Alejandro Granado
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

Alejandro Granado graduated with a degree in engineering/refining processes from the Ploiesti Oil and Gas Institute in Romania in 1981; he holds a master’s degree in refining/petrochemicals from the same institution.

He began his career in the oil industry in 1981 with Intevep's Processes Development department. In 1985, he became resident engineer for the BTX project in Chicago. In 1987, he began working for Veba Oel in Germany as a process engineer.

In 1990, he was assigned to British Petroleum in London as a leader in the Process Engineering unit dedicated to the Oxygenates Project for the el Palito and Amuay Cardon refineries.

Between 1991 and 1997 he held different supervisory and managerial positions in the Process Engineering department of Intevep. He was later transferred to CITGO Petroleum Corporation, where he acted as Technology Manager at the Lemont Refinery.

In 2000, he became the manager for PDVSA's Process Engineering Department. He subsequently became Manager of Conceptual and Basic Engineering, a position he held until December 2002, when he became General Assistant Manager of Refining in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela.

In July 2003, PDVSA's Board of Directors approved his appointment as Managing Director of Refining for PDVSA's Eastern Division. In June 2004, he was appointed Managing Director of Domestic and International Refining, and he has been Vice President of PDV Marina since 2004.

In January 2005, he was appointed Vice President of PDVSA, responsible for the refining area both at a domestic and international level. Also in early 2005, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of CITGO Petroleum Corporation.

On May, 18, 2007, he was appointed President and CEO of CITGO Petroleum Corporation and retained his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company.

Daniel Cortez
Vice President, Government and Public Affairs

Daniel Cortez graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications and journalism from the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB) in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1991. Subsequently, he pursued postgraduate studies in organizational communications at the same university, which he completed in 1999. Between 1995 and 2003, he was a professor of institutional communications at UCAB's Communications School.

He began his career with PDVSA, the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in January, 1992, and has served in a variety of supervisory and managerial positions at PDVSA, with an emphasis on corporate communications.

He has been head of communications for the refining, supply and marketing division (1998-1999) and communications and international relations advisor at PDVSA headquarters (2000-2005). In May, 2005, he was named communications manager (2005-2006) and later became international communications manager (2006-2007), before being appointed to his current position as CITGO's vice president for government and public affairs.

Brian O’Kelly
Vice President Finance

Brian O’Kelly was appointed vice president of finance on June 17, 2009. O’Kelly has had more than 27 years of service with CITGO’s parent company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), mainly dedicated to managing challenging financial endeavors at PDVSA and its subsidiaries in South America, the Caribbean, North America and Europe.

In the early 1990s, O’Kelly participated in PDVSA’s first major effort to access international capital markets. In his capacity as financial expert responsible for financial and operational issues in the corporation, he supervised financial operations related to CITGO, Rurh Oel in Germany and Nynäs in Sweden. He was also assigned to Hovensa, a PDVSA subsidiary, as director of financial planning and joint venture coordination, in the US Virgin Islands. Then, he became managing director of PDV USA, in New York, where he was involved with PDVSA’s debt restructuring, new financing and relations with financial institutions and credit rating agencies.

O’Kelly graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Florida Atlantic University and earned a Master’s in Business Administration degree, specializing in Finance, from Henley Business School in the United Kingdom.

Gustavo Velásquez
Vice President Supply and Marketing

Gustavo Velásquez, joined CITGO in 1997, where he served in various management positions, including manager crude supply and refining coordination and general manager crude supply, with responsibilities over the areas of crude oil and feedstocks supply, industrial products, and marine transportation and logistics, before becoming vice president supply and marketing in 2008. He started his career in the oil refining industry with PDVSA in 1978 and joined UNO-VEN in 1994 prior to coming to CITGO.

He has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas.

Bob Kent
Vice President, Refining

Bob Kent joined CITGO in 1999 as an engineering consultant at the Corpus Christi Refinery. He held several managerial and supervisory positions at Corpus Christi and in Houston before being appointed vice president and general manager of the Lemont Refinery in September, 2006. Subsequently, he was appointed vice president and general manager of the Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex in February 2008. He was appointed vice president, refining in November 2008.

