Kevin Brown

Kevin Brown

2018

Kevin Brown

BSChE ‘81

Executive Vice President

LyondellBasell

Kevin Brown was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and spent his childhood in North Little Rock, where he graduated from Ole Main High School. He attended Hendrix College in Conway, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and ultimately graduated in 1981 from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Following graduation, Brown joined Texaco USA at their Convent, Louisiana, refinery, where he served as a process engineer. He subsequently worked for Texaco in Houston, Texas, on the refining headquarters staff. In 1987, he left Texaco to join Sinclair Oil Corporation at its Tulsa, Oklahoma, refinery as the technical manager. He eventually held the positions of operations manager and refinery manager.

In 1994, he was promoted to senior vice president of operations for Sinclair in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was subsequently promoted to executive vice president for operations, a position he held until his retirement. In that position, he had responsibility for the corporation’s refining, pipeline and terminal, and trucking divisions.

Additionally, he directed the corporate environmental, engineering, health and safety function, crude oil supply department, a process and planning department and the oil corporation’s downstream construction activities. 

In 2009, he joined LyondellBasell Industries as the Senior Vice President, Refining and Oxyfuels.  In this role, he had responsibility for manufacturing and commercial operations of the company’s refining division, commercial responsibilities for oxyfuels and corporate procurement, capital construction and technical support activities.

In 2015, he was promoted to Executive Vice President, Manufacturing and Refining.  In that role, he had responsibility for global manufacturing operations, refining commercial activities, capital construction and technical support activities.  He also served on the Management Board of the company during that time.  He retired in 2017.

Brown has been active in numerous refining industry trade association and task force activities, including serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Manufacturing Committee of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association and as a member of the executive committee of both NPRA and the renamed American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association.

Brown, who received the College of Engineering’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2011, serves on the university’s Campaign Arkansas Steering Committee and the College of Engineering’s Dean’s Advisory Council, the Campaign Arkansas Steering Committee and the Arkansas Academy of Chemical Engineers. He and his wife are recognized in the Towers of Old Main, a society that honors the university’s most generous benefactors. 

In addition to their giving to the university, the Browns have established the Megan Leigh Brown Fellowship for Ovarian Cancer at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. They are also currently serving as the Underwriting Co-chairs for the Ronald McDonald House of Houston Boo Ball, a major fundraising activity to support the families of children with serious health issues.