Speakers | Asia Energy and Chemical Forum

Dewey Johnson Senior Vice President, Global Head of Chemical Market Analytics Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Dewey is Senior Vice President with Dow Jones and Global Lead for the Chemicals practice within Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS, a Dow Jones Company.

Dewey leads a team of 250+ subject-matter experts with deep knowledge and experience across the global chemical sector. Chemical Market Analytics offers unmatched global coverage of the Base Chemicals space, covering almost 350+ chemistries through subscription services and consulting (bespoke research) offerings to our clients. The CMA practice presently covers Energy & Feedstocks, Olefins & Derivatives, Aromatics & Fibers, Inorganics (chlor-alkali, vinyls, and soda ash), Plastics & Polymers, Syngas (methanol, acetyls, and ammonia), chemicals, Sustainable chemistries (carbon, hydrogen, various chemicals), and plans to extend into newer areas.

Dewey has two master’s degrees in environmental engineering & business management, respectively. He has enjoyed a distinguished career with Eastman Chemical Company across multiple roles and functions for 1.5 decades. In 2009, he joined Chemical Market Associates Incorporated (CMAI) and has been in the chemical market intelligence and research space ever since. From the acquisition of CMAI by the erstwhile IHS Markit to the present acquisition by Dow Jones, Dewey has been in senior leadership positions within the organization and has a deep understanding of the business.

Dewey has worked extensively with chemical industry stakeholders across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, covering industry leadership, the financial sector, and policymakers. Dewey has led multiple engagements with chemical industry clients globally in strategy development and execution, analysis of chemical markets and business portfolios, and M&A due diligence.

Dewey is a frequent lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, the UVA Darden School of Management, and the SUNY Albany School of Public Policy. He is based in Houston, Texas, United States of America.

Alex Theo Sr. Journalist OPIS

Alex is an experienced price reporter covering the commodities market for almost 10 years. Alex has been focusing on the LPG markets at OPIS since August 2022 and is a key contributor to the OPIS Asia Naphtha and LPG Daily Report. Prior to joining OPIS, Alex was covering the Iron Ore market as a Senior Price Reporter with Fastmarkets between 2018 and 2022. Alex was also in OPIS during 2013-2018 covering the heavy and middle distillates.

James Stevenson Executive Director Research Lead, Coal, Metals and Mining, McCloskey by OPIS

James Stevenson is Executive Director, leading the research and forecasting team for Coal, Metals & Mining within McCloskey. Previously he led Global Coal research, and before that he headed up analysis of North American coal. Dr. Stevenson’s primary expertise includes supply-demand dynamics of coal and iron ore markets, price forecasting, mining and transportation costs, and export logistics and infrastructure. He also has extensive experience in trading of coal, natural gas, and power, as well as being experienced in M&A, having been a part of a number of asset and offtake deals in the coal supply space.

Prior to joining McCloskey’s predecessor IHS Markit, Dr. Stevenson spent six years in coal and power trading, most recently as Vice President, Coal Analysis at Mercuria Energy Trading, and before that as Coal Strategist at Louis Dreyfus Highbridge Energy. He also worked in the energy trading team at Eraring Energy in the Australian utility industry, working primarily in risk management as well as strategy around coal procurement, power sales, and carbon strategy.

Dr. Stevenson holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Sydney in Australia, and a PhD from Yale University.

Joel Morales Vice President, Polyolefins Americas Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Joel Morales is the Vice President of Polyolefins Americas at Chemical Market Analytics.

Joel joined the company in March 2013 to cover Polyethylene (PE) and Polypropylene (PP) in North America. He began his career in 1999 with polyolefins manufacturer Solvay Polymers (later Ineos) in technical services and product development, before moving into field sales. After five years at Solvay Polymers, Joel moved into resin distribution sales for both Muehlstein and, later, United Polychem as a Product Manager, where he managed and sold polyethylene and polypropylene resins to various customer segments. In his most recent role before joining Chemical Market Analytics (CMA), Joel was a purchasing manager at Silgan Plastics, a major blow-molding and injection-molding plastics converter. He has brought a wealth of industry knowledge to Chemical Market Analytics through multiple stints along the plastics value chain.

Joel works closely within the Americas with resin producers, converters, and third parties covering the polyolefin markets. Joel speaks regularly around the world as a polyolefin market expert. He is the service leader of three market advisory subscription services: The Global Plastics and Polymers Report, the North American PE Report and the North American PP Report.

Joel graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a minor in psychology.

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Xiaomeng Ma Director, Asia Methanol Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Xiaomeng Ma is the Director of Asia Methanol at Chemical Market Analytics.

Xiaomeng is an experienced researcher with a strong track-record working experience in the industrial sectors spanning from petrochemical markets, and specialty chemical industries to energy and fuel industries. Xiaomeng’s current focuses are on methanol-related industries.

