The Becht Team
Below you will find brief biographies of key Becht personnel. Click on one of the functional areas to bring up persons engaged in that service area..
*** Please note that the listing below is representative of the quality of Becht’s staff and not an exhaustive listing of all personnel ***
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Mr. Southerland is a licensed professional engineer with over 36 years of experience in the Oil Refining and Electrical Power Generation industries. He has a diverse career in building and managing Reliability Programs and in Project Management covering Fixed and Rotating Equipment at both large and small refineries and power stations. His focus in recent years has been on Corrosion Control Documents (CCD’s), Integrity Operating Windows (IOW’s), Risk Based Inspection (RBI), and other Fixed Equipment Integrity Programs.
For the past 2 years, Paul has been a Project Manager for Becht Engineering with a main focus of Corrosion Control Documents and Integrity Operating Windows for both large and small refineries in the US. Project work has also included Risk Based Inspection studies on several small gas plants and also as the Root Cause Analysis Facilitator on Fixed Equipment Failures.
Prior to working for Becht, Paul lead the Fixed Equipment Integrity and NDE Inspection Teams for a 55,000 bpd Refinery and Terminal Operation which included revamping the entire Piping Inspection Program, establishing IOWs, and completing the RBI analysis and Inspection Planning for all Pressure Vessels. This included fast tracking follow-up inspections and first time CML data collection ahead of an approaching Turnaround scope freeze target. Paul developed and managed many other Special Emphasis Programs including Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI), Soil to Air Interface, TLR, and Thin Pipe Management. Paul was also the Refinery’s Bolting and Gasket Specialist and helped set up their initial Quality Management (QA/QC) Program. Paul is a certified Level 1 “Fitness For Service” specialist.
Prior to being the Fixed Equipment Integrity Lead, Paul served 2 years as the Technical Lead for the Refinery’s 2013 major Turnaround event overseeing a group of 15 Engineers. This included scope development and risk ranking followed by detailed design engineering and planning for over 300 Engineering Work Packages. During the TA event, Paul lead the daily review and evaluation for all Turnaround Added Work and Field Change Notifications.
Paul’s initial career at the refinery was as the Reliability Team Lead and Reliability Programs Manager. Programs that Paul helped developed included Reliability Centered Maintenance, Root Cause Analysis, Bad Actors, Reliability Threat Identification, and many others. Paul earned his Lean Sigma Green Belt and Rotating Equipment Level 2 Vibration Certification and did a lot of work to combine Reliability and Risk Prioritization into the Routine Work Control and Engineering Projects Scheduling and Execution Programs.
Prior to joining the Refining Industry, Paul spent 10 years as a Reliability Programs Specialist for a Midwest Public Utility overseeing 3 Nuclear Stations and 5 Coal Fired Generation facilities. Prior to that, Paul spent 12 years as a Design Engineer and Project Manager rebuilding and modernizing several older coal fired generation stations.
Paul has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University, holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Case Western Reserve University, and is API-581 RBI Certified.
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- Advisor Resources
- Becht Canada
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- Business Development
- Business Strategy
- Capital Projects
- Corrosion Materials
- Due Diligence
- Fired Heaters
- Heavy Lift
- Inst/Elec Controls
- Leadership
- Machinery
- Maintenance & Turnarounds
- Mechanical Eng
- Mechanical Integrity
- Nuclear
- Piping
- Process Eng
- Reliability
- Training
- Becht Canada
Charles (Chuck) Becht IV, PhD, PE
Dr. Becht, Fellow ASME, former Chairman of the ASME B31.3, Process Piping Code and 2014 J Hall Taylor Medal recipient, is a recognized authority in pressure vessels, piping, expansion joints, and elevated temperature design. He has more than 40 years of experience in design, design review, analysis, check-out, mechanical integrity, development, troubleshooting, and failure analysis. […]
Charles (Chuck) Becht V, PE
Mr. Becht is a mechanical and nuclear engineer with expertise in FEA and thermo-hydraulics modeling and analysis. His experience ranges from developing new designs meeting code requirements, failure investigation and repair, and FFS assessments. In the hydraulic area, his work includes the study of NRC issues related to entrapped gases in liquid lines, for which […]
Derek Becht, PE
Derek Becht is a chemical engineer with expertise in design, operation, and optimization of process equipment. He has supported every refinery process unit in either a process or operations support & management function. Derek has extensive experience supporting capital projects including two replacement FCC Reactors, new Crude Unit, and FCC Main Fractionator pump-around heat exchangers, […]
John Basil, PE
John Basil has over 30 years of experience in consulting engineering, design and construction management in a wide variety of heavy industries. As part of his management and leadership roles in engineering companies and the US Navy, he has organized technical and operations teams; developed project concepts and proposals; managed a wide variety of projects, […]
Matthew Wizeman, CPA
Matthew Wizeman, CPA Vice President – Administration Matthew Wizeman is a Certified Public Accountant with over 25 years of experience in accounting and finance. He received his Masters in Business Administration from the University of Florida and his BBA in accounting from Niagara University, where he graduated with honors. Matthew began his career in public […]
Mariano Bertaina
Mariano J. Bertaina has 18 years of Technical, Operations and HSE experience in the Refining and Chemical industry. Mr. Bertaina’s Refining experience includes the role of Technical Manager at Axion (now Pan American Energy) Campana Refinery, leading a team of more than 50 engineers, specialists, and managers of Mechanical Integrity, Process Engineering, Reliability, Project Development, Process […]
Andy Saunders-Tack
Andy Saunders-Tack has 30 years of experience providing multidisciplinary technical support and problem solving services to the oil and gas, chemicals and power generation sector globally, but with particular experience in the Asia-Pacific region where he has been based for the majority of his career. Andy has held senior leadership roles at Quest Integrity and Shell. […]
Chris van der Beek
Chris van der Beek has leadership experience in Manufacturing Operations, Plant and Project Support and Business Opportunity Development in the Refining and Chemical industry, having worked 30 years for Shell with assignments in The Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan and Qatar. Chris’ experience includes Shell roles as Operational Manager of a Chemicals Co-Polymer […]
Bobby Wright, PE
Mr. Wright has 38 years experience in downstream plant engineering, reliability, maintenance, inspection and mechanical integrity. He comes to Becht from Stress Engineering Services (SES) where he served as Principal in the Plant Services Practice since 2013 (Engineering Manager) and on the Board of Directors. He was responsible for the Downstream Plant Engineering Practice that […]
David Troha
Mr. David Troha manages Becht’s Safety Culture Program, which includes ownership of the Safety Manual, monitoring industry consortiums, safety-related contract reviews, providing case management for safety incidents, hosting safety luncheons at client sites, and other safety-related efforts. David brings over 25 years of HSE experience to this role. He joined Becht eight years ago as […]
Tim Shepperd
Tim Shepperd has over 30 years of experience in refining and technology licensing, working for ConocoPhillips and UOP, and most recently as VP Technology & Consulting for HF Alkylation Consultants. Mr. Shepperd has extensive knowledge of chemical and refining processes with much of his career devoted to HF alkylation units. As a licensing specialist for […]
George Antaki, PE
Mr. Antaki, Fellow ASME, has over 40 years of experience in nuclear power plants and process facilities, in the areas of design, safety analysis, startup, operation support, inspection, fitness for services and integrity analysis, retrofits and repairs. George has held engineering and management positions at Westinghouse and Washington Group International, where he has performed work […]
Joe Collins
Joseph (Joe) Collins is the Heavy Lift Division Manager for Becht. He is providing Consulting and Design Services for Lifting and Transport of process equipment, machinery, chemical, refining, and nuclear vessels and components. His duties include consulting to clients using the world’s largest cranes and super heavy-lift projects. Mr. Collins has over 45 years of […]
John Conway
John Conway has 44 years’ experience in inspection and reliability in the petroleum refining, steel, and nuclear power industries. He is the developer of a proprietary four phase turnaround inspection planning program that reduces clients’ regulatory and business risk. His expertise includes risk-based inspection, API 571 damage mechanism assessments, turnaround inspection scoping, planning, execution, and […]
