Leadership stories from across Orbia.
At Orbia, growth comes from continuous learning and seizing opportunities to expand your impact. Across our businesses, Orbia leaders are building new skills, broadening their perspectives and strengthening the teams and communities around them. The stories below highlight the courageous, curious, disciplined and collaborative Orbia leaders who are bringing purpose to life through their contributions.
Internal Leadership Development Program Highlight: Succeed
Succeed is one of Orbia’s leadership development programs, designed for leaders at director and similar managerial levels. Participants are selected for their potential, ambition to grow and ability to deliver results while taking on broader challenges. The program combines business-school learning, simulations, senior leader webinars, assessment, coaching and in-person networking experiences.
The metrics of success for future generations.
Stefano Ballerini
Country Manager, Italy
Orbia Precision Agriculture (Netafim)
Stefano grew up north of Milan in Italy’s Lake District at the foot of the Alps, where nature and humanity exist in harmony. That landscape shaped his lifelong belief in sustainability as the foundation for a healthier planet.
After building his career in crop protection and the seed industry through roles in sales, marketing and business management, Stefano found a natural fit at Orbia’s Precision Agriculture business Netafim. Today, he leads the business in Italy and guides his team to help farmers produce high-quality food while using less water and reducing their carbon footprints.
Stefano’s leadership is rooted in trust, transparency and open communication. Early exposure to global cultures deepened his appreciation for diversity and shaped how he works with people.
“I love to walk the talk—this is the best way to lead others.”
Through Orbia’s Succeed program, Stefano strengthened his ability to balance short-term performance with long-term sustainability strategy while keeping people at the center of every decision. “Orbia’s Future-Fit Leadership Model provides great guidance for leaders on how to remain balanced between the short-term and long-term,” Stefano said.
For Stefano, mentoring future leaders is one of the most rewarding parts of the work: helping people realize their potential and feel recognized for the difference they make. He credits his team: “Every time we achieve success, we know we’ve contributed to advancing life around the world and that fills us with pride.”
Discovering the story behind the numbers.
For Jay, numbers have always had narratives behind them. As a finance leader, she has built her career by looking beyond spreadsheets to the factory floor, customers and teams to understand the bigger picture.
Jay’s expertise spans management accounts, audit and business partnership. Moving from Orbia Polymer Solutions business Alphagary to Orbia’s Building & Infrastructure business Wavin gave Jay an opportunity to broaden her people management experience and deepen her connection to the wider Orbia identity.
As Jay puts it, her sense of purpose has evolved alongside her career journey across Orbia. “I enjoy more of the people side of things now. The leading, managing, engaging, motivating side of things,” she says.
Succeed helped Jay jumpstart her transition between business groups and gave her space to think about how she owns her career.
Through workshops, group assignments and Orbia’s Future-Fit Leadership model, she strengthened her ability to balance business priorities with people priorities.
“It’s about identifying the right people and putting them in the best possible place when you need them. You must be able to toggle between business and people priorities, paying close attention to your team even though you’ve got things to deliver.”
For Jay, leadership means staying close to the full business story: the numbers, the operations, the customers and the people who make performance possible.
Leading by empowering others.
Arianna Salazar
Global People Director
Orbia Fluor & Energy Materials
Arianna grew up near Mexico City, where she learned the importance of hard work, adaptability and community at an early age. These values continue to shape Ari’s outlook and the heart she brings to her every pursuit.
Ari was first drawn to Orbia’s Mexican roots, global purpose and commitment to making a difference. After taking a role on the People team, she was further impressed by how Orbia balanced strong performance goals with genuine care for people—something she continues to appreciate today.
As Global People Director for Orbia Fluor & Energy Materials, Ari works across regions and cultures to connect diverse stakeholders, create moments that matter across career journeys and support her teams in bringing purpose to life. Her leadership philosophy is rooted in accountability and respect, as she believes people do their best work when they feel trusted and valued.
Participation in Orbia’s Succeed program became a defining moment on Ari’s own career journey, broadening her strategic perspective, strengthening her financial decision-making and reinforcing a core belief: leadership is about empowering others and creating the conditions for them to thrive.
Arianna is especially proud of mentoring others and creating opportunities for them to grow and stretch their potential. She recalls a moment when she gave a team member ownership of a high-profile project, offering support while ultimately allowing them to lead. The result was not only a successful project, but a leap in confidence and capability.
