Jim McKenna

About Jim McKenna

At Praxair, worked as a member of the Membrane Systems Engineering group as a Project Engineer. Responsible for delivering a packaged membrane unit to the customer, including sales support, design, process controls, and startup/operations support.Moved to the Chicago area to join BP for 2 reasons;(1) move into an operations setting, and (2) attend school for an MBA. Since joining BP, I\'ve spent time as a unit operations engineer at the Sulfur Recovery Unit, a Project Engineer in the Reforming & Isomerization area, and more recently as an Optimization Superintendent for the Hydroprocessing area. The position has 15 direct reports, including Supervisors, Process Control Engineers, and Unit Process/Operations Engineers. 40 total individuals in my organization, when including the Board Console Operators.Since my time in Operations, I\'ve pursued several commercial roles within BP. In 2009 I moved into the Supply & Trading group as a Refinery Supply Coordinator where I provided direction for the purchase/sale of refinery products and intermediates as the connecting point between the refinery Planning team and the market-facing traders. In 2011, I moved to the BP Petrochemicals team as the Strategy and Business Development Manager to broaden my commercial acumen. In this role, I am responsible for developing the business unit\'s strategy, then delivering on the strategy by generating and evaluating options for feedstocks, new products and optimization of the asset portfolio through business development activities. Specialties: Development of engineers, Hydroprocessing technology, Petroleum industry, Managing union workforce, Operations, Project management, Industrial gas, Supply & Trading, Strategy, Business Development

Experience

1. Director, Refining Supply & Optimization

   Cenovus Energy

   Jul 2025 — Present · Dublin, OH, US

Education

• University at Buffalo

  MS, Mechanical Engineering

  1997 — 2001

• Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management

  MBA, Management & Strategy, Marketing, Operations Management

  2003 — 2006

• Purdue University

  BS, Chemical Engineering

  1992 — 1996

Skills

• Petroleum
• Oil/Gas
• Energy
• Project Management
• Industrial Gases
• Chemical Engineering
• Process Engineering
• Gas
• Engineering
• Petrochemical
• Refinery
• Operations Management
• Refining
• Business Strategy
• Process Safety
• Oil Industry
• Strategy