Ron Adams

Ronald B. (Ron) Adams is Global Portfolio Manager - Petroleum, with Sulzer Pumps in Houston, TX. He works with product development on new product definition and provides global product support. He has been with Sulzer since 1991 and has held various sales, marketing, and alliance management positions. Previously, he was with Ingersoll-Rand for over 18 years in pumps and hyperpressure equipment businesses.

He received his BS degree (Mechanical Engineering Technology, 1974) from Southern Technical Institute (summa cum laude) and studied toward his MBA at Georgia State University. He is a member of the ISO 13709 / API 610 Joint Working Group, API 676, and API 685 subcommittees.

Henri Azibert

Henri V. Azibert is the Chief Engineer of the Fluid Sealing Division of the A.W. Chesterton Company, in Stoneham, Massachusetts. He is responsible for the design and development of mechanical seals and related products. He has 22 patents granted on mechanical seal designs and improvements. He has lectured extensively to maintenance engineers all over the world.

Mr. Azibert received a B.A. degree (Political Science) from the University of Massachusetts, a Jurisprudence Doctor degree from Boston College, and an M.S. degree (Mechanical Engineering) from Northeastern University. Mr. Azibert maintains his standing in the Massachusetts Bar. He is a member of STLE, a member of the API 682 Task force, and the Chairman of the Standardization Task Group for the Fluid Sealing Association.

Paul Behnke

Paul Behnke is the Manager of Engineering and Research and Development at ITT Corporation – Gouds Pumps VPO in City of Industry, California. He rejoined the PAC , June, 2012.

Jim Blanding

Dr. James M. (Jim) Blanding is a Senior Consultant in the Engineering Mechanics Group in the DuPont Company, in Houston, Texas. His consulting primarily involves plunger and plunger/hydraulic diaphragm pumps and compressors in process and metering applications. In these and related process systems, Dr. Blanding specializes in diagnostic measurements, online remote condition monitoring, and performance analysis. To complement this experimental work, he also performs detailed computational modeling of pump and compressor performance, rapid transients in process gas and control systems, and pressure pulsation.

Dr. Blanding received B.S. and M.S. degrees (Mechanical Engineering) from Virginia Tech before joining Union Carbide in 1976 as a Consultant in acoustics. He returned to Virginia Tech in 1978 for a Ph.D., as instructor on the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering teaching Mechanical Vibrations and other undergraduate courses. Dr. Blanding joined DuPont in 1981.

Simon Bradshaw

Simon Bradshaw is the Global API Product Development Manager for ITT Goulds Pumps, in Seneca Falls NY.  His responsibilities include the design and development of new products and processes for the oil and gas industry. Prior to joining ITT Goulds, he worked for both Sulzer Pumps and Weir Pumps, where he held various positions of engineering and contractual responsibility.  Additionally he has supported the Hydraulic Institute in the development of pump standards and best practice guides.

Mr. Bradshaw has accumulated 24 years in the pump industry.  He attributes this to having never exhausted the fun inherent in moving fluid between two improbable locations.  He holds a BEng (Hons) degree (Mechanical Engineering) from Heriot Watt University, is a registered Chartered Engineer in the UK and a member of the Institute of Engineering Designers.

Morg Bruck

Gordon Buck

Ronald Carlson

Dara Childs

Dr. Dara W. Childs has been Director of the Turbomachinery Laboratory since 1984 and holds the Leland T. Jordan Chair in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees (Civil Engineering, 1961, 1962) from Oklahoma State University, and his Ph.D. (Engineering Mechanics, 1968) from the University of Texas. He was named an ASME Fellow in 1990, and received ASMEs Henry R. Worthington Medal in 1991.

Dr. Childs' expertise is in dynamics and vibrations, with an emphasis in rotordynamics. He has conducted research and engineering projects for NASA, DOD, and private firms. Current research includes: high-pressure testing honeycomb and hole-pattern gas damper seals; testing high-pressure laminar oil seals; force measurements in magnetic bearings using fiber-optic strain gauges.

Dr. Childs has authored numerous reviewed publications related to rotordynamics and vibrations, and the book, Turbomachinery Rotordynamics. He is presently completing a new dynamics book entitled, Dynamics in Engineering Practice.

David E. Earl

David E. (Dave) Earl is a Staff Rotating Equipment Engineer for ConocoPhillips presently supporting the Alpine and Kuparuk fields on the North Slope of Alaska. He has accumulated over 30 years experience in the Arctic oil industry, working in Operations, Engineering and Project Design and Construction.

