GOVERNANCE

Christophe Gerondeau began his career with Total in 1992 as a Process Engineer at the Donges Refinery in France. He subsequently worked in several managerial roles in the construction, commissioning/start-up, and operations of the Leuna Refinery in Germany.

In 1998, he moved to Danang, Vietnam where he established the local LPG affiliate and led its industrial and commercial development. He returned to Europe in 2000, where he was successively Production Manager at the Donges Refinery, New Business Project Manager at Total Headquarters in Paris, Planning & Technical Services Manager at the Zeeland Refinery in the Netherlands, and Head of Strategy – Refining & Logistics for the Refining & Marketing Branch.

In 2009, Christophe Gerondeau joined the Gas & Power Branch in Solar Energy. He was part of the team that identified and secured Total’s partnership with California-based, SunPower. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed CEO of Photovoltech in Tienen, Belgium.

Beginning in late 2012, Mr. Gerondeau managed the redesign of the Carling Platform in France and became General Manager of the facility in August 2014. During this time, he was also CEO of Polyblend GmbH in Germany and Chairman of the Association des Industriels Plateforme Carling Saint-Avold (AIPCSA), a regional business development organization.

On October 1, 2016, Mr. Gerondeau was appointed President, Chief Executive Officer of Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA, Inc., and is also the Country Chair for Total in the United States. He is based at Total Plaza in Houston, TX.

Born in 1967, he is a graduate of France’s Ecole Nationale Superieur des Ingeniers en Genie des Procédés (ENSIACET) in Toulouse with a Master’s degree in Process Engineering and Institut de Chimie et Physique Industrielles de Lyon with a degree in Chemistry.

John Hotz is the Vice President, Corporate Strategy at NOVA Chemicals. He is responsible for management, prioritization and oversight of the company’s strategy portfolio and development initiatives that support the overall corporate strategy and long-term vision. Hotz joined NOVA Chemicals in 2000 as the Vice President, Polyethylene Business and served in that role until 2011, when he assumed his current role in Corporate Strategy. His 42 years of experience in the plastics and chemical industry has made him an expertise in strategic thinking, strategy and business development, licensing, international business, asset and marketing management, and sales.

Prior to joining NOVA Chemicals, Hotz was the Vice President, Polyethylene at Equistar Chemical, now part of LyondellBasell Industries. Hotz also held leadership roles of increasing responsibility in Sales and Sales Management, Marketing and Product Management.

Hotz graduated from Creighton University with a Bachelor of Arts in English, and from Northwestern University’s Executive Development Program. In addition, John has completed Executive Education courses at Harvard in Strategy and Corporate Structure.

He is a current board member for Novealis Holding, LLC and Bayport Polymers. He is also a past board member of the Flexible Packaging Association, and a past committee member for the American Chemistry Council.

Paul Colonna started his career in 1993 at Composites One LLC – a 50.1% owned Total business – as Operations Manager. He held a number of managerial roles there before moving to Cook Composites & Polymers, another joint venture majority-owned by Total, in 2004. He was Vice President of Composites until 2008 when he became President & CEO.

He joined Total in 2014 as Vice President Polymers, Americas. Since then, he has been responsible for North and South American Polymers business activities Polyethylene, Polypropylene & Polystyrene for Total.

A native of northern California, he is a graduate from California State University of Business Administration and holds a degree from UCLA Andersen School.

Vice President Projects & Construction | Total Refining and Chemicals

Slim EL-AIBA has 30 years of experience in all domains pertaining to Oil, Gas and chemicals Projects. After a MS Engineering degree in 1988, he started his career working on the Channel Tunnel site investigation as Geotechnical Consultant. After 7 years as Project Manager for offshore oil field platforms installation in West Africa, Indonesia or North sea, he joined Bouygues Offshore (became Saipem in 2003) in 1995 as Project Director for Oil and LNG terminals, pipelines and gas liquefaction plants in Europe, Russia, Taiwan and China for different major Oil Companies.

