as Operations Coordinator for these units, leading multidisciplinary teams and driving reliability, efficiency, and continuous improvement initiatives. Currently pursuing a degree in Industrial Engineering, further strengthening a strategic perspective on industrial operations.

Prashanth Chandran

Technical Development Lead
Optimized Gas Treating

Prashanth Chandran is the Technical Development Lead at Optimized Gas Treating, the role he has been holding since 2021. He joined OGT in 2018 as a Development Engineer. At OGT, Prashanth has developed and implemented several models and algorithms in ProTreat®, including robust and fast flash algorithms, reaction kinetics and equilibrium solvers, and a fixed bed catalytic reactor model. He has also led major product advancements including the release of the hybrid solvents thermodynamic package, expansion of sulfur plant modeling capability, and development of general-purpose mass and heat transfer rate models. Prashanth holds a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from India and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Oklahoma State University.

Neha Chopra

Senior Manager
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited

Neha Chopra joined as a process engineer at HPCL, Mumbai Refinery in 2008 after completing BTech in Chemical Engineering from a prestigious Indian Universities. She worked in SulphurRecovery Unit (SRU) as a process engineer from 2008-2011.
Her experience spans equipment design and rating, process simulation, troubleshooting in mostlyDiesel and Offsite block of the refinery; process safety and environment.
She completed Masters of Chemical Engineering in 2017 from IITB, with thesis on” Modelling andSimulation of Extraction Column” and is currently working as Manager in SRU from 2022 onwards.

Mark Ferra

Process Performance Manager
REXA Inc.

Mr. Ferra is a Process Performance Manager for REXA and has worked at REXA for thirteen years. REXA makes high performance electro-hydraulic actuators used in critical applications requiring precise positioning and reliability. REXA is recognized as a leading customer-centric solutions provider enabling end-users to optimize process efficiency and enhance safety. In his role, Mark creates marketing messaging highlighting the application ROI and/or safety improvements using REXA actuators. Mr. Ferra has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Arizona State University and lives with his family in Phoenix, Arizona.

Ricardo Gonzalez

Corporate Inspection Methods Manager
TotalEnergies, France

Ricardo Gonzalez is an inspection expert responsible for inspection methods within the OneTech branch of TotalEnergies in France, covering all inspection activities across the upstream and downstream oil and gas sectors, as well as the power and renewable‑energy sectors. He brings over 45 years of experience in inspection, including RBI deployment, turnaround scope optimization, risk‑based maintenance using fitness‑for‑service approaches, and the development of statistical methods to enhance inspection effectiveness.

Martin McCallister

General Manager
Delta Controls Corporation

Martin McCallister has been with Delta Controls for over 10 years, starting in instrumentation product design and now serving as General Manager. He holds a bioengineering degree from Louisiana State University.

Kent Dawson

Director, business development
Akselos

Kent has spent his career growing businesses. He started the water management division at Baker Hughes and launched the first U.S. IGCC power plant for GE. Before that, he designed the urea mixing system for diesel trucks at Ford and built an innovative desulfurizer for UTC’s fuel cell power plant. Kent has a Ph.D, M.S., and B.S. in Chemical Engineering as well as a MBA.
Kent is the business development director at Akselos America. He is responsible for expanding Akselos capabilities into lateral markets.

Domenica Misale-Lyttle

Technical Director
Industrial Ceramics Ltd.

Domenica joined Industrial Ceramics in October of 1987. Domenica has been involved in numerous tubehseet reliability studies and root cause analysis during the last 35 years; through which she has developed an in depth understanding of the design factors, operating conditions and material properties that impact the reliability and integrity of these systems.
She served as a sub-group leader on API 565 and API 669 teams, tasked with developing recommended practices for tubesheet protection systems in SRUs.  Additionally, she is an active member of the TAC for both Brimstone Sulfur Symposium and the Middle East Advanced Refractory Technical Exchange and she serves as a board member for the Alberta Sulfur Research Limited (ASRL).

Kelsey King

Technical Service Specialist
BASF

Kelsey King is a Technical Service Specialist for the BASF refining catalyst business and is based in Houston, Texas. Prior to this role, Kelsey worked with Marathon Petroleum as a Technical Service engineer supporting various refinery technologies including Cokers, Resid Oil Supercritical Extraction (ROSE), Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (FCC), and Resid Hydrocracking (LC-Finer). Kelsey completed her undergraduate in 2021 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University, where she was also a student athlete on the Equestrian Team.

Maddy Casabat

Coker Process Engineer
PBF Chalmette

Maddy Casabat is currently a process engineer at PBF Energy – Chalmette Refinery. She has been there for 5 years and started out as the process engineer of the treating units for ~2.5 years where she got experience in hydrotreating, amine stripping, sour water stripping, sulfur recovery, benzene recovery, LPG recovery, and waste gas recovery. She then transitioned to the process engineer for the cokers in March of 2024 and has been there since. She has also worked many turnarounds and outages where she was able to gain experience in cokers, crude units, FCC, HF Alky, hydrotreaters, sulfur plants, amine units, reformers, as well as some aromatics units. Maddy graduated from LSU in May of 2021 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Business Administration. Maddy enjoys spending her time outside of work doing Pilates, running, travelling, and trying new restaurants!

