As it enters its second decade of operation, multi-million-dollar petrochemical marketer The Plaza Group (TPG) bolsters its strategic core by adding four chemical industry leaders to its board of advisors. TPG President Randy Velarde announced the additions at this year’s customer and supplier conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The new corporate advisors include John Knudson (President of Henkel KGaA), Mario Concho (former President of Georgia Pacific’s Chemical Division), Carmine Falcone (former VP of Manufacturing & Supply for Shell Oil Products US), and Eugene Allspach (former President and Chief Operating Officer of Equistar Chemicals). Complete biographical information on the new members of the board is included below.
John Knudson is currently President of Henkel of America, a $3 billion subsidiary of Henkel KGaA, a German-based industrial and consumer product company. His 37-year career includes assignments and responsibilities in finance, IT, human resources and general management for companies including General Mills, The Donaldson Company and Henkel Corporation. Knudson holds an MBA in Finance from Minnesota Status University and currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
As President of Georgia Pacific’s Chemical Division, Mario Concha oversaw the increasingly international operations of this $700 million company which is a leading producer of thermosetting resins, performance paper chemicals and pine chemicals. Prior to joining Georgia Pacific, he served as President of the International Division of GS Industries and held a variety of management positions for Occidental Chemical and Union Carbide. Concha has been named as one of the “50 Most Important Hispanics in Technology & Business” by Hispanic Engineer for the past three years. He holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and currently resides with his wife in Atlanta, Georgia.
Former VP of Manufacturing & Supply for Shell Oil Products US, Carmine Falcone has worked within the Shell Group for 36 years in management positions around the world. After graduating with an honors degree in Chemical Engineering in 1968, he launched his career at Shell’s Montreal East Refinery where he worked in construction management and process engineering. He has served on the boards of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, the European Petroleum Association and the Western States Petroleum Association, among others. He and his wife Gabriella live just north of Houston in The Woodlands and have been married since 1971.
Gene Allspach was President and Chief Operating Officer of Equistar Chemicals, a $6 billion petrochemicals and polymers company, from its inception in 1997 until he retired in 2002. Prior to forming Equistar, he spent his career in a variety of management positions with Millennium Chemicals (formerly Quantum Chemical Company). Allspach holds a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from Rice University and a Bachelors degree in the same field from the University of Cincinnati. Allspach has served on the boards and/or executive committees of the American Chemistry Council, the American Plastics Council and the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. He lives in Houston, Texas.