NOVA Chemicals Announces Key Leadership Changes
Roles Focus on the Areas of Corporate Development, Manufacturing Excellence and Innovation
Calgary, AB (March 9, 2022) – NOVA Chemicals Corporation (“NOVA Chemicals”) today announced a series of leadership hirings in the areas of Corporate Development, Manufacturing Excellence and Innovation. These critical roles will lead teams and strategies to deliver on NOVA Chemicals’ efforts to shape a low carbon, zero plastic waste future.
“As we work to decarbonize our industry, strive for a zero plastic waste future, and create value for all our stakeholders, placing strong talent in integral roles to help drive our strategic direction allows us to achieve our goals,” said Luis Sierra, Chief Executive Officer, NOVA Chemicals. “We welcome, Celeste, Walter and Mehdi to their new leadership positions and look forward to drawing upon their expertise to deliver value to the organization.”
Celeste Jones Baumgardt will join NOVA Chemicals on March 22, 2022, as Vice President, Corporate Development. In her new role, Ms. Jones Baumgardt will lead and provide direction over NOVA Chemicals’ business development and M&A/investments to drive revenue, profitability, and asset value growth for the company. Ms. Jones Baumgardt joins the company from Goldman Sachs, where she was a Vice President in their investment banking group. In that role, she focused on providing strategic and financial advice to companies in the energy and transportation sectors across North America and globally. Ms. Jones Baumgardt has spent more than ten years in investment banking and has completed more than $50 billion in M&A transactions.
Walter Pesenti recently joined NOVA Chemicals as Vice President, Manufacturing Excellence. In this newly created role, Mr. Pesenti will drive the company’s manufacturing performance improvement to help identify and lead improvements across all of NOVA Chemicals’ sites to ensure that manufacturing strategies and improvement plans are incorporated and delivered. He will also establish a common set of best practices and performance benchmarks for best-in-class business performance and to ensure engineering integrity and applicable processes are in place. Mr. Pesenti joins the company from INEOS Aromatics, where he most recently held the role of Global Petrochemicals Operational Excellence Manager. In that role, he was accountable for global operational excellence, including the implementation of world-class manufacturing processes and systems, improving maintenance and reliability, and optimizing turnarounds and capital projects.
Mehdi Keshtkar has been promoted to Vice President, Innovation. In his new role, Dr. Keshtkar will ensure alignment of NOVA Chemicals’ innovation portfolio of R&D programs with the company’s strategy and drive developments to support near and long-term competitiveness. Focusing on alignment with NOVA Chemicals’ current and future business priorities and outlook, Dr. Keshtkar will advise senior leadership on growth and collaboration opportunities that support value creation, while conducting R&D efforts to help identify and deploy new products, technology, and assets to NOVA Chemicals’ portfolio. Since joining NOVA Chemicals more than nine years ago, Dr. Keshtkar has held numerous roles in the organization, including most recently as Leader, Industry Dynamics & Business Analytics, where he has driven a number of initiatives, led change, and delivered strong business outcomes. Prior to joining NOVA Chemicals, Dr. Keshtkar was a Process Engineer with the IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN). He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique Montreal.
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About NOVA Chemicals Corporation
NOVA Chemicals develops and manufactures chemicals and plastic resins that make everyday life healthier, easier and safer. Our employees work to ensure health, safety, security and environmental stewardship through our commitment to Sustainability and Responsible Care®. NOVA Chemicals, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is wholly owned ultimately by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Visit NOVA Chemicals on the Internet at www.novachem.com.
NOVA Chemicals Media Contact
Jennifer Nanz, Director, Corporate Communications
e-mail: Jennifer.Nanz@novachem.com
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