Dave Dewees, PE
Dave Dewees has worked in the refining, petrochemical, and power generation industries over the last 19 years. Dave’s specialties include: Coke drum reliability, data analysis and fatigue High temperature hydrogen attack (HTHA) modeling and assessment Material property data analysis and allowable stress development Advanced material behavior modeling Creep and relaxation Cyclic plasticity Damage mechanics Creep-fatigue […]
Frank Fronek
Frank Fronek has worked in the fossil power industry for 48 years engineering, designing, analyzing and supporting HE Piping systems in new coal, gas, oil, biomass, solar and other type power plants, as well as condition assessment and troubleshooting of operating facilities. In 1983, Frank founded a piping engineering company in NJ and a fabrication […]
Grant Jacobson
Grant is a Chemical Engineer with expertise in process engineering and operations management and he is a member of API SCHTE (subcommittee on Heat Transfer Equipment) Grant has experience in design, operation, optimization of process equipment and operations management of cross-functional teams. Prior to joining Becht, he was at Valero Energy, where he led multiple […]
Gerrit Buchheim, PE
Mr. Buchheim is a recognized industry expert in damage mechanisms, particularly, sulfidation, wet H2S cracking, creep, HTHA, and fire damage assessment. He is an expert in creating IOW’s and CCD’s, conducting corrosion reviews as part of RBI projects, and in FFS assessments. With his 40 years of metallurgical, corrosion, and inspection experience, he has been […]
Abby O. King
Mr. King has over 10 years of mechanical engineering experience in the Oil & Gas Industry. Mr. King’s areas of expertise include FCCU maintenance and turnarounds, pressure vessel design, and risk-based reliability work. He has built turnaround work scopes and packages utilizing risk-based work selection and developed equipment strategies for existing and grassroots units. His […]
Fred Lea, Jr., PE
Frederick L Lea, Jr. has over 45 years of domestic and international mechanical engineering experience in the oil, petrochemical, power and mining industries. He formed and operated a small, privately held corporation that dealt with industrial training, equipment consulting, industrial sales, and real estate development. Mr. Lea has significant experience related to Capital Projects and […]
Robert Ohmes
Robert Ohmes, formerly Regional Operations Manager Americas at KBC Advanced Technologies, has joined the Becht team. With over 25 years of experience in refining and technical consulting working for KBC and Flint Hills Resources, Robert has extensive business planning and optimization expertise. He has broad experience consulting internationally including Korea, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, India, […]
Trevor Seipp, PEng
Mr. Seipp has over twenty-three years of experience in design, analysis, review, and failure analysis of process and power equipment, piping and structures. Extensive analytical experience includes linear and non-linear finite element analysis using ANSYS and ABAQUS, buckling analyses, steady state and transient heat transfer and thermal stress analysis of pressure vessels and piping, fitness-for-service […]
Clayton Smith
Clayton Smith has over 30 years experience in refinery maintenance, turnarounds, engineering operations and site management; based on his long-term career with Shell/Motiva. His experience includes plant engineering, business development, operations and refinery maintenance/turnaround – both at a site and corporate level. Since joining Becht, Clayton has brought his knowledge of Turnaround and Maintenance, to […]
Gordon Swett
With over 25 years of experience in manufacturing, production, maintenance, training, and strategic consulting, Mr. Swett leverages engineering principles to provide real business solutions for a diverse set of clients. Mr. Swett began his career with Dow as a Process Engineer contributing to unit optimization, reliability and training. Since then, he has honed his refining […]
Bonnie Winkler
Becht has more than 800 specialists on our worldwide roster, most with over 25 years experience in their specific areas of expertise. Becht’s resources also include experienced and seasoned professionals (many with more than 30 years of experience in pace-setting owner organizations) who successfully manage, plan, review, and supervise process plant projects and turnarounds on […]
Eric Ye
Eric Ye is the Process Engineering and Process Safety Manager for Becht. Mr. Ye is responsible for ensuring that client’s needs are meet with the highest level of quality and that projects are properly coordinated, resourced, and delivered in a timely manner. Mr. Ye is also responsible for developing offerings and business development for the […]
F George Abatt, PhD, PE
Dr. Abatt, Fellow ASCE, has over 30 years of experience in engineering practice, education, and management of multi-disciplinary engineering teams. He has authored numerous technical reports and presentations in his professional career that highlight his technical expertise with linear and nonlinear structural analysis, seismic analysis, soil-structure interaction, fluid-structure interaction, and impact analyses. Dr. Abatt has […]
Matthew Caserta, PE
Mr. Caserta is a registered professional engineer in the states of Ohio and Texas. He has over 18 years of a wide breadth of engineering experience in oil refining, chemical processing, and consulting. Mr. Caserta’s varied background provides unique insights into process interactions, equipment reliability, and corrosion and materials concerns. He currently manages Becht’s corrosion […]
Roger D. Cordes, PhD, PE
Dr. Cordes’ mechanical engineering experience relates to solid mechanics issues, particularly stress analyses and fracture mechanics assessments. His work has encompassed a wide variety of projects in the upstream, midstream, and downstream oil industries. His focus is primarily fitness-for-service projects relating to cracking, pressure vessel metal loss, thermal stress analysis, pipeline analyses, forensic evaluations, and […]
John Hackett
John Hackett has over 40 years of experience in all areas of Human Resources including recruiting, staff development, benefits administration, and employee relations. In his role as Human Resources Manager with Becht, Mr. Hackett facilitates effective human resource policies and procedures across the business. Mr. Hackett oversees talent acquisition, staffing, employment processing, compensation, and health […]
Dan Giuliani PMP
Dan Giuliani is the Manager, Capital Project Services for Becht. He started his career as an Engineer Officer in the US Army and progressed through Mobil Torrance, ExxonMobil Joliet, BP Whiting, Brand Energy and Middough in a variety of Engineering, Turnaround and Capital Project roles. Dan will focus on growing our capital project services including […]
Rick Hoffman, PE, CMRP
Rick Hoffman joined Becht in June 2009 as a Senior Engineering Advisor. He has more than 39 years of experience in engineering, reliability management and maintenance in the refining, petrochemical and synthetic fuels industries. Before joining Becht he was the Director, Specialty Engineering for LyondellBasell Industries. In this role, he had worldwide responsibility for corporate […]
Melvin G. Larson
Mr. Larson has 40 years of domestic and international operations experience managing various projects and specialty consulting on Fluid Catalyst Cracking processes. His project management experience includes strategy analysis and due diligence of refinery and system wide modifications taking into account local and international market projections. His consulting services specialize in process troubleshooting and profit […]
Jean-Gaël Le Floc’h
Jean-Gaël has 25 years’ experience in the hydrocarbon (mainly downstream) industry, as a multi-disciplinary expert capable of business opportunity identification, complex client needs framing, holistic solution proposal development, sales negotiation, team management and project delivery. He has worked in more than 40 countries world-wide, with extensive knowledge of the European, Middle East and African refining […]
Jeremy Staats, PE
Mr. Staats is an experienced refining metallurgical and corrosion engineer. He’s knowledgeable on creep, HTHA, environmental cracking and sulfidic corrosion damage mechanisms and associated fitness-for-service methods. As a refinery based metallurgical and corrosion engineer, he’s proficient on materials selection, failure investigations, failure analysis, inspection planning, TA support, repair plans, RBI, IOW’s, and CCDs. He’s been […]
Jesudha Sithersingh
Jesudha Sithersingh is Becht’s Financial Controller. She joined the company in 2002 and has over 20 years of accounting experience. Leading the finance team, she oversees and directs the day-to-day accounting and payroll functions for the company. Additionally, she works with the HR team to administer and manage employee benefits and employer sponsored retirement plans. […]
Kathy Lipski
Kathy Lipski joins Becht as Marketing Manager. She has 20 years of marketing experience with a focus on customer engagement and sales enablement. During her career she managed value proposition, content development, conferences, global sponsorship and analytics.
