Lori J. Ryerkerk
Celanese Corporation
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer & President
Lori J. Ryerkerk is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Celanese Corporation, a Fortune 500 global chemical and specialty materials company based in Dallas, Texas. Celanese is a leader in the development and production of materials used in most major industrial and consumer applications. Ryerkerk was named as CEO, as well as a member of the board of directors, in May 2019. She was appointed Chairman in April 2020. Previously, Ryerkerk was the Executive Vice President of Global Manufacturing, the largest business in Shell Downstream Inc. She led a team of 30,000 employees and contractors at refineries and chemical sites worldwide. Ryerkerk’s expertise in the energy industry spans three-plus decades. She combines deep technical and commercial skills with a passion for the manufacturing business. Her unwavering focus on safety, environmental and social performance is the foundation on which she has overseen some of the most technically complex operations in the industry. Ryerkerk joined Shell in May 2010 as the Regional Vice President of Manufacturing in Europe and Africa, and was responsible for the operation of five Shell Manufacturing facilities and five joint ventures. During that time, she improved operational performance of all assets in the region. In October 2013, she was named Executive Vice President of Global Manufacturing, Shell Downstream Inc. Before joining Shell, she was Senior Vice President, Refining, Supply and Terminals at Hess Corporation, where she was responsible for two refineries, 21 terminals (and distribution network) and supply and trading. Prior to that, Ryerkerk spent 24 years with ExxonMobil where she started her career as a process technologist at a refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Throughout her tenure at ExxonMobil, she took on a variety of operational and senior leadership roles in Refining and Chemicals Manufacturing, Power Generation, and various other groups including Supply, Economics and Planning, HSSE, and Public Affairs/Government Relations. Those assignments took her across the globe, from the U.S. to Europe to Asia. Ryerkerk is a graduate of Iowa State University, where she completed her Chemical Engineering degree. She currently serves on the board of directors of Eaton Corporation, a leading provider of power management technologies and services; and previously she served on the board of Axalta Coating Systems, a leading provider of liquid and powder coatings. Additionally, she actively supports a variety of organizations in her hometown of Beaumont, Texas.
