Leadership Team

Our leadership team represents decades of industry experience coupled with entrepreneurial spirit and passion for natural chemistry.

Stephen Doktycz

Chief Executive Officer

Steve started as the interim CEO in 2019 and officially took the helm at Vantage™ in 2020. Before joining Vantage, he spent more than 27 years at The Dow Chemical Company in various globally focused leadership roles in strategic planning, finance, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate development, including Corporate Director and Global Director, Corporate and Strategic Development. He then served as the Senior Vice President of LyondellBasell and most recently as Senior Advisor to H.I.G. Capital, LLC, a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm.

Steve has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an MBA from Northwestern University and a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Craig Yuen

Chief Financial Officer

Craig joined Vantage as Chief Financial Officer in June 2015. Prior to this, he spent 11 years in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, serving middle market manufacturing and distribution companies, and 10 years at Northstar Aerospace, a publicly owned industrial manufacturer, serving in various roles, including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Strategy Officer and Corporate Controller. He has led teams across all functions of manufacturing in growing and turnaround environments.

Craig holds a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Ben Topercer

Chief Human Resources Officer

Ben joined Vantage as the Chief Human Resource Officer in June 2016. Prior coming to Vantage, Ben developed his career with companies including Rexam, Henkel, Eaton, and Premier Farnell. With each role he expanded his responsibilities, all with the common goal of developing a business-first HR solution to help the organization meets its objectives. He has led teams across multiple disciplines of human resources in international manufacturing and distribution businesses.

Ben holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a minor in International Business from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse and a MBA with an emphasis in HR from Marquette University.

Jan Willem Tinge

Senior Vice President, Vantage Food™

Jan joined Vantage™ in 2021. In his most recent position, Jan was the VP, Global Marketing Facilities & Machines for Diversey, and he has a strong background in understanding and delivering customer-focused value propositions for businesses that combine both equipment and product. He also has leadership and team-building capabilities, as well as experience in sales management.

Jan is originally from the Netherlands and now lives in the U.S. He holds a Master of Science, Industrial Engineering and Management Science from Eindhoven University of Technology and is fluent in English, Dutch and German.

Alexander Snell

Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East and Africa

Alexander joined Vantage™ in August 2020 as Senior Vice President for the European Region. Prior to this, he served at FoamParter AG as a member of the Board and Executive Vice President Region Europe. From 2002 until 2018, he held various leadership roles at Clariant AG, including Business Director Industrial Applications & Base Products where he led a sales team across Europe, Middle East and Africa. He also spent four years in India executing Clariant´s regional strategy.

Alexander has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Münster, Germany and a Bachelor of Business Administration with an emphasis in business economics from Fernuniversität Hagen, Germany.

Alberto Laveran

Senior Vice President, Latin America

Alberto consulted for Vantage™ before officially joining us in 2020 to lead our LATAM Region. Prior to his consulting work, he spent more than 20 years with The Dow Chemical Company, holding various roles in finance, business analysis and strategic planning and, most recently, as the Hydrocarbons Business Director for LATAM. His positions have entailed moves to Switzerland, Belgium and the U.S.

Alberto completed a six-year undergraduate/graduate degree program at the School of Economic Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires, as well as graduate work in business economics from Universidad del Sur.

Michael Sabatelli

Senior Vice President, Vantage Oleochemicals™

Michael joined Vantage (formerly Unichema International) as a Technical Sales Representative in July 1998. He then moved into the Strategic Account Manager role and assumed the leadership position of Sales Director in January 2011. Soon thereafter, Vantage named him Business Director before promoting him to Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing of the Oleochemicals division in July 2015. He carries over 17 years of experience in the oleochemicals industry.

Michael holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from West Virginia University.

Farheen Qadir

Senior Vice President, Vantage Personal Care™

Farheen has more than 20 years of experience in international business management with personal care companies. Before joining Vantage in 2021, she held the position of Personal Care Business Director, North America for BASF during which time she led sales, marketing, technical service, research and development, and product performance teams in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Other roles with BASF and Colgate-Palmolive included responsibilities in commercial operations, product portfolio management, supply chain management and production planning.

She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA in Multinational Management and an M.A. in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Tim Wilson

Senior Vice President, Transformation and Vantage Performance Materials™

Tim has spent his entire career helping companies successfully navigate periods of transformational growth and change. Most recently as a partner at The Boston Consulting Group in Chicago, Tim has worked alongside C-suite executives of Fortune 500 consumer packaged goods companies to develop successful innovation- and growth-focused strategies. Tim has served directly as Chief Transformation Officer with several companies, leading teams in implementing programs that delivered enterprise-wide value and transformational organizational effectiveness.

Tim earned both his MBA and his B.A. in English from Northwestern University.

Sumeet Verma

SVP – Commercial Excellence Consultant

When Sumeet joined Vantage™ in 2021, he already had a deep understanding of our commercial operations. As Executive Vice President for the Mensana consulting group, he worked with our leaders to further our Commercial Excellence initiatives and to refine our overall business strategy. Sumeet has spent more than a decade in various leadership roles with consulting companies, driving sustainable change in large-scale organizations and delivering tangible financial results. He has led teams to bring both operational and commercial improvements in a variety of industries.

Sumeet earned his Honors in Business Administration through the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University in Canada and lives in Toronto.

Noel Beavis

Senior Executive Advisor

Noel began his career with Vantage™ (formerly Uniqema) as a Technical Sales Representative in 1979. Since then, he has served as Production Manager, General Manager, Vice President Technical, Vice President Operations and, most recently, as Chief Operating Officer. As a veteran manufacturing executive, Noel enjoys facilitating business growth by developing high-performing teams and steering innovative investments. To drive businesses forward, he draws on experience obtained through many internationally diverse and challenging roles. His involvement has led to many cross-functional opportunities in multi-national and private equity environments.

Noel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Monash University in Australia.