Kristen Becht
Kristen Becht is a chemical engineer with expertise in process optimization and planning and economics working for Valero and most recently as an LP Forecaster for Marathon. Her expertise in process engineering is around process optimization, troubleshooting, and debottlenecking with a focus on online, low-capital intensive improvements. Her experience in process engineering includes FCC, HF […]
Eric Smith
Eric holds degrees in Chemical Engineering and Marketing from New Mexico State University. He joined the refining industry with Nalco Champion, holding roles of Application Engineer, District Representative, and Account Manager. Eric helped implement and maintain corrosion control and fouling prevention programs in utilities and process systems as a member/manager of the Nalco site team […]
Ida Soto, M.S.
Ida Soto has 18 years of experience in Consulting, Engineering Design, Project Management, Curriculum Design, and Training. Ms. Soto’s broad practical experience includes work at a variety of facilities and engineering offices in refining and petrochemicals, both domestically and internationally. As a native Spanish speaker, Ms. Soto has the unique ability to impart knowledge and […]
Jered Watt
Mr. Watt has 20 years of experience in corporate account management in the downstream, midstream and upstream industries where he has fostered relationships across operational, technical, and management structures both corporately and at the site level. During his 20 years refining / petrochemical / midstream / upstream experience, he has been involved in multiple aspects […]
Darren York
Darren York has 23 years of Supply Chain Optimization and Industrial Engineering experience in the Refining and Chemical industry. Darren’s experience includes roles with KBC Advanced Technologies as a Principal Consultant and Global Product Manager for Strategic and Supply Chain Services working with international clients in all regions including the US, Canada, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, […]
Greg Zoll, PE
Greg Zoll leads Becht’s Power Generation Plant Services group providing over 35 years of experience in utility and independent power generation including advanced technology combined cycle, cogeneration and simple cycle plant consulting, technical assessments, project development, feasibility and efficiency improvement studies and renewable generation. Greg is a subject matter expert in G, H and J […]
Mike Annon, PMP
Mr. Annon has over 45 years of engineering, managerial (including Nuclear Oversight), training and management consulting experience at approximately 50 nuclear and fossil fueled power plants, and several Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. He has authored multiple technical, project management and training related papers. Mike’s career has included employment with Stone & Webster, Gilbert Associates, […]
David C. Anthony III, PE
David has worked in the power industry for 8 years with Fronek Power Systems. David’s experience includes pipe stress analysis of high energy piping systems, on-site field inspections of piping and pipe hangers, pipe support design, troubleshooting and implementing recommendations on piping that has been damaged from transient events, and developing outage plans for the […]
Dana Baham
Mr. Baham is a degreed Engineer who has focused most of his career on Integrity Management and inspection of Petrochemical and Refining Equipment. He is involved in detailed plant MI audits, fire assessments and writing integrity management procedures. He is an expert in reviewing past inspections and doing Inspection Planning using risk-based methodologies. He is […]
Blagoje Baljozovic
Blagoje is mechanical engineer with 36 years of power plant and piping engineering and design experience on coal fired and combined cycle power plant, solar power plant, offshore oil drilling platform, process plant and mining projects as design and project engineer, stress analyst and construction site engineer. Experience includes 28 years of use and implementation […]
Richard Basile
Richard Basile has over 38 years domestic and international experience in the mechanical design, analysis, troubleshooting and technology development of process equipment in the petroleum refining industry, based on his long-term career with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company. Mr. Basile’s experience includes pressure vessels, piping, fluid solids systems, and advanced mathematical analysis of vessels and […]
Gordon Lawrence
Gordon is a Chartered Chemical Engineer with over 30 years of experience in capital project management and maintenance turnaround preparation and planning. This experience has been gained with owner, contractor and consulting organizations working at onshore and offshore facilities across the globe. Gordon specializes in project and turnaround preparation, planning best practices, and execution control; this […]
Steve Bolinger
Mr. Bolinger is a recognized industry expert in Mechanical Integrity, Inspection and Corrosion Engineering. During his 35 years of Mechanical Integrity experience he has been involved with all aspects of Mechanical Integrity including developing and implementing Inspection and Mechanical Integrity programs for several refineries and Mechanical Integrity site audits, materials selection, failure analysis, and Fitness-for-Service […]
Benjamin Brandt
With over 24 years of Conventional and Advanced Non-Destructive Testing Experience, Mr. Brandt has been providing testing and inspection solutions in an effort to always surpass client expectation. His straightforward and personable style has been an asset on many team projects. Ben’s primary role is for Becht’s Pono Division. Within Pono, he provides in-depth analysis […]
Allen Hamilton PMP CCE
Allen Hamilton is a Subject Matter Expert in the area of Cost Management including Project Execution Planning, Cost Estimating & Control and Risk Management. He spent 25 years with ExxonMobil research & Engineering Co. in the Project Management Department in cost management including cost estimating, cost control and data analysis. He also has experience in […]
Mark Fronek
Mark Fronek has over 20 years of experience in all facets of technology supporting Engineering and Services in the Energy sector. Mark is well versed in the intricacies of IT infrastructure administrating and managing Windows and Unix servers, networking, security, telecom, mobile, etc. He has administrated and customized several 3D plant design packages and most […]
Marga Briggs
Marga is the Manager of Advisor Resources. She also works with other Becht Divisions, namely engineering, providing resources for various clients which include both remote and onsite support. She works closely with the accounting department for payroll review and client invoice review and setting up projects in the accounting system. Marga enjoys spending time with […]
David J Keen
David Keen is a qualified Metallurgist with over 45yrs domestic and international experience in fertilizer and explosives manufacturing facilities across 12 countries globally. These facilities include Ammonia, Urea, Nitric Acid, Sulphuric Acid, Phosphoric Acid, Ammonium Nitrate, Fertilizer plants and Steam Generation utilities. David is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on equipment integrity management and has […]
Victoria Araiza
Victoria is the Track/Cost Coordinator for Becht. She handles timekeeping for all Track sites which includes reconciling daily time/charges, verifying accuracy for billing, and keeping costs current. Victoria is also responsible for reviewing and approving Advisor expense reports and maintaining the company’s overhead travel program. Victoria enjoys running, spending time with her family & traveling.