In 2004 he joined TOTAL E&P as Project Manager for Yemen LNG upstream-pipeline projects, then he moved to TOTAL EP Headquarters in Paris to supervise all LNG non-operated assets for the Projects and Operations Direction, including the development of Yamal LNG in Russia and Australian Ichthys and Gladstone LNG.

In 2014 he joined TOTAL Refining & Chemicals as Vice President Projects and Construction overseeing all investment projects worldwide for the RC branch.

Thomas has worked 30 years in the petrochemical industry in various roles. He holds a Master in chemical process engineering. After merger of new Borealis he became responsible for Operations Planning and asset management in Denmark head office. In 2000 he moved back to Austria and fulfilled various roles in senior management positions as General manager for the central European production sites, VP Operations for Polyolefine group of companies. His current role is SVP for Projects and Technical support. Thomas is an Austrian citizen, married and has 2 children.

Tom Asselman is currently Vice President Strategy & Group Development for Borealis, responsible for leading Borealis’ strategy development, mergers & acquisition, new business development and sustainability & public affairs. He is a board member of Baystar, and chairman of Novealis.

Previously he led the development of growth projects in our hydrocarbons-to-polyolefins value chain globally as leader of New Ventures since 2014, which led to the creation of Baystar. He spent six years in the UAE as Vice President Middle East & Asia, managing Borealis’ interests in its fast-growing Borouge joint-ventures with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, where two mega projects of ~ 5 BUSD, Borouge 2 (2010) and Borouge 3 (2014) where constructed and started up during his tenure.

He held several positions in our Polyolefins business and Strategy group since joining Borealis in 2002.

Before joining Borealis he was a consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Tom is a Belgian and Canadian citizen, holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from McGill University in Montreal, a MSc in Chemical Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, and a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Brussels.

He is married and lives in Vienna, Austria.

Tom Boal is the Senior Strategic Advisor for NOVA Chemicals. Boal joined NOVA Chemicals in 2012 and since then served the company in a number of areas including working with the NOVA Management Board and their organizations to develop transformative processes focused on improving competitive positioning, the development of strategic opportunities, leading Merger and Acquisition (M&A) teams, developing and implementing risk management & governance activities for Mega Projects, business development for proprietary technology and various corporate development activities. His 40 years of experience in the petrochemicals industry has helped him develop extensive knowledge in corporate and joint venture governance, finance, strategic planning, business analysis, forecasting and demand planning, supply chain management, process engineering, project management, and plant and commercial operations.

Prior to joining NOVA Chemicals, Boal was Director of Forecasting and Budgeting at LyondellBasell. Previously, he held leadership positions in Business Finance, Investor Relations, Corporate Reporting and Corporate Development, Supply Chain Management, Process Engineering Management, Corporate Development and other positions in LyondellBasell, and predecessor companies. Some of his biggest achievements include co-leading the formation of the Bayport Polymers joint venture for Novealis, a leadership role in the development of the Basell & Lyondell merger, and participating in the turnaround of the Shell Carrington, UK site.

Boal earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University. He currently serves on the boards of Novealis Holdings LLC and Bayport Polymers LLC.

Franck Trochet is Vice President of Finance, Total Petrochemicals & Refining, USA, Inc. 

Franck Trochet started his career in 1996 as a Chartered accountant at audit firm Ernst & Young. He joined the finance division of Elf in 1999, shortly before its acquisition by Total. He worked in Refining & Marketing until 2010, holding different positions, including Finance Manager in the UK.

In 2010, Franck was part of the team that set up Total’s Refining & Chemicals branch before being appointed VP Corporate Affairs of the Polymers Business Unit in Brussels. From 2013 to 2017, he was VP Business Control for Total’s Refining & Chemicals branch in Paris before being named VP Finance for Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA, Inc. in Houston. Franck has also been VP Finance of Total’s Exploration & Production, Marketing & Services, and Holding affiliates in the U.S. since 2018.

Franck is a graduate from the Business School of Tours in France.