After 3 years with Solomon, Rick Bilberry retired from his role as Chief Operating Officer this summer. Thank you, Rick, for the indelible mark that you made on Solomon during your time here and we wish you all the best in this next phase of life.

Following Rick’s retirement, Eric Kaufman has been appointed Chief Operating Officer. Eric joined Solomon in 2018. His prior roles at Solomon included Vice President Chemicals, Olefin Study Manager, and Senior Consultant. Eric’s chemical industry career began with ExxonMobil, where he served in a variety of manufacturing, engineering, and planning roles in ExxonMobil’s basic chemicals and polymers businesses. Following ExxonMobil, Eric joined Aspen Technology, where he worked with chemical companies on a global basis to improve business performance via the application of advanced technologies. Eric earned a degree in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University, and he completed the Executive Development Program at Babson College.

With Eric’s promotion, Kevin Smalstig is now the Chemicals Business Unit Vice President. Kevin has been with Solomon since 2020, serving as Chemicals Senior Advisor and Olefins Study Manager. Prior to Solomon, Kevin worked for ExxonMobil for over 30 years, with positions of increasing responsibilities in their chemicals and midstream operations. His career includes more than 20 years of olefins manufacturing excellence with key roles in operations, technical, and plant strategy/profitability. Kevin earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wyoming.

Additionally, we are pleased to announce that Mike Buck has joined Solomon’s Upstream Business Unit as Vice President. Mike comes to us from QuEST Global, where he served as Vice President and Strategic Business Leader for Energy. In this role, he led strategy development and execution to drive QuEST’s business and organizational growth around staffing, consulting, and digital/AI offerings to the energy industry. Mike also worked for ExxonMobil for 15 years in various senior global roles in operations, project development, and business development. Prior to ExxonMobil, Mike served in the US Army as an acquisitions and logistics officer. During this time, he served in the US, Iraq, and various other overseas locations. He retired as a Major after 14 years of service. Mike has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona, and a Master of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas.

In closing, best of luck to Rick in his retirement and congratulations to Eric, Kevin, and Mike in their new roles. We are excited to continue through this transition to focus on our clients and provide world class services to them.

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