Keith Austin
Keith Austin has over 35 years of experience in refining based on his long-term career with Shell and subsequent consulting. He has extensive experience in furnace operation, Infrared (IR) imaging, operations training, run & improvement, incident investigation and combustion system tuning. Work experience includes: Consulting Participated in three-week process heater study at a Canadian Refinery […]
Haley Bechtle
Haley received her Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Felician University in 2014. She joined Becht in 2016 as a Junior Accountant and is currently the Senior Billing Specialist. She enjoys spending time with her family and traveling with her friends.
Meredith Bell
Meredith Bell is the Nominations Coordinator for Becht. She helps in identifying well-qualified, available and interested candidates in response to requests received from clients for onsite support. She also maintains Becht’s overhead travel program. Meredith enjoys hiking, reading, and traveling with friends and family.
Michael (Mike) Bober
Michael (Mike) Bober holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He served as a Process Engineer, Project Developer, Economist, and SECTION HEAD at Exxon’s Bayway Refinery for twelve years. He then joined Mobil Research and Development as an FCC Specialist. He managed technical training for Engineering, worldwide, until Exxon […]
Maureen Brody
Maureen Brody has over 10 years of experience in professional and technical writing, technical training program development, and project management. Her extensive research and writing experience spans a variety of fields, including market research, training program development, and the creation of knowledge transfer materials. As a former teacher, she brings superior skills in curriculum development, […]
Robert ‘Bob’ Brown, PE
Bob Brown has thirty years of mechanical engineering experience as both a consultant and an owner-user, providing engineering support to petrochemical, process and power plants worldwide. He is an industry expert in the development and practical use of advanced finite element analysis techniques to evaluate mechanical integrity and to optimize the life cycle of in-service […]
Mary Buchheim
Mary Buchheim has 24 years of engineering consulting experience in the petroleum refining industry. Her activities range from managing the development of Corrosion Control Documents (CCD), participating in corrosion and damage mechanism reviews, providing project management of brittle fracture and HTHA studies, to project management of proprietary software products. Participated in the development of Corrosion […]
Mark Camp
Mark is an accomplished executive with proven track record in program management, process safety, engineering, strategy development, business development and logistics optimization. He is an innovative thinker with a unique combination of operational, technical, and sales skills along with extensive experience building successful relationships around the globe. As a Technology Program Manager with Becht, Mark […]
Mark Carte
Mark has served industry for 45 years as a Non Destructive Examination (NDE) Practitioner and Consultant. His NDE experience spans Up, Mid and Downstream Petroleum and Petrochemical Industry. He also has extensive NDT experience in Aerospace, Military and Power Generation. Mark’s expertise includes design, fabrication and testing of NDE equipment along with mock-ups, calibration/performance demonstration […]
Zumao Chen, PhD
Zumao Chen has worked in the power industry for more than 11 years with Babcock & Wilcox and 4 years with Reaction Engineering International. He has over 15 years of experience in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of utility and industrial boilers, burners, over-fire air (OFA) ports and other boiler components. He also has more […]
Ranjan Chithranjan, PhD, PE
Nadarajah (“Ranjan”) Chithranjan’s career has spanned over 18 years of worldwide involvement in petrochemical industries for ExxonMobil Research and Engineering. Prior to joining Becht, he worked as a fixed equipment specialist at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering and he has worked in more than a dozen countries worldwide to solve complex mechanical plant problems as well […]
Harold Clem
Harold G. Clem, Jr. has over 30 years of experience in corrosion engineering and materials of construction based upon his long-term career with Union Carbide Corporation. As an Engineering Technologist, Mr. Clem was responsible for developing standards and specifications for External Painting and Coatings, Internal Coatings and Linings, Thermal Insulation, and Non-Metallic Materials of Construction. […]
Jack Cole, PE
Mr. Cole has 37 years of experience in design, analysis, construction and testing of nuclear power plant equipment, piping, vessels, and structures. Mr. Cole’s experience includes twenty seven years of operating nuclear power plant experience and twenty seven years as an ASME Codes and Standards committee volunteer. Prior to retiring from Energy Northwest, Mr. Cole […]
Michael Cooch, PE
Mr. Cooch has over twenty years of experience in petroleum refining, chemical manufacturing, and fossil power generation, primarily focused on mechanical integrity and reliability of pressure equipment. His broad experience base includes site and central engineering as an owner-user, subject matter expert support and technology development for an original equipment manufacturer, and engineering consulting. The […]
Danny Davis
Danny joined Becht in October of 2018. He has served as the site Manager for Valero Port Arthur Refinery since that time. His current responsibility is oversight of Turnaround and Major Maintenance planning, scheduling, and project controls for the refinery. Prior to joining Becht, Danny worked for Motiva/Shell for 12 years. During that time, he […]
R. Peter Deubler, PE
Pete has 48 years’ experience in the power industry in the principal areas of piping, supports, mechanical engineering for various types of power plants including fossil, combined cycle and nuclear plants. He has designed critical systems for new plants, troubleshot during start up and operation, designed modifications to existing plants, and performed remaining life evaluations. […]
Denise Dewees
Denise Dewees is an Accounting and Human Resources Specialist with Becht. Denise has an Industrial and Systems Engineering degree from The Ohio State University. She spent her early career in the automotive industry as an engineer with specializations in ergonomics, logistics, and lean manufacturing. After taking time off to raise her children, she returned to […]
Olavo Dias
Olavo Dias has over 40 years refining, gas and petrochemical experience with major oil and gas companies equally split between field and corporate locations. Prior to joining Becht in 2015, he was an internal engineering consultant with Saudi Aramco where he helped pioneer, develop and implement Asset Integrity Management, Corrosion Management and Root Cause Analysis. […]
Phong Diep
Phong Diep is a Mechanical Engineer with over 19 years of experience in the petroleum and chemicals industry. His career started out with ExxonMobil at their Baytown Refinery as a project engineer/manager and then a facilities engineer for various units. He subsequently joined the ExxonMobil Research and Engineering division where he was the group lead […]
Tom Doolin
Tom Doolin has 40 years of domestic and international experience in refinery operations, process engineering, economics & planning and project development. During his time with operating companies, Tom has been assigned to 4 separate refineries and in headquarters roles has contributed to countless more. During the last 17 years the focus has been on front […]
Robert F. Dubil, PE
Mr. Dubil has been providing engineering services in the field of Fired Equipment to the petrochemical industry for over 36 years. This includes engineering and design, as well as commissioning, maintenance, troubleshooting, operation, and training. He has also been very active in the development of Industry Standards governing the design and purchase of fired equipment […]
Frank Engli
Frank Engli has over 30 years of experience in project, maintenance, health, safety, security, environmental (HSSE), and turnaround management in the petroleum refining industry. His experience includes: Reorganized the Project, Maintenance, and Turnaround department to meet budget and safely execute work Implemented a major maintenance management and improve project management which was able to successfully […]
