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.

Silas Program Lecturers

2024 (Fall)

Deborah Grubbe
President of Operations and Safety Solutions LLC

2024 (Spring)

Kent Masters
Chairman and CEO, Albemarle Corporation

2022

Andre Dickens
Mayor of Atlanta

2021

Dr. Jayshree Seth
Corporate Scientist and Chief Science Advocate
3M

2020

Dr. Harry Heiman/Dr. Jodie Guest

2019
Dr. Valerie J. Kuck

2018
Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice

2017
Dr. Roger Pielke Jr.

2016
Ivan Oransky
Vice President and Global Editorial Director
MedPage Today

2015
G. Wayne Clough
President Emeritus
Georgia Tech

Glenn Cox
Retired President
Phillips Petroleum Co.

Ronald Rousseau
Professor and C.J. "Pete" Silas Chair Emeritus
Georgia Tech ChBE

2014
Glenn Wright
Senior Vice President
Shell Energy North America

2013
Greg Garland
Chairman and CEO
Phillips 66

2012
Dr. Arnold F. Stancell
Turner Servant Leadership Chair Emeritus
Georgia Institute of Technology

2011
Dr. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, ChE '79
Doctor of Internal Medicine &
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine

2010
Michael J. Dolan
Senior Vice President
Exxon Mobil Corporation

2010
John Brock, ChE '70, MSChE '71
Chairman and CEO
Coca-Cola Enterprises

2009
James J. Mulva — video
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
ConocoPhillips

2007
C. Judson King
Provost and Senior Vice President – Academic Affairs, Emeritus
The University of California System

2006
Elsa Reichmanis
Bell Labs Fellow and
Director of the Materials Research Department
Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies

2005
Thomas M. Connelly, Jr.
Senior VP & Chief Science and Technology
Officer, DuPont

2004
Lynn Elsenhans
President and CEO of Shell Oil Products U.S.,
President Shell Oil Company, and
Country Chair for Shell U.S.

2002
Charles “Garry” Betty, ChE '79
President and Chief Executive Officer,
EarthLink, Inc.

2001
William G. Paul
Attorney with Crowe & Dunlevy and
President Emeritus, American Bar Association

1999
Raymond V. Gilmartin
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
of Merck & Company, Inc.

1998
Robert W. Galvin
Chairman of the Executive Committee of Motorola, Inc.

1996
Shaun F. O’Malley
Chairman Emeritus and Chairman of the Ethics Resource
Center of Pricewaterhouse, LLP

1996
C.J. “Pete” Silas, ChE '53
Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
of Phillips Petroleum Company