Chris Gilbert is a senior vice president for the Nafta division of Evonik’s Process Technology & Engineering located in Mobile, AL. In this role, Chris leads his team in the safe designing, engineering, building and optimizing needs for more than thirty Evonik plant sites.
Twenty-three years ago, Chris started his career in his current department, before moving to a series of progressive production roles at the Mobile site from plant engineer, assistant superintendent to superintendent. He then moved to Shanghai as Operations Director to lead a group of seven newly built plants, which were at the time Evonik’s single largest investment, later taking on additional responsibilities in Taiwan and northern China. He then moved to Germany, as the Production & Technology vice president for the Oil Additives Business Line, where he led global manufacturing for six plants in Asia, Europe and Nafta. His experience covers world scale commodity and specialty chemicals, both in batch and continuous production.
In July 2019, Chris started his current role, leading the Nafta Process Technology & Engineering Department. In addition to the normal management of Capex projects, the group supports the region in the development and application of artificial intelligence for a variety of functions.
He obtained his BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and his PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Chris is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Alabama.
Chris is married with two children, both who have graduated from University and are working! He enjoys reading, traveling and exercising with his wife.