Jeff Everett
Jeff Everett has over 28 years of experience in project management and project management consulting within the refining, petrochemicals and polymers extrusion industries. He has managed large ventures which include the conceptual development, front-end engineering and execution of venture portfolios. These venture portfolios included both new units, revamp and offsite components. Additional experience includes mid-cap […]
Walter F. Farmayan
Walter F. Farmayan has over 30 years applied technical service and R&D experience in the oil and gas industry, in diverse areas related to fire and explosion safety, and combustion engineering. His experience includes: Perform fire and explosion modeling Perform blast modeling utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD), Produce quantitative risk assessments (QRA), Develop site process […]
Allen Feltzin
Allen Feltzin has over 30 years of experience in process engineering, maintenance, operations, and construction in large scale industrial plants based on his long career with BOC Gases, Murray Hill, New Jersey. He developed world class, state of the art cooling systems which were installed at over 80 sites in North America. He was responsible […]
Del J. Forbes, PhD
Dr. Forbes is recognized in the petroleum & petrochemical industry as an expert in civil onshore and marine terminal structures with more than 40 years in active professional practice and consulting. His professional expertise includes blast resistant design; design criteria for earthquake, wind and other extreme loads; evaluation and upgrading of existing structures; design of […]
Donald R. Frikken, PE
Mr. Frikken is an internationally recognized authority in piping systems, valves, and the development of standards and specifications. His work with Becht includes designing new piping systems, analyzing existing piping systems, assisting manufacturers with respect to code compliance issues, and providing instruction on process piping and piping flexibility analysis courses. Don has received a number […]
Joseph T. Geiger
Mr. Geiger is a Rotating Equipment engineer who developed his specialty over 32 years working for ExxonMobil Corporation and prior to those worked 2 years with John Deere Research Company in their Gas and Diesel Engine Development Group. Joe has worked on a broad spectrum of machinery that is used in oil production, refining, chemical, […]
Robert Goodrich, PE
Robert “Bob” Goodrich has over 32 years’ experience in evaluating and applying environmental control technology to operating plants and capital projects with Exxon Mobil’s engineering company. He now continues to specialize in evaluating industrial water pollution control processes as part of independent or cold eyes assessments and project cost reduction reviews. He was a member […]
Magnus Gustafsson, PE
Mr. Gustafsson has over 10 years of experience in the design and analysis of mechanical components and systems in the Petrochemical and Railway industries. Prior to joining the Becht team he worked as Mechanical Engineer with ExxonMobil for 8 years. His experience includes Fitness-for-service assessments and design support of pressurized equipment including elastic-plastic Finite Element […]
Andy Gysbers, PEng
Mr. Gysbers is a recognized industry expert in refining and petrochemical plant materials and corrosion mitigation. His expertise are recognized in HF Alkylation, Crude Corrosivity, Integrity Operating Windows, Corrosion Control Documents, Inspection Data Analysis among many others, With his 42 years of materials/corrosion/inspection experience, he has been involved in all aspects of materials engineering including […]
Ernest “Woody” Harrison
Ernest Woodard “Woody” Harrison has over 50 years of domestic and international experience in engineering design in the petroleum refining industry, including a 32-year career with ExxonMobil and its predecessors. His experience includes Instrumentation and Control Systems (I&CS), Analyzers, Safety Systems, Computer Simulation and Training, project HAZOPS, and start-up assistance. While supervising I&E engineering at […]
Glinda Hawthorne
Glinda is the U.S. Site Coordinator for Advisor Resources. She works with Becht clients and Advisors to secure projects and follows each project to completion. She works closely with the accounting department to prepare monthly cost reports, QC, and setting up new projects in our system. In her free time, Glinda enjoys being creative with […]
Jon Heredia, M.Sc.
Jon has an experience of more than 11 years in the Power Industry. He has worked the last 7 years as Mechanical Engineer in Fronek Power Systems LLC. Responsible for the analysis work, piping and support design. Multiple visit and walkdowns to Construction sites to resolve installation and startup issues and operating plants to perform […]
Tracie H. Hoines
Tracie Henderson Hoines is a degreed Chemical Engineer who has spent many of her 25+ years working as a Process Engineer in several refineries where she has been responsible for the design, installation, and startup of various refinery processes. Ms. Hoines, prides herself on being a good steward of manpower, materials, and project funding. She […]
Greg Hollinger, PE
Mr. Hollinger has 37 years of professional engineering experience in nuclear power generation. He has been involved in design and fabrication of reactor vessels, steam generators and pressurizers, and piping for commercial and non-commercial nuclear systems since 1978, as well as, non-nuclear vessel design, fabrication and certification. Specialization includes stress classification, fatigue and elevated temperature […]
Arve Holt, PE
Arve Holt has an extensive background in refinery/petrochemical operations, process instrumentation and control systems, process safety management, and energy conservation. A long-term Sunoco employee, Mr. Holt also managed his own consulting business and has been a Becht Advisor for more than 10 years. Mr. Holt’s recent worked as included the evaluation of ship terminal crude […]
Jerry Horak, PE
Jerry R. Horak has 34 years of domestic and international experience in engineering risk assessment, equipment reliability, pipeline inspection, materials, and corrosion in the upstream and downstream petroleum, and petrochemical, industries based on his long-term career with ExxonMobil. He possesses in depth knowledge of API Inspection codes for pressure vessels, piping and tankage. Since joining […]
Daniel C. Hunt
Daniel C. Hunt is a mechanical engineer experienced in specification, design, installation, operation, and maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting of petroleum and petrochemical plant equipment, particularly rotating equipment. During his long career with ExxonMobil he has served at Exxon Central Engineering, Florham Park, NJ, and at ExxonMobil Core Engineering in Baytown, TX, and held leadership positions […]
Lindell “Bob” Hurst, Jr
Lindell R. ‘Bob’ Hurst, Jr. has over 30 years of experience as a materials engineer in the petroleum refining and chemicals industries. His experience includes corrosion engineering, materials selection, coatings and insulation selection, and failure analysis. Selected skills and accomplishments: Provided corrosion and materials engineering support to Shell downstream operations. Served as failure analysis focal […]
A. S. Jamaluddin, PhD
A.S. ‘Jamal’ Jamaluddin has over 30 years experience in combustion and heat transfer, based on his long-term career with Shell. Selected skills and achievements: Provided technical support to projects including low-NOx burner retrofits, heater rebuild and revamp projects, heater control and safeguarding, flare replacements, repair and revamp of thermal reactors and incinerators in sulfur recovery […]
Scott Jernigan
Scott Jernigan has over 35 years experience in the petroleum refining industry with the last 20 of those years specializing in the FCC technology area. During those years, Mr. Jernigan worked for an operating company supporting multiple FCC units and provided licensor support to international clients. His experience includes FCC equipment design, unit troubleshooting, catalyst […]
R. James Johnson
James Johnson comes from Stress Engineering Services (SES) where he managed and worked on a wide range of projects that include metallurgical support for fitness-for-service activities, fitness-for-service assessments, metallurgical failure analyses, specialized field inspection services, corrosion assessments, and material selection. These projects exposed him to a wide range of clients, industries, standards, and materials. At […]
