“Latin America's Bet on Innovation"
November 3 Luncheon/Webcast at Aureole 

Advancing Science through the ACS Scholarships Program

ABSTRACT  

With a population estimated to reach one billion by 2050 and fast growing economies with abundant natural resources, Latin America is reshaping the global economy. Its proximity to USA, wealth of natural resources and vibrant markets are key to our future. The flagship companies of this vibrant market, the Global Latinas, are excelling in fields such as aircraft, petrochemicals, biofuels, bioplastics, PP, PVC, polyols, hydrofluoric acid, mining, agribusiness and others.  Vision and innovation is at the core of their success.

 The presentation will cover two contrasting approaches on innovation applied at the strategic and operational level that have resulted in stellar business results. Mexichem has increased its revenues tenfold in the last decade to $4 billion annually with EBITDA in excess of 20%. It has achieved a dominant position in plastic pipes in the 19 countries it operates capitalizing on the building of infrastructure, industrial expansion and growing sectors such as biofuels and agribusiness. Braskem has similarly grown in a breathtaking fashion and today, with annual revenues of $20 billion, it ranks as the largest petrochemical company in the Americas and the world’s largest bioplastics producer.  

 PANEL

Juan Pablo del Valle Perochena, Chairman, Mexichem
Ruben A. Migone, Technology & Catalysis, Innovation & Technology Center, Braskem
George Rodriguez (moderator), Managing Director, ARGENI, and Chair of CM&E

EVENT INFORMATION (All times are EDT, Prices subject to change without notice)

Event Times:        11:00 am  - 12:00 noon Registration and Networking 
                                12:00 noon - 1:00 pm Luncheon
                                1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Panel Discussion & Webcast

Luncheon Fees:  $70 for members of CM&E, AS-COA, BACC, ChemPharma(R), Promexico and SOCMA.
                                If you have attended any CM&E luncheons in 2011, you are now a CM&E member!

                               $90 for non-members. Includes CM&E membership at the special rate of $20 for 2011.  

ONE LUNCHEON SEAT LEFT! AFTER THAT YOU CAN STILL PARTICIPATE BY JOINING THE WEBCAST. IF YOU WANT TO BE IN THE LUNCHEON WAITING LIST, PLEASE SIGN UP FOR THE WEBCAST AND SEND AN EMAIL TO CMEGLOBAL@GMAIL.COM.

VENUE:   For this event, we will be at an exciting and distinguished venue, Aureole Restauran of New York, a Top-ranked restaurant conveniently located in midtown NYC, 135 West 42nd Street. 

SPEAKERS BIOGRAPHIES:

Mr. Juan Pablo del Valle Perochena, Chairman of Mexichem, is an industrial Engineer from Universidad Anahuac. He started his career working for Telmex S.A de C.V in 1996. He led the implementation of the first fiber optics sea cable between the U.S.A, México, Central and South América. After graduating from Harvard Business School in 2001, Mr. Del Valle founded Grupo Modulo Progresivo, a low income housing developer in México. Early in 2002 he joined his family business, Grupo Empresarial Kaluz, where he was responsible for real estate investments/ operations and the chemical business. During his leadership, Kaluz has built more than 1 million square feet of housing and mixed used commercial developments. Since 2002 he was deeply involved in the strategy to solidly grow the group´s most important subsidiary, Mexichem SAB. Since 2001, the company has grown from a few hundred million USD in sales and local presence, to almost $4 billion USD in sales and global presence. With Mexichem SAB he serves as Chairman of the Board since April 2011, Board member since 2001 and Board Delegate of Mexichem America since 2009 .

Dr. Ruben A. Migone, a Leader in the Innovation & Technology Center of Braskem in Pittsburg where he manages platforms in technology and catalysis, technology autonomy programs and technology licensing. Previously, he worked for 13 years at Sunoco Chemicals in research and engineering positions in polypropylene and phenol including IP management.  Dr. Migone was VP of Engineering at Zeton Altamira, where he was responsible for new product development, manufacturing and technical support. He has held key positions in industry and academia including Research Associate Fellow at Exxon Research and Engineering in Annandale, NJ, Research Scientist at the Center for Industrial Research in Oslo, Norway where he worked on natural gas conversion to Syngas, Research Associate in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Pittsburg. He was recipient of an external fellowship by national contest of the National Research Council of Argentina, CONICET. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UNL in Santa Fe, Argentina.  

George Rodriguez, Managing Director at Argeni LLC, an advisory on technology, business innovation and investments. Prior to Argeni, Mr. Rodriguez served for 7 years at the U.S. subsidiary of Nagase, a $7 billion Technology & Intelligence Japanese firm, as Deputy General Manager and Vice President of Business Development, Biotechnology & Nanotechnology in chemicals, plastics, electronics and health care. He led projects in biopharmaceuticals, bioplastics, biofuels and biochemicals. Previously, Mr. Rodriguez provided business consulting services in advanced technologies, global strategy and distribution. During 11 years, he played a central role at Pfizer in M&A, product stewardship, global sales & marketing, cross-border acquisitions, deal integration and operations in Latin America. Mr. Rodriguez is Chair of the CM&E Group and Board Member of the American Chemical Society NY Section. He graduated first-in-class in both of his degrees: B.S. in Chemical Engineering, UNI-Peru, and M.S. in Industrial Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology.