Executive leadership team

Deepak Maheshwari - Chief Executive Officer

Deepak MaheshwariDeepak Maheshwari - Chief Executive Officer has more than 25 years’ senior leadership experience, across the utilities, energy, and infrastructure sectors in Europe and Asia and will further strengthen corporate governance of the Company within an ESG framework. Deepak was most recently Chief Financial Officer and Head of Strategy at Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited, India's largest commercial multi-port operator. He was previously CFO of Essar Energy Limited.

As CEO, Deepak will work closely with the EET Fuels' Board on the delivery of a number of strategic transition projects which are aimed at making Stanlow a low carbon process refinery to meet the future energy needs of the UK.

   

Jon Barden - Chief Operating Officer

Jon BardenJon Barden is a Chemical Engineering graduate, a Fellow of the UK Institution of Chemical Engineers and an Associate Member of the City and Guilds Institute of London. He has over 35 years of experience in the global refining industry with international assignments in six countries, the majority of which were completed with BP.

Jon has a deep understanding of all aspects of the refining business having executed roles in refinery leadership, operations, technology, commercial, strategy and global support. He is an experienced board member and has participated in many cross industry leadership groups to promote the value of industry within communities. Jon is committed to lifelong learning and has completed numerous continuing education activities including leadership development at Stanford University and a qualification in Accounting and Finance from the Open University.

 

Satish Vasooja - Chief Financial Officer

Satish VasoojaSatish Vasooja is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 25 years of experience and has worked across a number of different industry sectors for leading companies such Panasonic, Hutchison Whampoa and HCL Technologies. He has been with Essar Oil UK since the company acquired the Stanlow Manufacturing Complex from Shell in 2011 and has fulfilled a number of different finance roles during that period, including that of CFO for Stanlow Terminals Limited.

 

 

Michelle Lewis - Director of Corporate Affairs

Michelle LewisMichelle Lewis has over 20 years’ experience working in senior Corporate Communications roles and has responsibility for the company’s activities relating to reputation management, incident management, colleague engagement, stakeholder engagement and the ESG programme. Previously Michelle has worked in the utility sector (Electricity North West and Yorkshire Water) and the retail sector (Asda Wal-Mart) and joined EET Fuels in January 2022. Michelle is also chair of Behind Closed Doors, a charity that supports victims of domestic abuse and acts to prevent it.

 

Karan Hari - Chief Commercial Officer

Karan HariKaran Hari is a graduate in Management Studies, with close to 35 years of experience, both in the UK and overseas. He has worked in a range of government (BPCL in India) and private companies, including oil major BP, upstream producer Cairn and global trading house Trafigura. He joined EET Fuels in February 2020 as Head of International Trading and Supplies and during his time in the role built a strong team by identifying and developing talented individuals from within the business. He was promoted to Chief Commercial Officer in July 2021.

 

Arvind Chopra – Chief Risk Officer

Arvind ChopraArvind has over 35 years’ of experience working with some of the biggest global corporations.  A Chartered Accountant by training, he has worked with the world’s leading advisory firms, notably PwC in the UK where he was a Senior Partner and with KPMG in India where he was the founding partner of its advisory practice. He has also worked with Arcelor Mittal in UK as its Global Head of Risk Management and thereafter with Essar Group as President, Assurance & Cost Control and with Bharti Enterprises as the Group Head of Risk Management and Assurance.

He has extensive experience in business development, strategic initiatives, corporate governance and risk management.  He specializes in risk management and assurance, internal audit and compliance. Arvind has attended programs in Sustainability and Climate change and corporate governance at Cambridge University and Kellogg School of Management.  He has been a visiting lecturer at many Indian Management Schools.

 

Mike Mackay – Chief Transformation Officer

Mike has over 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He also has extensive knowledge of refining and the downstream oil sector in the UK. He recently returned to EET Fuels from a successful secondment in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero as the UK downstream oil sector’s advisor to Government.