Tracie Keeth
Tracie is the International Site Coordinator for Becht Advisor Resources. She provides project coordination for all International locations and Alaska. Tracie enjoys sailing. She lives on and sails a 43′ sailboat which she purchased, along with her husband, two years ago and has lived on for a year now. Tracie and her husband plan to […]
Gersh Kogan
Gersh Kogan has 37 years’ experience in the power industry in the principal areas of piping, supports, mechanical engineering for various types of power plants including fossil, combined cycle and other types of plants. He has participated in design of critical piping systems for new plants, providing troubleshooting consultation during start up and operation, assisted […]
Kyle Kourelakos
Kyle is a recent graduate from Rutgers University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and has worked in the power industry for over a year with Fronek Power Systems. Kyle’s experience includes pipe stress analysis of high energy piping systems, pipe support design, and on-site field inspections of piping and pipe hangers. In addition, he […]
Don Kurle, PE
Mr. Kurle has over 30 years of experience with mechanical design and analysis of pressure vessels and heat exchangers after a long career with Union Carbide. Don spent several years with Codeware, Inc. as a technical support engineer and developed and presented training classes in the use of COMPRESS vessel design software. Mr. Kurle holds […]
Richard Lackey
Richard T. Lackey, Jr. has over 35 years’ experience as a mechanical engineer in the chemical industry, based on his long-term career with DuPont. His experience includes mechanical integrity and quality assurance (MIQA), quality control, compliance auditing to industry codes and standards, and Process Safety Management (OSHA Standard 29CFR 1910.119; PSM) with respect to hose […]
Sarita Lasrado
Sarita Lasrado is a HR Generalist at Becht and is responsible for managing onboarding of employees and assisting in recruiting and supporting daily HR functions. She loves every opportunity to make people’s working lives better, even in a small way and enjoys interacting with a variety of people from different industries. Prior to joining Becht, […]
Karen Li
Ms. Li has 11 years of experience in the refining industry. She began her career at Shell Norco refinery as Site Materials and Corrosion Engineer providing daily technical supports in areas of corrosion, metallurgy, welding, inspection and equipment integrity management, developing corrosion control strategies for refining units. She also worked at Shell Technology center as […]
David Lindsay
David Lindsay has over 30 years’ experience in the petroleum refining industry. His experience includes training, process design, hydroprocessing, catalysis, and sales. Mr. Lindsay has worked for both an owner operator organization and licensor giving him a unique perspective for unit support. He has provided troubleshooting and unit performance support, catalyst monitoring, onsite sulfiding support, […]
Frank Liu
Frank Liu has over 40 years experience in the refining, petrochemical and chemical industries based on his long-term career with Shell and subsequent consulting. Frank held positions of increasing responsibility throughout his career including Worldwide Infrared (IR) Technology Leader. Frank has been engaged in extensive Research & Development in the heater industry establishing best practices […]
Carlos Lopez
Carlos Lopez has over 35 years of chemical engineering experience in the petroleum refining industry based on his employment with ExxonMobil and Sun Oil Company. His experience includes hydro processing process design, unit commissioning and support, process analysis and optimization, research and development, budgeting, and supervision. Mr. Lopez additionally has plant unit based experience in […]
Lauren Lopez
Lauren is Becht’s Senior Financial Analyst and will be working on analyzing and preparing the Month End Reports among other month end tasks. She has over 10 years of accounting experience and over 5 years’ experience in the professional services field. She attended Kean University and graduated with her Bachelor’s in Accounting in 2010. Shortly […]
Manuel X. Lozano
Manuel X. Lozano joined Becht in January 2010 with over 40 years of experience in construction with specific focus on Critical Lift Planning and Execution. During his long-term career with Zachry Construction Corporation and other major EPC firms, Mr. Lozano planned and supervised Heavy Lifts on projects including petrochemical plants, power plants, cement plants and […]
Vernon L. Maddox, Jr., PE
Vernon L. Maddox, Jr., P.E. is a Mechanical Engineer with over 47 years domestic and international experience in rotating machinery selection, installation, startup, maintenance, problem solving, and vibration analysis. His experience includes the machinery engineering, commissioning, startup and operation of a world-class ethylene plant and many smaller facilities. He has established, and supervised engineering groups […]
Philip R. Magaletta
Mr. Magaletta is an Instrument and Control Systems (I&CS) Engineer with 48 years of international experience with ExxonMobil and Becht. Throughout his career with ExxonMobil he served in key technical and management positions providing broad based direction, leadership, and supervision of I&CS R&D and capital projects that spanned five generations of I&CS technology. His assignments […]
Richard Manner
Richard Manner has over 35 years experience in progressive consulting experience including technical expertise in Hydrocracking, Hydrotreating, Hydrogen Manufacturing, Reforming, and Isomerization, as well as various synthetic fuel processes such as Fischer-Tropsch, Coal Liquefaction and Shale Oil upgrading. He previously served as Vice President supporting over 100 profit improvement programs in his prior career. These […]
Peter Marsh
Peter has more than 36 years experience in the oil refining and engineering contacting businesses in various technical, operational and leadership roles. The majority of his career has been spent with BP where he worked at 4 different refineries and in the technical centre. He has specialist knowledge in all types of naphtha isomerisation and […]
Todd Marut
Todd Marut has over 40 years of experience in fractionation, liquid-liquid extraction, and vapor-liquid, liquid-liquid, and vapor-liquid-liquid separations. He provided process engineering support to ExxonMobil’s global business clients in the areas of fractionation, extraction, and separation vessel and internals design, debottlenecking and troubleshooting. He was also responsible for assisting refining and petrochemical plant operations with […]
Frank Masiello, PE
Mr. Masiello is an Instrumentation and Control Systems (I&CS) Engineer with more than 40 years of international experience with ExxonMobil and Becht. He has been the Lead ExxonMobil I&CS Design Engineer, Project Engineer, and Engineering Manager for numerous multi-million dollar projects involving conceptual planning, basic design (FEED), detailed engineering, construction, and in-plant start-up. He is […]
Keith McKinney
Mr. McKinney is a recognized industry expert in refinery and petrochemical damage mechanisms, corrosion under insulation management, and asset integrity management systems. During his 36 years of metallurgical/corrosion/inspection experience, he has been involved in all aspects of managing asset integrity risk including corrosion prevention, failure analysis, damage mechanism review, and implementation of asset integrity management […]
Jim McLaughlin
Jim McLaughlin has over 30 years experience in materials engineering in the petroleum industry working with Chevron, Exxon and ExxonMobil. He has been involved in all aspects of materials engineering including corrosion prevention, failure analysis, fire damage assessment and fitness-for-service assessments in the entire range of equipment in refineries, petrochemical units and upstream facilities. In […]
Hearl Mead, Jr
Hearl is a recognized industry expert in refinery damage mechanisms and mechanical integrity management. During his 40 years of metallurgical/corrosion/inspection experience, he has been involved in all aspects of materials engineering including corrosion prevention, failure analysis, damage mechanism review, and fitness-for-service assessment. He has worked primarily with refinery and petrochemical facilities. Hearl has extensive knowledge […]
Gorka Millán, M.Sc.