Logan Boatright

Business Development Manager
Tracerco

Logan Boatright is a Business Development Manager for Tracerco’s Measurement Instruments business. With over 17 years in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industry, Logan has spent his career working with major oil & gas companies to support major initiatives to optimize performance, increase reliability, reduce downtimes, and ensure that projects are completed successfully. By working with customers to understand their biggest issues, he has been able to aid in the optimization of many O&G facilities worldwide.

Heather Bass

Vice President & General Manager
Carolina PEC ( A Division of Carolina Filters)

Heather Bass holds a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry and has over 20 years of experience in industrial filtration and processing. Currently serving as the Vice President of Carolina Process Equipment Cleaning (formerly Carolina Filters), she has played a pivotal role in advancing cleaning and testing technologies for metallic filtration systems. Heather specializes in assisting customers with optimizing the cleaning and maintenance of durable metallic filters used in FCC and Coking applications. 

Mark Geisenhoff

Director of Fixed Equipmentt
Flint Hills Resources

Mark Geisenhoff serves as Director of Fixed Equipment at Flint Hills Resources, bringing more than 40 years of experience in mechanical integrity and fixed equipment reliability. Throughout his career, he has led reliability and mechanical integrity organizations and remains actively engaged with API and AFPM, including serving as Chair of the API Subcommittee on Inspection & Mechanical Integrity (SCIMI) and the Advancing Process Safety Mechanical Integrity Subgroup (MISG).

Steve Osborne

CEO
E-Crane International USA

Steve Osborne is CEO of E-Crane International USA, leading sales and customer support for the E-Crane product line across North, South and Central America.  With more than 20 years of experience, Steve brings a problem-solving approach to E-Crane Customers across a wide range of industries including ports, terminals, steel mills, scrap processing facilities, and refineries.  He is a mechanical engineering graduate of The Ohio State University.

Mohd Anas Arif

Manager, Operations
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited

Mohd Anas Arif is a Chemical Engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) with over 11 years of experience in refinery operations at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Mumbai Refinery. Currently serving as Manager - FCC Operations, he specializes in Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) operations, with extensive expertise in startups, shutdowns, turnarounds, commissioning, and operational improvements. Recognized as a corporate FCC Subject Matter Expert, he actively contributes to data-driven performance monitoring, digital initiatives, and technical training programs to strengthen operational excellence and process safety.

Prof. Eric Smith

Professor of Practice, Associate Director
Tulane Energy Institute

Prof. Smith is a Professor of Practice with the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University.  He teaches in the graduate level Master of Management in Energy program and also instructs in the graduate and undergraduate Energy Specialization certificate programs.   On the administrative and research side, he serves as the Associate Director of the Tulane Energy Institute where he interfaces with energy relevant specialists in other professional schools at Tulane including the Law School and the Engineering and Sciences school.   Professor Smith also serves a Tulane media spokesman for current energy issues.   He has also served as an energy committee chairman of the World Trade Center of New Orleans and as a consultant to Louisiana's Department of Economic Development and to the southeast regional business development unit, Greater New Orleans, Inc. Currently, he is also a member of the Louisiana Governor’s state de-carbonization task force, charged with effectively reducing state carbon emissions without adversely impacting Louisiana’s refining and petrochemical sectors.   He obtained his BS in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1965 and his MBA in Finance and Marketing, in 1967, from Tulane University.  He has over 30 years of experience in International Oil and Gas markets, particularly in deep water drilling and construction activities. More recently, he has focused on LNG export facilities and on the use of offshore wind to power offshore oil and gas production.

Robert Taylor

Technical Director
3S Superior Sealing Services

Robert has worked in the gasket industry for over 20 years, starting his career as a test engineer in the United Kingdom. Now in his role as Technical Director at 3S Superior Sealing Services, he leads the department focusing on product development, continuous improvement and customer support. Through this work he has written many technical papers hoping to highlight solutions or best practices for end users.

Logan Muehlstein

Process Engineer
SGS Sulphur Experts

Logan is an intermediate process engineer., he joined Sulphur Experts in 2019, shortly after graduating from Texas A&M University – Kingsville with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and double minors in math and chemistry. Since joining the company, Logan has worked in refineries and gas plants across the United States and around the world testing and optimizing their sulphur recovery and tail gas treating units. Logan’s focus is now on troubleshooting to resolve reliability issues and keep units under challenging conditions.

Pablo Gonzalez

Chief Engineer
DeltaValve

With more than 40 years of experience in project execution, consulting, management, and supervisory roles, he currently leads the design of supporting facilities for coke drum unheading systems. He has held overall client responsibility for control systems on several multi-billion-dollar refining facilities, overseeing all phases from engineering through installation and commissioning. His background also includes contractor responsibility for control system design and engineering across multiple grassroots and retrofit refining projects. Earlier in his career, he spent more than 20 years as a process control subject matter expert for a major downstream operating company. He has extensive experience collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to deliver complex refinery control solutions.

