#EMReu People biographies

Bob Sharp

Vince Gridley

Franck Jouault

Bob Karschnia

Stuart Harris

Duane Toavs

Travis Hesketh

Robert (Bob) T. Sharp
President
Emerson Process Management Europe

Bob Sharp, President, Emerson Process Management Europe is responsible for leading all of the European sales and marketing activities for Emerson Process Management. He has worked for Emerson for 14 years.

Previously Bob was the President of Emerson’s Rosemount Level and Marine division, and was responsible for integrating three recent Emerson acquisitions into a single global Level & Marine division that serves the Marine Tank Management, Process Level and Tank Gauging markets.

Bob has also been the Vice President of Rosemount’s Global Temperature business, and before that Vice President Global Marketing for Rosemount. He also spent several years at Emerson Corporate within strategic planning roles, and as the Director of Investor Relations. In his past roles, Bob has been responsible for operating and sales units in a number of countries across Europe, including Sweden, Denmark, the UK, Germany, Finland, Russia and The Netherlands.

Bob has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and an MBA from Harvard.

Vincent Grindlay
Director
Fluor Supply Chain Solutions LLC
Fluor Camberley UK

Vincent Grindlay is a Senior Director with the Fluor Supply Chain Solutions organisation.

Prior to his current role, Vincent has held numerous positions within Fluor including Electrical and Control Systems Global Excellence Leader and Electrical and Control Systems Department Manager in Camberley UK. His engineering career includes a wide range of experience across industries, including petrochemical, oil and gas facilities (onshore and offshore), pharmaceutical and nuclear.

Vincent brings 30 years of professional experience in the process industry and 18 years with Fluor. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Measurement and Control as well as being a Chartered Engineer and currently undertaking a Masters Degree in Supply Chain Management in Capital Projects at Clemson University.

Franck Jouault
Manager, System Department
SOLVAY

Franck Jouault is Manager, System Department in the Tavaux, France plant. He began his career with SOLVAY in 2000 and has held various positions of increasing responsibility including Advanced Process Control Engineer and Automation Manager within the engineering department. He was appointed to his current position in 2007.

Franck holds a university degree in both Chemical Engineering and in Process Control Industry, and received an Engineer Chemical Industry degree from ENSIC (National School of Sciences Chemical Industries) in 1998.

Bob Karschnia
Vice President of Wireless
Rosemount Measurement Division
Emerson Process Management

Bob Karschnia, Vice President of Wireless for the Rosemount Measurement Division, has over 18 years experience in the process control industry. He currently manages the Wireless Business Unit for Rosemount’s wide wireless product offering and coordinates wireless initiatives across all of Emerson Process Management. Prior to his current role, Bob held various design engineering and management roles throughout the company.  Before joining Rosemount he developed rotating equipment control systems at Compressor Controls Corporation and satellite control systems for Lockheed Martin. Bob also served as an officer in the United States Air Force working on satellite control and communications systems.

Bob has a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Minnesota and an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado.

Stuart Harris
Vice President and General Manager
Asset Optimization
Emerson Process Management

Stuart Harris joined Emerson in 1986 and has 24 years experience in the process industries. He is currently Vice President and General Manager of Emerson’s Asset Optimization business, which provides services and technologies that increase the availability and performance of production assets.

Stuart has held a variety of marketing, business development, sales, and management positions in Europe and the USA, focusing on asset management since 1994. He managed Emerson’s Asset Optimization business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and has played a key role in strategic alliances and acquisitions that collectively make Emerson’s capabilities in Asset Optimization unparalleled.

Stuart is a Business and Finance graduate with an MS in Marketing.

Duane Toavs
Director, Human Centered Design Institute
Emerson Process Management

Duane Toavs is the Director of Emerson’s Human Centered Design Institute and has been instrumental in driving the company’s adoption of Human Centered Design. Duane is also a member of the PlantWeb leadership team and Chairman of the POSC Caesar Association Instrumentation Special Interest Group (a global standards organization for the Oil & Gas industry). During his 9 years at Emerson, Duane has held a number of leadership roles including Director of Global Oil & Gas Sales & Marketing.

Previously Duane worked for ARCO in the Alaska North Slope region and held the position of Staff Engineer, responsible for Engineering standards and relationships with I&C Engineering and Construction contractors. Duane worked at ARCO for 23 years and was an early adopter of Emerson’s automation technology. In total, Duane has over 32 years experience in the process industry.

Duane has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Idaho.

Travis Hesketh
Vice President, Wireless and PlantWeb for Europe
Emerson Process Management

Travis Hesketh, Vice President, Wireless and PlantWeb Director for Europe is responsible for sales and marketing of the company’s industry-leading PlantWeb digital plant architecture and Smart Wireless technology across a broad range of industries. He has 29 years experience in the process control industry, including 13 years with Emerson.

Travis’ career began as an apprentice in instrumentation with Courtaulds in the UK. He then worked for Tioxide UK as an automation engineer and product quality team leader, before joining Fischer & Porter as batch industries group leader. He moved to Emerson in 1998 as Process Systems Sales Director for UK and Ireland.

Travis is a Chartered Electrical Engineer and has an Honours degree in Electrical and Electronics from Manchester University and an Honours degree in Business Studies from Hull University. He is currently the Vice Chair of the Fieldbus Foundation Steering Committee in Europe.