Gorka has been working in Mechanical and Piping Engineering (mostly in Power projects) for more than 11 years. Gorka started his career in a multidisciplinary Engineering firm and has spent the last 7 years working as a part of Fronek Power Systems staff. Gorka’s experience is mostly based in Pipe Stress analysis for Critical Piping […]
David Moore, PE
Mr. Moore is a recognized industry expert in refinery damage mechanisms. During his 41 years of metallurgical/corrosion/inspection experience, he has been involved in all aspects of materials engineering including corrosion prevention, failure analysis, damage mechanism review, and fitness-for-service assessment. He has focused primarily on refineries but has also worked with petrochemical and upstream facilities. Mr. […]
Maria Ellah D. Morvay, MSMfgE
Ellah was a College Dean for 15 years in the Philippines before moving to the United States in 2009. Her academic career started at an early age right after her graduation from college with a degree in Computer Engineering at the University of San Carlos, Cebu. During that time, she was the youngest Dean in […]
Elena Niemi
Elena Niemi graduated from Lafayette College with a degree in Engineering in 2013. Following college, she realized that her true passion lies in programming and software development. After taking classes from various local colleges to improve her programming skills, she took a position as a Software Developer at a startup company in NJ specializing in […]
Ralph C. Norton
Ralph C. Norton has over 45 years’ experience working for UOP assisting clients to operate their oil refinery process units efficiently and safely. His career path included 10 years in Field Operating Services doing new unit commissioning and 35 years in District Services doing point of contact service for numerous domestic and foreign refineries. He […]
Nohemi Ortiz
Nohemi is the Corporate Safety Coordinator for Becht. She is responsible for making sure that our employees gain unrestricted access to client sites through maintaining site access requirements including drug and alcohol testing, background checks, safety training, PPE, etc. Nohemi enjoys working out, spending time with her kids outdoors, and watching TV. Some of her […]
Glenn Osterwisch
Glenn Osterwisch has 38 years of experience with Shell Oil in the refining and petrochemical business. He has worked as a unit process engineer and a major projects process engineer for a multitude of refinery processes including fluid catalytic cracking, hydrotreating, HF alkylation, catalytic reforming, crude distillation, and gas processing. Mr. Osterwisch also has experience […]
Derrick Pease
Mr. Derrick Pease has over 15 years experience in mechanical engineering design and analysis. He is an expert in stress analysis of complex structures that include seismic, fatigue, creep, heat transfer, fluid-structure interaction, impact, and explosion responses. He is also an expert in fluid flow analysis of piping systems, root-cause failure analysis, and fitness-for-service assessments. […]
Glen Phillips
Glen Phillips has over 40 years of international and domestic experience in process engineering for the “bottom of the barrel”, ranging from direct use as heavy fuel oil through full upgrading. His experience spans all aspects from R&D and process development to project screening and execution to operating unit support and troubleshooting. Glen had worldwide […]
Rafael Rengifo
Rafael Rengifo has over 30 years of engineering, reliability, maintenance, inspection and mechanical integrity experience in the Midstream and Downstream sectors. Mr. Rengifo’s Midstream experience includes the roles of Director of Engineering, Facility Integrity Manager and Tank Integrity Manager for Phillips 66 Midstream Operations. In the Downstream sector Mr. Rengifo’s experience includes inspection management roles […]
Winston K. (Win) Robbins, PhD.
Win Robbins has over 50 years’ experience in analytical testing and organic chemistry within the petroleum refining industry. His experience includes characterization of petroleum / petroleum fractions / combustion products, separations and characterization of hydrocarbon and heteroatom classes, analytical technique development, and testing and characterization of reactive sulfur compounds and naphthenic acids. Mr. Robbins holds […]
Lisa Roberts
Ms. Roberts is a Refining Corrosion/Materials and Risk Based Inspection expert with 38 years’ experience in the refining industry. She has been involved in many aspects of corrosion and materials such as proper selection, damage mechanism assessment, and process compatibility. She has developed and implemented programs for Sulfidation, REAC, Atmospheric Overheads, CUI, HTHA, PMI, RBI, […]
Sim Romero
Sim Romero, formerly Principal Consultant at KBC Advanced Technologies, has joined the Becht team. With over 40 years of experience in refining and technical consulting working for KBC, Valero, ExxonMobil, Bechtel, ARCO/BP, and Conoco, Sim has extensive Coking and Heavy Oil experience. His projects have touched every part of the Coker including profit improvement, cutting […]
Eugene ‘Gene’ Roundtree
Mr. Roundtree has over 40 years’ experience in the refining industry based on his career with ExxonMobil and Tree Line Consulting a management and engineering consulting firm he founded after his retirement from ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (EMRE). Mr. Roundtree has extensive experience in business development including the development of licensing relationships, work processes, […]
Frank Sapienza
Mr. Sapienza is an experienced corrosion and materials engineer within the refining industry. Through his time in the refinery, he has conducted corrosion reviews, damage mechanism assessments, asset strategy development, risk based inspection and CCD implementation for HF alkylation units, FCCs, crude units, hydrotreaters, reformers, sulfur plants, amine units, tank systems, sulfolane and aromatics units. […]
Vivian Schaad
Vivian is the Advisor Onboarding Coordinator for Becht. She brings with her 20 years of customer service experience and is responsible for the entire sign-up process of all our potential Advisors. Vivian also supports Latin America operations (Spanish is her native language) and the Advisor Resources division as Office Assistant. Vivian’s favorite place is the […]
William ‘Bill’ Schrof
William ‘Bill’ E. Schrof has 28 years’ experience working for Shell, Motiva, Invista, and LyondellBasell in the refining and petrochemical business. At Shell, he was initially developed as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the design, operation and troubleshooting of fired heat transfer equipment (refinery heaters, crackers, incinerators) and un-fired heat transfer equipment (reboilers, condensers, […]
Clinton Schulz
Mr. Schulz is a recognized expert in corrosion and materials engineering for petroleum refinery process applications, and has related experience in almost all aspects of petroleum refinery fixed equipment reliability work. During his 42 year career, he has performed metallurgical failure analyses, materials selection, and corrosion engineering. His experience in the area of fixed equipment […]
Bruce Scott
Bruce Scott began his professional career in with Shell Canada for 10 years, then moved to Imperial Oil for 25 years and retired in 2010. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering and is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. His experience is broad based including pipelines, marketing facilities, crude oil supply, facilities […]
Lyman “Tony” Scribner
Mr. Lyman (Tony) Scribner is a recognized authority in Materials Engineering and Corrosion Control in the Chemical Process Industries. He has thirty-nine years of experience in failure analysis, materials selection, design of equipment to minimize corrosion, troubleshooting and process modifications to minimize corrosion. He has led and been the Technology Steward for the Materials Engineering […]
J. Robert “Bob” Sims
Mr. Sims is a recognized authority in risk-based technologies for optimizing inspection and maintenance decisions; design and analysis of high pressure equipment, including high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) equipment for oil and gas exploration and
Paul Southerland
Mr. Southerland is a licensed professional engineer with over 36 years of experience in the Oil Refining and Electrical Power Generation industries. He has a diverse career in building and managing Reliability Programs and in Project Management covering Fixed and Rotating Equipment at both large and small refineries and power stations. His focus in recent […]
Howard Spencer
Howard Spencer has over 40 years of domestic and international experience in process technology support based on his extensive career with ExxonMobil and independent consulting. He is a global expert in lube oil processing technologies including Lube Oil and Wax Hydrofinishing & Hydrotreating, Solvent Extraction Processes, Solvent Dewaxing Processes, Catalytic Dewaxing Processes and Residual Oil […]
Joseph Stanton
Mr. Stanton is an experienced Mechanical Integrity Specialist who has a strong working background in developing risk-based inspection deployment. For the past eight years Joseph implemented RBI (RBMI) using the LR Capstone methodology and software primarily and Meridium software, which included being involved in corrosion studies and running final risk and inspection work plans for […]
Amanda Stiglic
Amanda is a staff accountant at Becht. She processes payroll, timesheets, expense reports, AP, and assists with other various accounting functions. Amanda received her master’s in managerial accounting from Southern New Hampshire University in June, 2020, and her Bachelor’s in Accounting from Berkeley College in 2013. Her career began in 2013 as a Junior Accountant […]
Mark Stonehouse, PEng
Mr. Stonehouse has over fifteen years of experience working in mechanical engineering design and analysis for the petroleum industry, primarily with pressure vessels and pressure vessel internals. His experience and expertise includes linear and non-linear stress analysis using the finite element method for design and fitness for service and includes a wide variety of FEA […]
Kenneth Stoops, PE
Mr. Stoops has over 11 years of experience in mechanical engineering design and analysis. He also has over 4 years experience in nuclear Quality Assurance (QA), and currently serves as Quality Assurance Manager for Becht Nuclear Services. In his role as an engineer, his fields of expertise include seismic analysis of vessels, piping, lifting beams, […]
Jeremy Lundquist, EIT
Jeremy Lundquist is a Mechanical Engineer with 14 years of commercial nuclear experience, who has strengths in plant design change preparation and implementation, piping and support design calculations, ASME B31.1, B31.3, equipment qualification, temporary modifications, and configuration management. He is also familiar with 10CFR50.59, RIS 2005-20, operability determinations, cyber security, software quality-assurance, and project management. […]
David M. Taylor, P.E.