Carson Hannah

Technical Director
QMax Industries, LLC

Carson Hannah is from western North Carolina and received his Mechanical Engineering training at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He has been with QMax Industries since 2014 and held multiple roles within the organization. Currently he is QMax’ Technical Director and QMax Project Development Team Leader, focusing on leading the technical growth of all QMax team members and departments.

Chuck Munro

Refinery Application Specialist
Spraying Systems Co.

Mr. Chuck Munro has 30 years of experience with Spraying Systems Company assisting customers to solve problems with spray nozzle solutions.  He is an active member of several industry groups, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, AMPP (formerly NACE), and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers where he has been involved with training, consultation, and application support.  Currently Chuck focuses on the business development of the oil and gas and sulfuric acid industries while working to help these industries recognize ways to optimize performance, while increasing reliability and sustainability with new technologies and proven solutions.

Herb Telidetzki

FCC and Alkylation Advisor
Becht

Herb Telidetzki has been involved in refining his entire 44 year career and is currently an associated with Becht for FCC and Alkylation.  Prior to Becht Herb was with Tesoro for 14 years as their FCC and Alkylation specialist involved in all aspects of their operation.  Herb has also held roles with KBC Advanced Technologies for 11 years involved in modelling and processing optimization.  Prior to those positions Herb was with Hess Refining and Esso Canada in various roles.    

Evan Hyde

Director of Field Services
Coking.com Inc

Evan Hyde is the Director of Field Operations for Coking.com Inc. Formerly he was president of Telaxe, a coker consulting firm. He previously was president of C2 Nano Technology where they researched surface treatments to combat fouling and corrosion issues in cokers and other petrochemical process units. He was a Senior Engineering Advisor for Becht Engineering Co., Inc. New Jersey. He has consulted on processing improvement and reliability initiatives for delayed coking clients around the world. He also participated in onsite peer assessments of Coker Units at eight refineries which included improvements in maintenance work practices, process enhancements, and turnaround scope optimization. Prior to joining Becht, Evan worked for ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, as a process engineer, with assignments in research, and troubleshooting for heavy oil upgrading equipment. He holds a B.S. of Chemical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Scott Kafesjian

Director of Sulphur Technologies
Wood

Scott Kafesjian is currently the Director of Sulfur Technologies for Wood, formerly Amec Foster Wheeler. Scott has over 30 years of experience in the technology, design, commissioning, startup, troubleshooting, and revamp of sulphur recovery and related units worldwide. He has been with Wood since 2010. Along with his sulphur experience, he has a diverse background encompassing crude oil distillation, hydrotreating, gas plant revamps, gas compressor stations, and other industrial processes. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in seven states.

Mitch Moloney

SME
Coking.com Inc

Mitch graduated from Princeton University in 1979 with a BSc in Chemical Engineering and is a registered PE in Texas. He worked with ExxonMobil for 40 years, retiring in 2019. He has worked as a consultant with Becht for over three years as a process engineering and resid upgrading specialist.  He has been married to his wife Laura for 41 years, has two children in their 30’s and 2 grandchildren.  He started his career at Bayway Refinery in NJ, then joined the resid upgrading world in 1989, and has focused on delayed coking, visbreaking and resid upgrading for 34 years. Highlights were serving as the process start-up lead for the Venezuelan Cerro Negro Upgrader in 2001 and the Antwerp DCU in Belgium in 2018.  He enjoys delayed coking, languages (Spanish, Dutch, French), art, sports and Belgian beers, not necessarily in that order.

Elmo Nasato

President
Nasato Consulting

Elmo Nasato is a process engineer specializing in sulfur recovery, amine treating and  sour water processing. He has more than 35 years experience in the sulfur recovery industry, including experience with design, retrofit, start-up and optimization of sulfur recovery  units, sulfur handling units, amine units, sour water stripper units, and tail gas cleanup  units. On-site field activities have included support of construction activities, turnaround  assistance and operator training. Elmo graduated from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada with a B.A.Sc.  Chemical Engineering (1987) with an option in Management Science. He currently is the  president of Nasato Consulting Ltd. In addition, he is the lead instructor and serves on  the Brimstone Sulfur Recovery Symposium Advisory Committee and the Technical  Advisory Committee for the Laurance Reid Gas Conditioning Conference, and has served  on the Board of Directors for Alberta Sulphur Research. Elmo has also taught courses in  the Chemical Engineering departments of the University of Toronto and University of  Waterloo. He has been awarded eight patents for SRU operation, oxygen enrichment and  sulfur degassing technologies, has published 42 papers and has made over 74 presentations at conferences worldwide.

Dr. Mahmod Samman

President
Houston Engineering Solutions, LLC

Dr. Mahmod Samman is the president of Houston Engineering Solutions. He has thirty years of industry experience mostly in damage assessment, repair, and life extension of coke drums. His state-of-the-art techniques in this field are utilized around the world. A licensed professional engineer in Texas, he has a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Duke University, numerous publications, and six issued patents. He is a member of ASME and ASCE and a committee member of API 579/ASME FFS, API 934G and API 934J.