Kent Masters, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Albemarle Corporation
"Resilient Leadership: One company’s purpose to help build a better world"
Abstract:
Albemarle leads the world in transforming essential resources like lithium and bromine into the critical ingredients needed to pioneer new ways to move, power, protect and connect. Albemarle’s innovative solutions are addressing some of the most pressing issues of our time, such as helping to ensure the safety of our food and water, supporting life-saving medical devices and pharmaceuticals, enabling an always-on world, and advancing the clean energy transition. In this latest Silas Lecture, Kent Masters, Chairman and CEO of Albemarle, will share how Albemarle’s core values define the company’s operations and what it means to lead a multinational corporation at the center of young and dynamic market during a time of great geopolitical tensions. This session will offer a unique window into the world of energy security and the challenges facing the U.S. today, and the need to remain rooted in the fundamentals of impactful leadership.
Bio:
Kent Masters is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Albemarle Corporation, a global leader in transforming lithium and bromine into critical ingredients for mobility, energy, connectivity, and health. Masters has accelerated Albemarle’s profile as a purpose-driven, values-led organization committed to creating a more resilient world where people and planet thrive. Under his leadership, Albemarle has expanded to more than 70 countries serving nearly 2,000 customers around the world. Barron’s named Masters to its Top 25 CEOs list in 2023, while TIME included Albemarle in its list of 100 most influential companies for that year. Masters first joined Albemarle as a member of its board of directors in 2015 as part of the company’s Rockwood Holdings Inc. acquisition.
Before joining Albemarle, Masters served as Operating Partner of Advent International, an international private equity group. Prior to Advent, he was Chief Executive Officer of Foster Wheeler AG, a global engineering and construction contractor and power equipment supplier. He is also a former member of the executive board of Linde AG, a global leader in manufacturing and sales of industrial gases. Masters serves on the board of directors of Vibrantz Technologies. He is also a member of the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council. Masters earned a Master of Business Administration from New York University and a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Ethics, leadership and quality, grounded in strong communication skills and professionalism, are essential components of an engineering education. To spotlight the importance of these core values, in 1995 the Phillips Petroleum Foundation awarded a grant to the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering to develop the Phillips 66/C.J. “Pete” Silas Program in Ethics and Leadership.
Named in recognition of the outstanding professional achievements of Georgia Tech chemical engineering alumnus C.J. “Pete” Silas, who retired from Phillips Petroleum as president and CEO in 1994, the program focuses on technical and business decisions that have ethical ramifications. These topics and related areas in engineering, technology and ethics are integrated into the core chemical and biomolecular engineering curriculum and are addressed in an annual public symposium featuring prominent industrialists and ethicists.