Mike has a Master of Arts and Master of Engineering degree from Cambridge University, is an alumnus of the London Business School and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineering. In his new role, Mike will develop and implement strategies to improve business performance and reliability as EET Fuels transforms for tomorrow.

 

Nimish Khare – Chief People Officer 

Nimish is a growth-focused HR leader. He has more than two decades of experience within the IT and technology sector that includes all aspects of engagement, employee relations, talent, and performance management with geographically dispersed teams across UK and Europe.  

Prior to joining EET Fuels, he was the Head of HR (UK & Europe) at LTIMindtree, where he was responsible for offering relationship management capability to develop high performing teams. He also partnered with senior leaders to build an inclusive and supportive HR culture and implemented people strategies to support business objectives. With his rich experience and deep commitment to performance culture, he has shown great energy and care for people across the organisations he has served.

He has also held various senior leadership positions at organisations such as: Coforge, Wipro Technologies, Infosys Technology and STMicroelectronics. At these organisations, he has helped steer the teams through innovative and transformational people strategies.

Nimish is an electrical engineer, and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, which is located in Pune, India.

Vineet Jaiswal – Chief Information and Digital Officer

Vineet Jaiswal

Vineet is an Engineer with an MBA from Nagpur University.  He has over 26 years’ experience in areas of IT/DT Leadership, Strategic Planning, Organization builds, Data & Analytics, Digital Strategy and Innovation in the industries of Manufacturing, Power, Mining, Oil & Gas and IT.

He previously worked as Group Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Vedanta Resources Limited, a global metals and mining company where he was responsible for group wide digital, IT and innovation functions.  He also led the creation of that company’s Centre of Excellence for Asset Optimization, Quality and R&D.

Before Vedanta, Vineet led Digital Transformation at JSW as Group Chief Data Officer (CDO). Prior to that during his 17 Years association with General Electric (GE), Vineet Jaiswal had multiple leadership roles, which included being Strategies & Shared Services Leader at GE Digital’s Data & Analyst Organization, Energy Connection India Chief Information Officer (CIO), Power Conversion Data & Analytics Global CIO, and Intelligent Platforms Regional & India CIO. Before that he had worked for originations such as Elind and CONCIO. Vineet is also passionate about community service and an active volunteer and financial contributor. Vineet does Pro-Bono Digital advisory work with the purpose of giving back to society. 

As Chief Information and Digital Officer, Vineet is responsible for leading the Digital transformation journey along with the IT strategy, process  simplification and helping the organisation to have robust IT & OT security.

 

Sunil Puri - General Counsel & Company Secretary

Sunil PuriSunil Puri has over 19 years' experience in the energy sector. He joined Essar in May 2021 and is responsible for Legal, Governance and Company Secretarial for EET Fuels and its subsidiaries. A qualified solicitor, he holds a Bachelor of Laws from London Metropolitan University and a Master of Laws from University College London.

Sunil began his career with BG Group plc in 2002 before moving on to Tullow Oil plc in 2008 where he was an Associate General Counsel with responsibility for development projects, legal delivery and performance for the group's global portfolio of upstream assets. His extensive experience includes managing large legal teams and external counsel in many countries, progressing company growth and commercial initiatives and ensuring governance requirements are adhered to.

 

Michael Gaynon - Chief Executive Officer, Stanlow Terminals Limited

Mike GaynonMichael Gaynon was promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Stanlow Terminals Limited (STL) on 1st July 2021.

Michael was a core part of the STL team since Essar first developed plans for and set up the subsidiary infrastructure and distribution company and has a wealth of experience in the Oil and Energy sector, working internationally across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, prior to joining Essar at Stanlow in 2011.

As the UK transitions to a low carbon energy economy, Mike will oversee STL’s focus on delivering the energy storage solutions of the future, drive third party business growth and continue to provide EET Fuels with critical infrastructure support.