Mr. Earl received his B.S.M.E from California Polytechnic State University and holds Professional Engineering licenses in the State of Alaska and the Province of Alberta.

Bob Heyl

Robert F. (Bob) Heyl is a Senior Staff Engineer with Chevron Energy Technology Company in Houston Texas.He is also the team leader of the Chevron Machinery and Mechanical Systems Technology Network, coordinator of the Rotating Equipment Facilities Engineering Organizational Community, and leader of the Mechanical Equipment RoundTable attended by Chevron's mechanical equipment personnel from around the world. Mr Heyl has been with Texaco and Chevron for 36 years and is responsible for the design and troubleshooting of mechanical equipment internationally. His responsibilities include equipment application, specification, selection, installation, troubleshooting, and the development and promotion of new technologies throughout the company.

Mr. Heyl has a B.S. degree (Engineering Science) from Hofstra University and attended Columbia University. He is a Steering Committee member of the API Subcommittee on Mechanical Equipment, and is Chairman of API 674, API 675, and API 676 Task Forces. He has participated on API 610, API 614, and API 682.

Mike Huebner

Michael B. Huebner is a Staff Engineer in the Flow Solutions Division of Flowserve Corporation, in Deer Park, Texas. He has more than 20 years' experience in the design of mechanical seals, centrifugal and positive displacement pumps, and fluid conditioning equipment. For Flowserve, he has served in design, testing, and application functions in both the U.S. and Europe.

Mr. Huebner received his B.S. degree (Engineering Technology) from Texas A&M University. He is a member of the International Pump Users Symposium Advisory Committee and the API 682 Task Force.

Jacek M. Jarosz

Mike Johnson

Michael W. Johnson is a Pipe Stress Engineer in the Reliability Engineering Department of Reliant Energy, in Houston, Texas. He has more than 20 years of experience and is responsible for high energy piping and ISI programs at Reliant.

Mr. Johnson graduated from the University of North Dakota (1980) and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.

John Joseph

John P. Joseph II is an independent consultant with Rotating Equipment Systems Technical Associates, in Houston, Texas. He was previously with BP Amoco where he provided technical and maintenance support for rotating equipment systems to existing asset organizations in BP Amoco, and to Project Management on new projects. Prior to that, Mr. Joseph was with the Amoco Petroleum Products Refinery, in Texas City, Texas. He supervised the rotating equipment engineers and the rotating equipment specialists for the refinery. Mr. Joseph spent six and one half years as Superintendent of Central Shops and three years in Amoco's Refining and Transportation Engineering Department, in Chicago, Illinois. Previous assignments at the Amoco Texas City refinery also included the Rotating Equipment Consulting Group, the Project Engineering Group, and as a Maintenance Engineer on the Hydrocracking Unit.

Mr. Joseph received his B.S. degree (Mechanical Engineering, 1972) from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Bill Litton

William R. (Bill) Litton is the Pump Initiative Manager with Magellan Midstream Partners, LP, in Tulsa , Oklahoma . He is an experienced professional engineer with 25 years of experience in the petroleum industry. He has ability and experience in mechanical equipment, prime mover economics, power optimization, and pipeline system hydraulics.

Mr. Litton also has project engineering ability and experience in handling pipeline expansions, pipeline pump stations, refineries, fractionators, gas and processing facilities and crude oil, refined products, NH3, and propane terminals (brine cavern and excavated caverns). He also has experience in maintaining mechanical equipment company-wide to provide reliable and economical service. This includes rerating of pumps and pump modifications to reduce resonant and nonresonant vibration levels.

Mr. Litton has a B.S. degree (Mechanical Engineering, 1979) from Kansas State University and a B.S. degree (Mathematics, 1978) from Emporia State University . He is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Oklahoma.

Bill Marscher

Bill Marscher, P.E.,  is President and Technical Director of Mechanical Solutions, Inc., where he and other staff perform design, analysis, testing, and troubleshooting of pumps and miscellaneous turbomachinery.  Bill has over 40 years of hands-on as well as design experience with rotating machinery in the aerospace, power, and process industries.  Bill is presently one of the US representatives to the ANSI/ ISO Machinery Acoustics and Vibration Standards Committee ISO TC108/S2, is past Board Chair of the Society for Machinery Failure Prevention Technology (MFPT), and is past President of the Society of Tribologists & Lubrication Engineers (STLE).  He is an Hydraulic Institute Standards Partner, and is a ten year veteran of the TAMU Pump Symposium Advisory Committee.  