She is skilled in project assessment, building and implementing business strategies, and creating economic models. She has a strong professional background with a Masters in Engineering and a realistic understanding of the opportunities and challenges in the Asia chemical industry.

Steve Lewandowski Vice President, Global Strategic Content and Olefins & Derivatives Team Lead Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Mr. Lewandowski is the Vice President of Global Strategic Content and Olefins & Derivatives at Chemical Market Analytics.

Based in Houston, Steve Lewandowski is the Vice President of Strategic Content and Olefins & Derivatives at Chemical Market Analytics (CMA) by OPIS, a Dow Jones Company, a leading global provider of information, insight, and consulting services to the global chemical and petrochemical industry.

During a career spanning 30+ years in the refining and chemical industry, Steve has experience across the full spectrum of refining and petrochemical hydrocarbon value chains, covering various financial, strategic, technical, and commercial roles. Before his move to Chemical Market Analytics, Steve was Senior Manager of Base Chemicals at TOTAL Petrochemicals & Refining, Inc. In that capacity, he managed the P&L of the base chemicals business, including joint venture relationships, strategic guidance to the partnerships, plant operational interfaces, project development, and commercial responsibility for olefin and aromatic monomers, including styrene.

Before the Base Chemical Senior Manager role, Steve held increasing responsibilities within TOTAL’s Petrochemical business. The latest assignment was overseas, in Brussels, Belgium, where he was responsible for Global Aromatics’ long-term commercial business. The assignment included P&L responsibility and strategic project development for TOTAL worldwide. Before the Belgian assignment, he worked as manager of the US aromatics business. Before 2000, Steve was involved in the refining and fuels side of the Hydrocarbon chain, both for what was then FINA Oil and Chemical and for Star Enterprise (a joint venture between Texaco and Saudi Aramco), working as a process engineer, optimization engineer, fuels blending optimizer, branded/unbranded fuels marketing and supply lead, and in a business development role.

Steve earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University in 1987 and an MBA with a focus on finance and economics from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2000.

William Chen, PhD Vice President, Asia Olefins and Derivatives Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

William Chen is the Vice President of the Asia Olefins and Derivatives at Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS, a Dow Jones Company.

Dr. William Chen is the Executive Director at Chemical Market Analytics. He leads Asia Olefins’ business and has research responsibilities to provide insight into the dynamics of the ethylene, propylene, C4, and derivatives value chain markets. Provide thought leadership on the markets relating to supply, demand, price and economics, as well as competitive dynamics and changing industry structural elements.

William also leads Asia Olefins’ business for strategic growth and provides ongoing commercial management. Focus on nurturing client relationships and enhancing services to support clients’ commercial and strategic decision-making. Nurture relationships with clients, including SOEs, POEs and MNCs, to deepen services in clients’ commercial and strategic decision-making processes. William has been involved in many petrochemical consulting projects and client studies, including the China Coal Chemical Study, Global Propane Dehydrogenation Research, and Refinery-cracker/aromatic complex feasibility study.

Before Chemical Market Analytics, William worked for ChemChina. William started as a chemical engineer at the company’s Lanzhou fiber plant in Northwest China. Then, he moved back to Beijing to focus on downstream application development. Over the last two years with ChemChina, William took on sales and marketing responsibility in NE Asia.

William earned a Ph.D. from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, specializing in Polymer Chemistry and Physics. William is based in Beijing, China.

Hanwei Wu Journalism Director

John Howland Vice President, McCloskey

John Howland is Vice President and head of McCloskey by OPIS, a Dow Jones company. McCloskey provides market intelligence, news, price assessments/benchmarks and analytics/forecasts for the metals and mining supply chain with focus on thermal coal and steel making raw materials. Prior to joining Dow Jones, he was head of the coal, metals and mining business within IHS Markit and joined the company in 2007 through the acquisition of McCloskey of which he was a director. Mr. Howland is a member of the OPIS leadership team.

Brian Lee Executive Director, Asia Benzene & Styrene Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Brian Lee is the Executive Director for Asia Benzene & Styrene at Chemical Market Analytics.

Brian Lee is the research and analysis executive director responsible for the Asian market report for Chemical Market Analytics, focusing on benzene and styrene. He also contributes to various market advisory publications and supports consulting activities. Brian has a distinguished career spanning almost 30 years in the petrochemical industry.

Previously, he worked with Argus Dewitt for three years as a vice president covering Asian Aromatics. He contributed to numerous market reports and single-client studies and hosted the Asian conference, including speaking. Mr. Lee began his career at Samsung C&T Corporation, where he worked for 16 years across Asia and Europe. He was responsible for trading and marketing benzene, toluene, xylenes (BTX), styrene, paraxylene (PX), and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) to global customers.

Mr. Lee holds an MBA from Hanyang Cyber University and a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Hanyang University, South Korea.