Our Leadership Team

Phil McDivitt brings more than 30 years' industry experience to Ascend Performance Materials. He serves on the boards of directors of Ascend, the American Chemistry Council and DePelchin Children's Center; and the advisory council for the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. At the American Chemistry Council, McDivitt serves on both the Sustainability and Rail, Transportation and Infrastructure committees. He joined Ascend in 2015.

Tim Frielingsdorf has 25 years of controlling experience in manufacturing, sales, and projects, in addition to corporate finance. Prior to joining Ascend in 2014, he held various financial roles with public and private companies, cultivating a diverse skillset. He leads Ascend's finance and IT organizations. 

Vikram Gopal has broad experience in the advanced materials industry with expertise in research and development, product development, process engineering and applications development. Before joining Ascend in 2015, he was vice president of technology at Invista Engineering Polymer Solutions. He is credentialed as a Six Sigma black belt.

Gustavo Nechar brings decades of HR experience to Ascend. Before joining the company in 2017, he held leadership roles with Dresser-Rand, WABCO Vehicle Control Systems, Valeo and Citrosuco, a Brazilian food and beverage company.

Andrew Ralston has more than 30 years of experience practicing law in the energy and chemicals industries. He came to Ascend in 2009, following tenures as counsel for international law firms McDermott Will & Emery and Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP and senior counsel for Westlake Chemical Corp. and Valero Energy Corp.

Chris Witte has over 35 years of chemical manufacturing and engineering experience, including multiple executive leadership roles with BASF and SABIC. He has extensive experience in capital budgeting and investments, strategic direction, manufacturing digitalization and sustainability strategy. He has served as Chair of the Texas Chemical Council’s Sustainability Committee and received the Brazoria County 2018 Stephen F. Austin Leadership Award.

Dr. Kevin Wu has more than 30 years of chemical industry experience, including various regional and global leadership roles at Rohm and Haas, Shanghai Chemspec Corporation and Celanese. He also served as an advisory member of the Committee of Multinationals within the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation as well as an advisory board member of the Association of International Chemical Manufacturers.

Paul Cartlidge has been with the organization for more than 25 years and served as the Chocolate Bayou site director for 12 years before assuming his role as the senior vice president of ESSH.

Amanda Castro has over 35 years of experience in global production and project execution. Before joining Ascend in 2021, Amanda served as project director over a multi-billion-dollar joint venture for Dow Chemical. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Universidade Federal da Bahia and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

John Ferguson has gained more than 20 years' experience and institutional knowledge from his wide range of roles at the company. He joined in 1996 as an engineer and led our intermediate chemicals business from 2008 to 2022, before joining our procurement organization. 

Grace Rojas joined Ascend in 2022. Since then, Grace has led several critical projects and now leads Ascend's strategy and growth team. Prior to her current role, Grace held a variety of roles at ExxonMobil in global market development, financial planning and process design.

Christelle Staller has more than 25 years’ experience in the chemical industry with expertise in technology development, strategy development and global sales. She has been with Ascend Performance Materials since 2014 in different business relevant roles and over past 5 years as EMEAI commercial director for Engineering Plastics sales.

Rachell Gold has extensive experience in human resources leadership from a variety of roles at Ascend. She currently leads culture and HR business partnership across the organization and serves as board chair of Ascend Cares.

Chris Johnson has over 25 years of experience with Ascend Performance Materials and its predecessors. He has held a number of roles in operations, maintenance and reliability, and large project execution.