As Co-founder and Managing Director of EnerChemTek, Inc., Dr. Mauricio Dávila oversees all management activities of the company, including the firm’s technical advisory services (ECT Consulting), the corporate and individuals training and competency enhancement services (ECT Academy), the cloud-based analytics services (ECT Analytics) as well as the digital transformation services (ECT Digital).

Dr. Mauricio Dávila specializes in strategic planning, competitor analysis, valuation of companies, market research, and regulatory policy analysis in the energy and chemical industries. He has more than 20 years of experience helping major corporations involved in the oil, natural gas, LNG, petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and energy intensive industries.

Before co-founding EnerChemTek, Inc., Mauricio spent 7 years as a Senior Consultant in the Chemicals and Energy Practice of SRI Consulting (formerly Stanford Research Institute) in California and also worked for 5 years as an investment banker for Banamex (now Citibank Banamex) and Serfin (now Santander Serfin).

Dr. Davila holds a B.Sc. in chemical engineering from Iberoamericana University, an M.Sc. in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. in political economics from Laval University in Canada. He has also been a post-doctoral visiting scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies at Stanford University, where he conducted research on the natural gas and petrochemical sectors in Latin America. He is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese, proficient in Italian and knowledgeable in German and Arabic.

Alfonso Escamilla is Principal Consultant at EnerChemTek, Inc. He brings more than 30 years of industry experience in the consumer goods, and chemical and petrochemical industries. Mr. Escamilla brings his expertise as a professional in Supply Chain solutions with a proven track record in designing, implementing and operating diverse supply chains in global consumer goods for a leading global company. Alfonso has demonstrated ability to lead and work effectively using inter-personal skills to obtain results across cultures and multifunctional global & regional teams, externally (with clients) and internally (with our own consultants).  Alfonso has demonstrated experience to lead change by building organizational capability and systems to obtain breakthrough results and sustain continuous improvement. He has lived in Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Chile having acquired experience contributing in Supply Chain Strategic Planning & Logistics, new products & initiatives projects and cost savings programs.

His areas of expertise include strategic planning, logistics, initiatives & programs management, organizational development and work processes optimization, redesign and integration & cost savings programs, purchases, operations & manufacturing.

Mr. Escamilla holds a BSc. in Chemical Engineering from Iberoamericana University in Mexico and is fluent in Spanish and English and has business proficiency in Portuguese and French.

Ken Sinclair is Principal Consultant of petrochemicals and polyolefins at EnerChemTek and specializes in the strategic interpretation of technology for the petrochemicals and plastics industries.  He has more than 30 years of experience as a consultant to the petrochemicals and polymers industries.  He is a specialist in polyolefin technology, and specifically in the relationships between catalyst/process combinations and the structures, properties, applications, and costs of polymers produced.  His primary aim is to provide the industry with insights into the role of technology and its exploitation in the achievement of competitive advantage.

A frequent speaker at international conferences, he has authored a number of articles published in leading industry journals, has lectured on polyolefin manufacturing technology, and has conducted many private seminars on research planning, technology interpretation, and process evaluation in the polyolefin industry.  He has been the prime author of several multiclient studies on polyolefins technology, markets, and business management that are recognized worldwide as benchmark studies in this field.

Mr. Sinclair holds a BSc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He spent 8 years with chemical plant contractors in the United Kingdom, followed by 6 years as a Consultant with Chem Systems International (now Nexant, Inc., a Bechtel company) in London, and 16 years as a Senior Consultant with SRI International in California.  He left SRI at the beginning of 1996 to set up STA*Research, a consultancy providing specialized advice to the plastics industry on strategy development and technology exploitation. He is now a member of EnerChemTek’s network of consultants.

Research and Design, elearning solutions for corporations and individuals.

Bouchra is an accomplished multilingual business professional with strong analytical and negotiation skills. She brings expertise in consulting, corporate strategic planning and investment banking: equity research and project finance.

She has strong quantitative, research and presentation skills and is driven by passion for innovation and education. She feels with ease creating and cementing lasting relationships in multi-cultural environments.

Bouchra holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering and a M. Sc. in Civil Engineering from Laval University, a Master Degree in Engineering Economic Systems and Operations Degree from Stanford University. Bouchra has been a visiting scholar as the Center for Latin American Studies from Stanford University focusing on sustainable development research.

Dr. John Fraser is a Senior Principal for Energy at EnerChemTek, Inc. He has more than 30 years of industry and consulting experience in applied research and analysis in advanced energy technologies, natural gas, oil, global energy markets, and energy project economics, which he performed formerly at SRIC (formerly Stanford Research Institute). He provides clients with critical thinking and independent perspectives that are focused on solutions.

In addition to providing advisory services to clients, Dr. Fraser also assists clients by: (1) evaluating the commercial feasibility of proposed energy projects; (2) evaluating energy, technology, and strategy options for their long-term business planning needs; (3) analyzing impacts of future energy-environment-economy scenarios on clients’ business strategies; (4) identifying potential ‘game-changer’ technologies and assessing their implications on clients’ energy strategies; and (5) providing key insights for and critical review of clients’ energy-related technology and business strategies.

