Karen Swindler
General Manager and Divisional Vice President of HSE
Lyondell Chemical Company
Karen became General Manager and Divisional VP of HSE in July 2003. Prior to the Corporate HSE area, Karen was Director of Global Planning and Scheduling in the Supply Chain Organization. Karen started her career with Lyondell/Equistar in the Clinton, IA, plant in 1991. She moved to Channelview as Olefins Plant Manager in March, 1999. Prior to Equistar, Karen had worked for Exxon Chemicals in Baytown, TX.
Karen graduated from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology with a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering.
Karen has been a part of the history at Lyondell, which includes bringing five cultures together over the last eight years starting with a joint venture between Lyondell and Millennium Chemicals, Inc. (Quantum Chemicals) to form Equistar Chemicals, LP in 1997; expanding Equistar in 1998 when Occidental Petroleum Corporation became a partner; and the acquisition of ARCO Chemical Company in 1998 and Millennium Chemicals Inc. in 2004.
At the June 2006 workshop, Karen will cover for us the history of this endeavor and also how, during this process, Lyondell has been successful at driving a consistent culture and management strategy globally through their OE (Operational Excellence) program. Lyondell has also been successful at expanding their OE program across all manufacturing elements and now into other functions including — commercial, supply chain, R&D, etc.