Alumna, trustee Elsenhans to be Shell U.S. chief

Alumna, trustee Elsenhans to be Shell U.S. chief
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BY MARGOT DIMOND
Rice News Staff

Lynn Elsenhans,
Rice University alumna and a member of the Rice Board of
Trustees, will return to Houston from London to become Shell
Oil Company’s top executive in the United States.

Elsenhans is
scheduled to succeed Rob J. Routs as president of Shell
Oil Products U.S. and country chair June 16. Routs will
become a managing director of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group
of Companies.

The position
of country chair is similar to a chief executive officer,
making Elsenhans one of the highest-ranking women executives
for a major company in Houston.

Elsenhans currently
is director of strategic planning, sustainable development
and external affairs for Shell International Limited in
London.

She graduated
from Rice University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematical
science in 1978 and received an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1980
before joining Shell Oil Company.

Elsenhans has
held many other positions in senior management at Shell,
including serving as manager of natural gas in U.S. E&P;
manager of lubricants in U.S oil products; president and
CEO of Shell Deer Park Refining Company; vice president
of refining for Equilon Enterprises LLC; and president of
Shell Oil Products East, based in Singapore.

She also has
served on the boards of the Shell Exploration and Production
Company, the DePelchin Faith Home and the Deer Park Education
Foundation.

“My first
interactions with Lynn were those connected to her activities
as an alumna of Rice,” said Rice President Malcolm
Gillis. “I noted that everything she did for Rice she
did very well, and with great enthusiasm. I have not been
at all surprised by her rapid ascent within the managerial
ranks at Shell in Houston, Singapore, London and now country
chair and president of Shell Oil Products.”

At Rice, Elsenhans
has served on the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management
Council of Overseers, the Rice University Fund Council,
the Alumni Nominations Committee and the Nanotechnology
Leadership Committee. She has been class chairman several
times, led the Annual Fund Campaign twice and has served
as treasurer for the Association of Rice Alumni.

In 2000, she
and her husband, John, also a Rice alumnus, established
the Lynn Laverty Elsenhans Scholarship for students majoring
in the mathematical sciences.

“Last year
the Rice board decided to offer Lynn a trustee position
because of her record of leadership both at Shell and at
Rice,” said William Barnett, chairman of the board
of trustees. “Her most recent promotion confirms that
judgment and the fact that she has always been a leader.
And now that she will be returning to Houston, we hope to
have her more involved in Rice affairs than ever before.”