Dr. Fraser holds a BSc. in Chemical engineering from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Applied Economics (energy) from the University of Houston (1977). His thesis involved the techno-economics of uranium enrichment, nuclear reactor technologies and the nuclear fuel cycle.

Dr. Mario Morfin, principal consultant at EnerChenTek, is a specialist in Dynamical Systems and Computability Theory. He is experienced at integrating different optimization techniques that go from applications of linear optimization, population dynamics, to computability theory in order to optimize and automate complex systems.

At EnerChemTek, Dr. Morfin has been specializing in the development of commercial software for the optimization of the natural gas/LNG value chain, providing a user-friendly platform for in-house use and for client applications. The ultimate aim of this platform is to develop a tool that help users to understand and explore business opportunities and the dynamics related to natural gas supply/demand, pricing, distribution, and international market penetration of natural gas (via pipeline or as LNG), as well and evaluating the financial risks involved in the various segments of the natural gas value-chain. He also participates in the development of our in-house databases related to the global energy industry.

Dr. Morfin did undergraduate studies in physics and mathematics at the National University of Mexico and the Center for Mathematical Research CIMAT in Guanajuato, México. He continued with graduate studies at the University of Toronto, where he obtained a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Mathematics. Prior to joining EnerChenTek, Inc. Dr. Morfin held positions as a lecturer at the University of Toronto. He also did postdoctoral research, with an industrial spin, at York University in the School of Information Technology in cooperation with researchers from the Centre de Recherches Mathématics – CRM, Université de Montréal.

Dr. Oliver Yu, Principal Consultant for Energy at EnerChemTek, Inc. and President of the STARS Group, a premier technology and resource strategy consulting firm spun off from SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute) in year 2000, is an internationally recognized expert on technology and resource strategy planning and analysis.  He is also a Consulting Associate Professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University and an Adjunct Full Professor on Technology Portfolio Planning and Management for the MBA-MSE (Master of System Engineering) Dual Degree Program at San Jose State University in California.  Prior to founding the STARS Group, Dr. Yu was Director of Energy and Technology Strategies at SRI from 1989 to 2000, managing numerous large projects on technology and resource strategies throughout the world.  A representative project was a 5-year study for the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry of Japan on the electric power deregulation trends around the world, including the US, UK, France, Germany, Argentine, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand. He had also been a senior technical and strategy advisor to the Chairman of Taiwan Power Company, the Energy Minister of China, and the President of Philippines. 

Before joining SRI in 1989, Dr. Yu was for 15 years the Manager of Planning Analysis at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), responsible for energy industry analysis and EPRI-wide technology research planning.  Dr. Yu holds a BSEE from National Taiwan University, an MSEE from Georgia Institute of Technology, and an MS in statistics and a PhD in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.  He is a board member and Director of Smart Grid Task Force of US-China Green Energy Council, and a Fellow of Portland International Center of Management of Engineering and Technology.  He was a Fulbright Fellow, and has been listed in Who’s Who in America since 2003, as well as a member of Sigma Xi, the research honor society. 

He has published over 70 technical papers and authored and co-authored 5 books on technology and resource strategy planning, including Technology Portfolio Planning and Management by Springer, and Technology Management and Forecasting published by Tsinghua University Press in China.  Dr. Yu has been an invited speaker at many academic and research institutions and technical conferences around the world, notably Tsinghua University in China, Kyushu University in Japan, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, smart grid seminars to Schneider-China and Taiwan Power Company, and chair of smart grid panel discussion at the US-China Green Energy Conference, and the power technology development and investment panel discussion at the Asia-Pacific Electricity Supply Industry CEO Conference in Taiwan.

Mitch Halpern is Principal Consultant, Innovation and IP Management at EnerChemTek and specializes in the development of innovation programs, IP monetization and evaluation strategies, and scenario planning/training for companies in the process industries and their clients as well as for research institutions.  He has more than 20 years of experience as a consultant and thought leader for senior executives around the world.  He specializes in working with internal and external teams to maximize the value of new and pre-existing IP in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Dr. Halpern spent 20 years at SRI International in the Chemistry lab, as part of the Process Industries Consulting Group, and in the Business Intelligence Center and its spinoffs where he was one of the leading developers of SRI programs to evaluate the commercial implications of emerging technologies in the advanced materials and electronics sectors and where he pioneered the combination of technology expertise and consulting methodologies to develop award-winning products and services. Following SRI, he followed a similar path at Strategos and IBM, where he was named an IBM Business and Technical Leader as part of the IP Management Consulting Group.

Mitch holds a BA (honors) in Chemistry from Columbia University and a PhD in Physical Organic and Organometallic Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He currently resides in St Louis, Missouri. His hobbies include photography, classical music, and collecting functional art. He is now a member of EnerChemTek’s network of consultants.