David Taylor is a Chemical Engineer with 15 years of project management, petroleum refining and fuels additive product research and development. His career includes process engineering support of Fluidized Catalytic Cracking, HF and Sulfuric Acid Alkylation, Naphtha Reforming and Hydro-processing technologies. In addition, David has rotations as a gasoline and distillate blender in Economics and […]
Robert Sturgis
Robert Sturgis has over 40 years of international and domestic experience as a high-performing expert in hydrocarbon refining, onshore and offshore production, and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) manufacturing with a proven track record of completing challenging grass roots and revamp projects in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific Region […]
Katherine ‘Katie’ Taylor
Katherine ‘Katie’ Taylor is a Chemical Engineer with over 10 years of experience in the refining industry. Her career has included process engineering, reliability engineering, operations supervision, site incident investigation lead and trainer, and mechanical design and repairs. She has led dozens of TapRoot and Why-Tree high priority incident investigations, including process safety releases and […]
LaKeshia Taylor
LaKeshia Taylor is presently a Reliability Engineering Specialist at Becht and loves solving problems and offering solutions to clients. She has been a Mechanical Engineer for the last 15 years, working in the Petrochemical industry. Her experience is in Reliability and Maintenance Engineering, Project Engineering and Mechanical Integrity & Quality Assurance. LaKeshia is very proficient in […]
Amin Terouhid, Ph.D., PE
Amin Terouhid, Ph.D., PE is a recognized expert in the areas of project management, project scheduling, construction claims, schedule delay analysis, loss of productivity, and construction defect claims. He has extensive experience working on several large and mega projects internationally and throughout the United States. In 2018, Dr. Terouhid received the Technical Excellence Award from […]
Nataly Thompson
Nataly is the Nominations & Specialty Services Coordinator for Becht. She searches and contacts candidates for potential assignments. She also serves as Project Coordinator for the Machinery and I&C divisions. Nataly enjoys hanging out with family, reading, and playing sports.
R. Stephen “Steve” Tiek
Steve Tiek has over 30 years of experience in refinery construction, maintenance, and turnarounds, based on his long-term career with Motiva. His experience includes project management, plant engineering, business development and refinery maintenance with an emphasis on areas of turnaround planning, management, and field execution. Since joining Becht, Steve has helped one client manage an […]
Charles Maier
Charles Maier has a broad background focused on plant operations, maintenance, reliability and cost containment. His expertise is analyzing situations, identifying opportunities and implementing strategic solutions that deliver bottom line results. He has spent the last 20 years working for a major oil company with previous experience in the pulp and paper industry as well […]
Thy Tran
Thy received her Bachelor’s in Accounting from William Paterson University in 2016. Her career started at a company that offers full-scale design, engineering, project management, fabrication, installation and support services for AV, broadcast and post-production applications as a project biller and collection specialist. She then joined Becht in early 2020 as a Billing Specialist assisting […]
Steven A. Treese, PE
Steven Treese began his professional career with Union Oil Company of California in 1973 as a Research Engineer with a BS in Chemical Engineering from Washington State University. He remained with essentially the same company through several “heritages” before retiring from Phillips 66 in 2013 after over 40 years in industry. He continues to provide […]
David H. Vahlsing, PE
Mr. Vahlsing served in refinery tech service, central engineering, corporate headquarters and R&D during his career with Sunoco. During this period he developed and managed engineering and research for a wide range of new and revamped refining and petrochemical processes. He also marketed Sunoco engineering and research services when Sunoco sold man hours outside of […]
Torney Van Acker
Torney Van Acker has over 35 years of domestic and international experience with ExxonMobil planning and developing large complex control system replacement projects in the petroleum refining and chemical industry as well as developing the instrumentation, control and safety systems scope for large Upstream production projects at a number of onshore and offshore locations. His […]
John S. Wang, Ph.D
Dr. John S. Wang is a technical specialist in the areas of noise control, engineering acoustics and flares. During his 30-years with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company he had resolved numerous plant noise and flare problems for ExxonMobil worldwide refining, chemical, and production facilities.After retiring from ExxonMobil, he has been retained as a consultant to […]
Sara Weindorf
Ms. Weindorf has eleven years of design and analytical experience in the power industry. She has developed expertise in the design and detailed analysis of piping systems and pressure vessels in accordance with the industry codes including American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and […]
Libby West
Libby joined Becht in 2016 following a career predominately as an attorney for small boutique firms handling Real Estate Law, Family Law and Contractual Law. With Becht, she is on the front end of the Client contracts and business relationships. In addition, she provides legal guidance for a variety of areas of the Business and […]
Clay White
Mr. White is a recognized industry expert in Fixed Equipment Mechanical Integrity (FEMI). During his years 36 years of experience, he has been involved with all aspects of FEMI in various roles from both owner/user site position and Corporate roles and consulting on Inspection, Equipment Engineering, Fitness-For-Service, Failure Analysis, Corrosion & Materials and Welding. While […]
Abbey Wing
Mrs. Wing has 13 years of experience in the refining industry. She began her career at the FHR Corpus Christi refinery as a Plant Engineer managing projects and supporting the mechanical engineering needs of several operating units. She then spent 3.5 years working as the Corrosion and Materials Engineer at the same facility. As the […]
Paul Wittenbach
Paul Wittenbach has over 41 years domestic and international welding and metallurgical engineering experience in the petroleum industry (downstream, upstream, chemicals, midstream, transportation) including design, construction, operations, and maintenance. His experience includes: Provided metallurgical and welding engineering consultation services for a major Oil Company to all operating groups, including E&P, refining, chemicals, pipeline and overseas […]
Jon Yutzy
Jon Yutzy has over 20 years’ experience in IT supporting the Power Generation sector. Responsibilities have included architecture, design, development and support of software products. He has a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science from Ashland University.
Chris Zielewski
Chris Zielewski retired recently from ExxonMobil where he last worked as a Machinery Section Group Leader. He has over 35 years machinery engineering experience with pumps, compressors, turbines and other petrochemical equipment. Chris served on the Texas A&M Turbomachinery Advisory Panel, and currently is an executive committee member of the Gulf South Rotating Machinery Symposium. […]