Bob holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin and a master's in business administration and finance from the University of Minnesota.

Eduardo Assef
Vice President and General Manager, Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex

Eduardo Assef started his career in the oil refining industry in Venezuela in 1985 with PDVSA.

Assef holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Universidad de Carabobo (Venezuela) and received his master's degree in oil refining, gas and petrochemicals with the French Petroleum Institute and the Universidad Metropolitana.

At PDVSA, Assef held several positions of increasing responsibility in the areas of project, maintenance, process engineering and operations. In 1999 he was transferred to CITGO's Corpus Christi Refinery, where he has held positions in the technical and operational areas. In October 2004, he was appointed general manager, operations and maintenance at the Corpus Christi Refinery. In April 2006, he became vice president and general manager, Corpus Christi Refinery. He was appointed vice president and general manager, Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex in November 2008.

Kevin Ferrall
Vice President and General Manager, Corpus Christi Refinery

Kevin Ferrall joined CITGO in 1995 and held various positions at the Corpus Christi refinery, including manager, business optimization group, before becoming vice president and general manager in 2009. Prior to joining CITGO, he served in several engineering and operations positions at the Atlantic Richfield Company.

Ferrall has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the California Polytechnic State University in Pomona, Calif. and a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.

Jim Cristman
Vice President and General Manager, Lemont Refinery

Jim Cristman joined CITGO in 1980 and held various positions at the Lemont refinery, including operations manager and operations central services manager, before becoming vice president and general manager in 2008. Prior to joining CITGO, he served in various operations positions at UNO-VEN, including training manager and manager of crude processing. He also served as a member of the executive committee for the Needle Coker Company from 1993 to 1999.

Wladimir Noriega
General Auditor

As General Auditor, Wladimir Noriega leads CITGO's audit group in directing a program of company audits to evaluate operating, administrative and financial controls and to test the adequacy of operating and accounting systems.

Noriega is a Certified Internal Auditor (Institute of Internal Auditors) with more than 30 years of audit experience. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in business and a master's degree in business administration from Emporia State University in Kansas, Noriega began his audit career as a financial auditor for the Comptroller General's Office in Caracas, Venezuela.

He later joined PDVSA affiliate Maraven serving as financial administrative auditor, internal audit supervisor and internal audit manager. He also served PDVSA affiliate Bariven as financial administrative resident auditor and held the position of international business audit manager for PDVSA until joining CITGO in 2003.

Maritza Villanueva
Treasurer

Maritza Villanueva became CITGO's Treasurer in June 2006. In this position, her responsibilities include cash management activities, debt negotiations and debt compliance reporting.

Villanueva joined CITGO in 2003 from CITGO parent company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), where she held several positions of financial responsibility including functional manager of treasury and manager of financial operations. She has more than 20 years of financial management experience in the energy business. Villanueva holds a bachelor's degree in public accounting from the Universidad Católica Andres Bello in Caracas, Venezuela and a master's degree in administrative sciences from the Universidad de Oriente in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela.

John Butts
Corporate Controller

John Butts joined CITGO in 1991, having previously worked for Champlin Refining and Chemicals Inc. and Champlin Petroleum (subsidiaries of Union Pacific Corporation). He has served in numerous capacities within CITGO, including feedstock accounting manager, bank operations manager and manager of general accounting, prior to assuming his present position. Butts holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Phillips University in Enid, Okla., and completed the requirement for CPA certification in the State of Oklahoma in 1981.

Dean M. Hasseman
General Counsel

Hasseman holds a juris doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, a bachelor's degree in political science from Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., and a certificate from The Executive Program from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. He joined CITGO Petroleum Corporation in 1991 as senior corporate counsel after holding positions in the oil and gas industry including senior attorney with Sun Company, Inc. and general counsel with Williams Pipe Line Co. He is admitted to practice law in Texas, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.