LEOPOLDO PEREZ

**** ********* ****, *******, ** *9067 • 267-***-**** • q76bpw@r.postjobfree.com

SENIOR MANAGER – ENGINEERING / CONSTRUCTION

Project Management / International / Capital Deployment / Acquisitions / Facilities Construction Management / Reengineering Process

Award-winning technical project and facilities professional leading site acquisition, project design and management and work process improvements for Houghton International, The Dow Chemical Company, Rohm and Haas (RandH), GMT International Investments, O’Brien & Gere and AINSA. Led cross-functional teams designing and implementing construction management initiatives. Managed engineering and construction in US, Europe and Latin America. Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. Managed budgets to $125M and staff to 200.

• Led the team that re-engineered and consolidated R&D activities in one site, saving $8MM a year

• Led troubled project turnaround effort to recover an important customer trust and stop costly overrun

• Led troubled project turnaround effort to complete the French detergent additives plant

• Led the team that built a Rohm and Haas biocides plant in China

Key Skills: Formulating innovative process plans to aggressively build business. Managing complex cultural issues. Developing local subsidiary and EPCM services in global marketplace. Design Construction Management work process.

MBA, IPADE, Mexico City. Construction Industry Institute Associate, USA

BS, Chemical Engineering, National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico City.

SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Led the team that re-engineered and consolidated R&D activities in one site, saving $8MM a year. Company wanted to take advantage of having the scientists and technicians located in one site to enhance performance by combining the two groups’ synergy and improving communication. The EPCM project activities included remodeling of existing buildings and erecting additional buildings to accommodate the increased workforce. An additional benefit of the consolidation was the improvement of R&D activities efficiency and personnel reduction by eliminating duplication of activities.

Led troubled project turnaround effort to recover an important customer’s trust and stop costly overrun. Company overpaid a Mexican contractor services progress claimed as 70% when in reality progress was only 35%. Brought the project to renovate and update their refinery water demineralization plant from 35% completion to 100% within an agreed short timeline. Contained overrun within estimated contingency. PEMEX was recovered as a customer for the Ion Exchange business.

Led troubled project turnaround effort to complete the French detergent additives plant and reduce schedule overrun to a minimum with cost overrun within contingency. Company decided to expand the France facility. Managed complex French and German EPCM effort to bring project to completion with a 5% cost overrun but within original schedule.

Led the team that built a Rohm and Haas biocides plant in China. Managed complex EPCM and joint venture effort including Chinese and Japanese counterparts to build a toll manufacturing facility in Dalian. Chinese chemical manufacturer funded the installation of the facility at their industrial park. This option saved $1.5MM in capital and yielded a manufacturing cost reduction of 20%.

CAREER HISTORY

Consultant, currently conducting search in Mexico on behalf of Houghton International for the acquisition of a used chemical batch plant for the production of fluids used to prevent corrosion and erosion in the metal work industry.

Consultant. Supervised environmental remediation construction of a Superfund Site for The Dow Chemical Company in North Jersey. Mercury was the main target of the clean-up. This $40MM project included several actions designed to make the Site viable for future re-use and development.

Director of Program Management. O’Brien & Gere. Recruited in 2007 to promote a new business unit to service customers via acquiring their utility services. The outsourcing business models are several: from design/build/own/operate/maintain to acquire/own/operate and variations in between.

International Business Development Manager, GMT International Investments, LLC (division of GMT Capital Corp). Recruited in 2005 to research and develop international market for hedge fund investments in commercial real estate and manufacturing operations. Responsible for establishing international governmental, investor and developer contacts, including on-site and Internet facility and financial research. Conducted financial analyses and created business models testing feasibility and profitability.

Rohm and Haas Company, 1983-2004. $8B chemical specialty materials manufacturer.

Capital Deployment Project Manager. Led team reviewing construction project plans for financial feasibility, establishing goals and objectives. Recruited and managed building, safety and environmental teams. Monitored and reported on progress and budgets. Implemented and evaluated post-construction acceptance tests.

Remediation Project Manager. Directed environmental compliance projects, including regulatory submissions, oversaw remediation projects, and developed recommendations for corporate environmental policies.

Plant Engineering/Maintenance Manager. Ran specialty materials manufacturing facilities in US, Mexico and Brazil. Implemented annual preventive maintenance program, substantially reducing production downtime.

Early Career: Project Director, AINSA, $10M petrochemical engineering/construction company in Mexico.

AINSA, a brief story of the building of a company….

In 1971 after working two years as a Process Engineer for the Mexican Petroleum Institute (the technology and engineering design provider of the Mexican Petroleum Company – PEMEX). I joined three other people to found an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) company we called AINSA (Asociados en Ingenieria, S.A.).

The company was born with a small contract from a mining company (Minera Autlan) to provide civil engineering design. For the business model we decided to establish it as a holding company that would allow admin and accounting flexibility, as well as, work force transferring.

The holding company included initially the engineering company, a construction company and an industrial appraisals company. Later on, we added a fourth company dedicated to environmental projects services. This structure allowed us to soften the impact of the market cycles by taking most of our work force from design to procurement and to construction and finally to start-up. After the construction was completed our work force will provide an industrial appraisal of the customer assets to support financial restructuring and other purposes.

The company was located just outside of the Mexico City limits (to avoid higher taxes). In that location we enjoyed also income tax exemption for ten years and other incentives from the State of Mexico.

One of our goals was to grow up the company to a medium size and then put the company in the market after ~10-12 years of operation.

Shortly, I negotiated a $3 MM (US Dollars) lump sum contract for the design, procurement and construction of an Ethylene Glycol plant for a Petrochemical company called Polioles, S.A. de C.V. That company was partially owned by BASF and Mexican investors. As we developed the Front End of the project, I became the Process Leader and customer liaison. As we progressed through detail design, procurement, construction and start-up I became the Project Manager. Over five years I negotiated repeats from this customer with contracts that totaled $30 MM (US Dollars). This customer was later sold to the Alfa Group and we continued providing services to this group over the next five years.

At the same time I was in charge of beefing up the skills of our work force and to create the operating structure needed to aspire to obtaining larger contracts. I had a flat structure with seven project managers, four discipline managers and a sales director reporting to me. The discipline managers were in charge of creating engineering standards for all the engineering disciplines and a library to house lessons learned and for sales support.

All this combined effort gave birth to the Petrochemical Division of our company with 300 employees and contracts totaling over the years more than $100 MM (US Dollars). Our customer portfolio included well known companies such as: PEMEX, BASF, Celanese Corporation, ICI, Fertilizantes Mexicanos, Poliuretanos de Mexico, The Alfa Group and others. During the lower side of the investment market cycle we provided EPC services to Abbott Laboratories, Becton-Dickinson, GM, Ford, Nissan, Renault, Roca Fosforica Mexicana, Procter and Gamble, Campos Hermanos, S.A., Altos Hornos de Mexico, Minera Las Truchas, Minera La Caridad, TAMSA and others.

In some of the above mentioned projects, I supported our customers in the negotiation for technology licensing from American and European providers to Mexican companies and as certified appraisers in the acquisition of companies.

The company reached what we defined its medium size in 1980, year in which we put it in the market. After two years of pondering offers from American and European engineering companies, we accepted the offer from a German group called Uhde. One of our contractual obligations was to reduce the work force to 300 people. After the sale was completed, I spent the next three months making sure the laid off people was either relocated within other engineering and construction companies or helping those that were ready for retirement.

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