Jeet Bindra
University of Washington
Department of Chemical Engineering
"My greatest professional enjoyment comes from the opportunity to interact with people from different countries and different jobs; listening to them, mentoring them and encouraging them to build on their dreams. They remind me of a certain young man from India."
- Jeet Bindra, President, Chevron Global Manufacturing.
Mini-History Profile Questions and Answers
Q. How did your early years shape your life and career choices?
A. I was born in Varanasi, on the Ganges River in north central India in 1947. Although my family was poor by Western standards, my parents not only clothed and fed me and my four brothers and sisters, but they also instilled in us the desire to better both ourselves and the world. I believed that I could do that best by getting a good education and putting it to use in a way that helped people improve their standard of living.
Q. Where did you study?
A. I attended public schools because my parents couldn’t afford private ones. I can still remember sitting on the floor with only a thin bamboo stick as a writing implement. I studied hard and was a good student. I earned a scholarship to the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, where I received a bachelor’s degree with distinction in chemical engineering in 1969.
While I was proud of my degree, I soon realized that I needed an advanced education to make my dreams come true, so I accepted a research assistantship in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. There I earned my master’s degree.
Q. What did you do then?
A. I returned to India, but found the business environment there very frustrating and limiting, so I returned to the United States where I joined Chevron Research Co. as a research engineer.
Q. Did you spend your career in research?
A. No. While I enjoyed working for Chevron, I decided that R&D wasn’t my cup of tea. So, I took advantage of the uniquely American opportunity to reinvent myself. I earned a master's degree in business administration with honors from St. Mary's College in Moraga, California and transferred to Chevron’s Project Management group.
Q. What are some of the positions you’ve held at Chevron?
A. During my 31 years with Chevron I’ve had many interesting assignments, focusing much of my career in refining. I’ve been involved in the day to day operation of complex manufacturing sites as well as in the planning and management of major capital projects for Chevron’s refining and chemicals business. Today, as President of Global Manufacturing, I oversee an international network of more than 7,000 workers and 20 Chevron-operated and joint venture manufacturing complexes.
During my career, I’ve been able to take advantage of the wide scope of opportunities that Chevron offers. As Manager of Strategic Planning for the corporation, I helped set the company’s business direction. As President of Chevron Pipe Line Co, I was responsible for the transportation of oil and gas, petroleum products and chemicals throughout the United States. I also directed all the company's worldwide pipeline projects.
I have served as Managing Director and CEO of Caltex Australia, Ltd, Australia's leading oil refining and marketing company, and as a member of the Board of Directors of Reliance Petroleum Ltd. of India. I am currently a member of the Board of Directors of GS Caltex, a joint venture petroleum business operating in South Korea.
Q. What was your most challenging or rewarding assignment?
A. In 1995, I led Chevron’s effort to negotiate the financing, design and construction of a pipeline from the Tengiz Field in Western Kazakhstan to the Black Sea. The engineering was the easy part. The hard part was securing and maintaining the cooperation of 11 oil companies from six countries, the governments of Russia, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Sultanate of Oman.
I was successful and together we planned and built a 1,500 kilometer pipeline at a cost of over $2.5 billion dollars to carry up to 1.5 million barrels a day of crude oil. To call this assignment challenging would be an understatement, but it was also supremely exciting and rewarding. I consider its success one of the highlights of my career. It showed me that diverse ideas and approaches can achieve seemingly impossible things when they are driven by the unifying force of a common dream.
Q. You’ve had a long, varied and successful career. What have you learned that you’d like to pass on to others?
A. I’ve learned many things, but one of the most important is that we don’t make our dreams come true all alone. We need the help of others. I’ve been very fortunate to have received support and guidance from many people, most especially my wife. Together we’ve mastered the achievement of which I’m most proud, helping our two sons grow into fine young men who are raising children of their own – grandchildren that I enjoy spoiling whenever I get the chance.