Todd Monroe

Todd R. Monroe is a Machinery Consulting Engineer with LyondellBasell. In his current position, he serves as the Machinery Lead in the Global Projects & Engineering Support group. In this role, he is responsible for the specification, evaluation, installation, and start-up of rotating equipment on major global projects. Prior to this role, he spent over 25 years at the plant level, involved in the maintenance and reliability of rotating equipment.

Mr. Monroe received his B.S degree (Mechanical Engineering, 1984) from Texas Tech University and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.

Mike Moore

Michael (Mike) Moore is the Director of Global Oil & Gas Marketing for the Colfax Corporation, in Ontario, Canada. The first 16 years of his career were spent with the Flowserve Pump Division located in Brantford, Ontario, working with a wide variety of centrifugal and positive displacement pump types. His work experience with Flowserve spanned the engineering, field service, project management, and new product development departments. The last five years of Mr. Moore's career have been spent working with Colfax, initially as their Senior Multiphase Engineer and then as Colfax Americas' Crude Oil Product Marketing Specialist prior to taking on his current responsibilities. For the last five years, Mr. Moore has served as the task force secretary for API 676 - positive displacement pumps, rotary.

Mr. Moore received his education in Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University and the Mohawk Technical Institute, both located in Hamilton, Ontario.

Jerry Morrison

Dr. Gerald L. (Jerry) Morrison is the Nelson-Jackson Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He received his Ph.D. degree from Oklahoma State University (1977). He is a member of various societies including: ASEE, Associate Fellow in AIAA, Fellow in ASME, Pi Tau Sigma, and Tau Beta Pi.

Dr. Morrison's research interests are in turbulent fluid flow and instrumentation. His research in coherent structures in turbulent flows has enabled him to develop expertise in hot wire anemometry, laser Doppler anemometry, acoustic measurements, and spectral analysis, and in other conditional sampling techniques.

Dr. Morrison manages a program to study labyrinth seals. This includes empirical and analytical schemes to predict leakage rates with experimental verification of the two schemes, and the use of a 3-D laser Doppler anemometer to measure the flowfield inside an actual seal. He is also active in the research area of flow fields inside centrifugal pumps and turbochargers.

Bruno Schiavello

Bruno Schiavello has been Director for Fluid Dynamics at Flowserve Pump Division, Applied Technology Department, in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, since 2000, and previously served in the same position with Ingersoll Dresser Pump Company. He started in the R&D Department of Worthington Nord (Italy), joined Central R&D of Worthington, McGraw Edison Company, and then Dresser Pump Division.

Mr. Schiavello was co-winner of the H. Worthington European Technical Award in 1979. He has written several papers and lectured at seminars in the area of pump recirculation, cavitation, and two-phase flow. He is a member of ASME, has received the ASME 2006 Fluid Machinery Design Award, and has served on the International Pump Users Symposium Advisory Committee since 1983.

Mr. Schiavello received a B.S. degree (Mechanical Engineering, 1974) from the University of Rome, and an M.S. degree (Fluid Dynamics, 1975) from Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics.

Eberhard Schlücker

Eberhard Schlücker studied mechanical engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Heilbronn. After having worked at company LEWA for several years he received his doctor’s degree in chemical and bioengineering from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. In 1995 he again joined company LEWA as a member of the executive board. In 2000 he became head of the Institute of Process Machinery and Systems Engineering at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, which he has been holding up to now. His main areas of research are high pressure- and process engineering, fluid system dynamics and acoustics as well as chemical and biological process technology. Professor Schlücker is the editor of various technical journals and the Chairman of the EFCE Working Party for High Pressure Technology.

Joe Silvaggio

Joseph A. (Joe) Silvaggio, Jr., is Manager, Pump Projects and Engineering at Siemens Demag Delaval Turbomachinery, Inc., Trenton, New Jersey, and has been with them since 1968. His past experience at Demag Delaval includes the areas of aerodynamics, flow analysis, seal development, design of centrifugal compressor stage elements, centrifugal pump design and flow analysis, boiler feedpump design and analysis, and testing of steam turbines.

