2023 ILC SPEAKERS

Todd Cawley, USA

With a BA in Business at the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business Honours, Todd Cawley has nearly thirty years of experience in the oil, fuel and lubrication positions at Sinclair Oil, American Refining Group, and Nanotech Industrial Solutions where he gained a thorough understanding of how additives work to transform fuels and lubricants industries such as nano-carbons, and nano-ceramics. Mr Cawley received the industry renewability award from the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute in 2006. In addition to his vast technical knowledge, Mr Cawley has extensive international business development experience in more than fifty countries. As President of LSI Chemical, he helped the company grow its distributors’ network from zero to fifteen, reaching thirteen countries on four continents in just one year. When not working, Mr Cawley enjoys playing soccer, hiking, walking and learning languages. As a father of seven, he takes great pride in being a good dad.

Roberto Vargas, Mexico

With over 40 years of experience within the Industry of Chemical Additives for Lubricants, Roberto Vargas is a Chemical Engineer with a Master of Science Degree and MBA with Specialties in Sales, Marketing, and Top Management. Roberto has gained his experience working in different assignments from Technical, Commercial, and Top Management for companies like Lubrizol, Mexico, and CCA, from 1981 to 2015 as well as Mexzol for 6 years. Mexzol provides Technical and Commercial Consultants for the Lubricant Industry in Latin America. Mexzol currently represents Italmatch Chemicals, Franklin Electric Grid Solutions, and US Technologies.

Peter McGrath, Ireland

Peter McGrath is a founder of Innov Oil Ltd, a leading international supplier of speciality polymers for lubricant applications. After graduating in analytical chemistry, he has spent his 40-year career in the chemical industry in a number of high-profile senior management and technical sales in printed circuits and semiconductors, especially gases and latterly lubricant sectors. He holds numerous patents and He is a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Chartered Chemist.

Dr Raj Duraisamy, India

Having worked for 2 decades with the Additives Industry in Research and Development, testing, formulation and field trials at Lubrizol and multinational companies like GP Petroleum, Repsol and Caltex India, Dr Raj has a bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Post graduate degree in Petrochemicals Engineering in India. He is currently the Global Technical General Manager for Lubricant Additives at Adipro International Corporation.

Suri Chetty, South Africa

Suri is a Director and shareholder of Unichem Services (Pty) Ltd, a leading Speciality fluids technology supplier to the EMEA region. He leads a team of dedicated lubricant technology
specialists and marketers, driven by the pursuit of excellence in fluid innovation. As a Distributor of synthetic base oils and technology for over 20 years we have seen the global demand for performance-based lubricants outstrip the cost-based models for developing Lubricant brands. This has informed a transition in Unichem’s business model from a distributor-based business model to a technology partner, enabling customers to participate in the highly lucrative synthetic lubricants segment. Our team are constantly reviewing the latest technologies from around the globe, understanding the behaviour of fluids, and additives, and how they can be combined to solve everyday lubrication challenges. Today the overwhelming focus of Suri and his team is to bring viable carbon-neutral technologies to their customers and play a leading role in reducing carbon emissions through intelligent lubricant design

William R. Downey, USA

William R. Downey Jr. is the Senior Vice President, Business Development for Novvi LLC. In this role, he is responsible for the market and business development activities at Novvi, reaching across OEMs, major oil companies and critical independents, as well as distributors. Before joining Novvi, Bill was a Partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants LLC, based in its New York and Boston offices. Bill was a member of the Global Oil & Chemicals Competency Center, as well as a member of its North American Management Team. Before joining Roland Berger, Bill Downey was Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Energy Practice at Kline & Company, a leading downstream petroleum and lubricants consultancy. He started his career in the lubricants business during an eight-year tenure with the Royal Dutch Shell/ Group of Companies, in technology, lubricants, base oils and additives. For part of those eight years, he was seconded to Shell Additives, one of the predecessor companies of Infineum. Across all of his endeavours, he has more than 35 years of experience in the petroleum and chemical industry. He is recognized as an expert in the lubricants, wax, and petroleum speciality value chains. He has started one company, has had over four years of experience with a second start-up, and has worked for and consulted with some of the largest corporate entities in the world. He has been a frequent speaker at important industry and trade association meetings. He has addressed and moderated ICIS Conferences in London, Dubai, New York, Jersey City, NJ, Sao Paulo and Seoul. He is proud to have moderated or co-moderated each of the first thirteen ICIS Middle Eastern Base Oils & Lubricants conferences in Dubai, UAE.