Mr. Silvaggio is a member of Sigma Tau and Pi Tau Sigma. He is also an active member of ASME and has held several offices in the Trenton, New Jersey, section. At present, he is on two ASME Performance Test Code Committees and is a member of the Board on Performance Test Codes.

Mr. Silvaggio holds both B.S. and M.S. degrees (Mechanical Engineering) from the University of Pennsylvania. He has written and coauthored numerous technical publications, and is a member of the International Pump Users Symposium Advisory Committee.

Leslie Thilagan

Leslie Thilagan is a Rotating Equipment Engineer at S&B Engineers and Constructors, Ltd in Houston, Texas. He has over 30 years of experience in design, hydraulics, applications including evaluation and order execution, testing, troubleshooting, technical sales, and management in the pump manufacturing industry in both the UK and the USA. His experience includes working at David Brown-Bingham pumps in Sheffield UK for 20 years, David Brown-Union Pumps, Rhurpumpen, and Sulzer Pumps in Houston, Texas. His experience also includes working as Rotating Equipment Engineer at KBR Houston for six years and Bechtel Houston.

He obtained his degree in mechanical and production engineering at University of Huddersfied UK. He is a registered professional engineer with State of Texas. He was a Charted Mechanical Engineer with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in UK and European Engineer with FENAI Belgium.

Eric Vanhie

Eric Vanhie is a Technical Specialist at EagleBurgmann Industries in Houston, Tx. He has been active in the sealing industry for about 30 years in various positions ranging from application and design to sales of mechanical seals. Eric graduated in 1978 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Polytechnic College in Belgium and has worked in Europe and the USA. He is a member of the Fluid Sealing Association and has authored several technical papers on the application of mechanical seals.

Bruce Weber

Bruce Weber is responsible for the technical support of the mechanical seal division at the Champion Group in Houston, Texas. In this capacity, he supports customers during preliminary selection, design, installation and operation of sealing systems. Mr. Weber's other major role with Champion is customer training. In addition to mechanical seals, this training includes rotating equipment; selection, operation and other associated support systems.

Previously, Mr. Weber was the Operations Manager for Best Equipment. His duties included supervision of the pump repair facility, consulting with clients concerning pumping systems, and pump troubleshooting. Prior to that, Mr. Weber was associated with Koch Hydrocarbon, in Medford, Oklahoma, for 18 years. His responsibility as Maintenance Supervisor included 10,000 miles of pipelines that employed 2300 pumps. He also served as a rotating equipment consultant for Koch's four Gas Liquid fractionators.

Mr. Weber is currently enrolled at the University of Houston, working toward a B.S. degree.

Dan Wood

Daniel W. (Dan) Wood is a Pump Consultant with the DuPont Company, in Wilmington, Delaware. He provides pump, mechanical seal, and pumping system technical support throughout DuPont. Mr. Wood participates on committees within the Hydraulic Institute and is a voting member for 3-A Sanitary Standards for ANSI pumps. He was previously employed for 15 years in various engineering and training roles at Flowserve.

Mr. Wood graduated from the University of Cincinnati (BSME, 1991). He is a Level III Vibration Analyst certified through Technical Associates of Charlotte.

Chris Zielewski

Chris Zielewski is a Senior Staff Engineer with ExxonMobil Chemical currently working as a machinery group leader in the Baton Rouge Refinery. His past assignments have included project engineering and energy conservation. For the last 25 years he has worked as a machinery engineer in Olefins Cracking Units, Utilities, Cat and Hydro Cracking Units, and Synthetic Rubber Units. His area of expertise ranges from small metering pumps, thru ANSI, UMD, API pumps, vessel mixers and CT Fans to reciprocating compressors, integral gas engines, 500-20,000 HP range of Centrifugal Compressor and gas turbines in both mechanical drive and Cogen applications.

Involvement in machinery includes hands on analysis and troubleshooting of approximately 3,000 failure events and incident investigations, participation on TAMU Pump Symposia panels, and guest lectures a University-level senior design class. His community activities include science and math tutoring in high schools, motivational talks on technical careers in middle schools, presentations of hands on petrochemical industry topics to local elementary schools, and Science Fair judging.

Current professional interests include rolling element bearing applications in severe service, fluid sealing environmental controls and component life extension thru the use of coatings and performance monitoring. Mr. Zielewski graduated from Rutgers University with a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering. While there he was a member of the engineering honor societies, Tau Beta Pi, and Pi Tau Sigma.