“Seeing people achieve things they didn’t think were possible is what fuels me every day.”
Embracing diversity to elevate outcomes.
Fabio’s six-year journey with Orbia’s Precision Agriculture business Netafim has been shaped by a personal commitment to inclusion. His roots in São Paulo—a city known for its rich cultural and socioeconomic variety—helped develop his ability to communicate across broad stakeholder groups and build strong relationships.
As Director of Strategy for LatAm and North America, Fabio brings that inclusive mindset to how he engages colleagues, collaborates across regions and approaches decision-making: grounded in the belief that every person’s contribution can strengthen the outcome.
Orbia’s Succeed program marked an important step in Fabio’s leadership development, giving him new tools to engage with colleagues while expanding his global peer network. Through the Orbia Future-Fit Leadership model, he gained greater insight into balancing immediate goals with long-term objectives.
“Our discussions on leadership consistently highlighted the importance of valuing every individual’s contribution and leveraging diversity to enhance decision-making.”
For Fabio, being part of Orbia allows him to connect personal values with professional ambition: contributing to meaningful work, strengthening collaboration and helping teams make better decisions by valuing diverse perspectives.
Fabio Silva
Director of Strategy, LATAM & North America
Orbia Precision Agriculture (Netafim)
Building trust through autonomy and clear expectations.
Stuart Evans
Regional Operations Director, UK & U.S.
Orbia Polymer Solutions (Alphagary)
Stuart grew up in Rugby, England—a town known for being the birthplace of the game. Stuart’s family owned a small garden and flower shop, where he learned responsibility early by delivering flowers, helping at the Saturday market stall and working in the shops. Those experiences, combined with his church involvement, built the work ethic, honesty and care for people that continue to shape his approach today.
Over more than 25 years with the company, Stuart has grown into his role as Regional Operations Director for Orbia Polymer Solutions business Alphagary in the UK and U.S. With clarity and empathy, Stuart focuses on developing people and setting achievable yet challenging objectives.
Through Orbia’s Succeed program, Stuart deepened his understanding that leadership is about both results and relationships, fortified through listening, communicating and connecting.
“Words matter. Not just what we say but how our words are received. Personal interaction builds stronger teams and stronger results.”
Helping people recognize their strengths.
Stefanie is accustomed to being a trailblazer. As a woman in the chemical industry, determination and the ability to work well with people from many backgrounds have helped her build a 20-year career and rise into leadership roles at Orbia Polymer Solutions business Vestolit.
Today, as Global Commercial Director for Business Unit Specialty Resins, Stefanie leads and mentors a global team. She approaches leadership as the way she can help people know their value and make the most of their lives.
Through Orbia’s Succeed program, Stefanie gained broader access to Orbia across business group connections and had the opportunity to fine-tune her leadership toolkit.
Exchanging experiences with peers reinforced the value of vision, communication and direction—especially to break down big initiatives into manageable steps for teams. Succeed also enhanced Stefanie’s thinking about feedback in a global context, where cultural norms can vary widely.
“For me, it’s even more important to give positive feedback, to help people see their strengths, because often we aren’t aware of what we do best.”
Stefanie Jannowsky
Global Commercial Director
Business Unit Specialty Resins
Orbia Polymer Solutions (Vestolit)
Building successful, future-fit teams.
The foundation of Erick’s formula is identifying each person’s potential and giving them a clear role in collective success. He developed this practice through years of management experience and in his personal life as a youth sports coach.
“With every team I’ve ever built, I’ve brought people together and made sure they each have a part to fill and know what their purpose is.”
With an education in chemical engineering augmented by business studies, Erick has expertise across R&D, logistics, production and commercial management. Today, as Director of Operations for Orbia Fluor & Energy Materials, he is helping guide the St. Gabriel, Louisiana plant through a comprehensive expansion phase: unlocking growth from a foundation of safety, operational discipline and sustainability.
Through Orbia’s Succeed program, Erick forged relationships with peers across Orbia and gained new perspective on shared operational and business challenges. Those exchanges helped him see how much common ground exists across different business groups, especially when leaders are focused on improvement.
“Where we saw opportunities for improvement and opportunities for growth, we discovered a sense of unity and common purpose across Orbia. I found that very powerful.”
For Erick, future-fit leadership means creating future-fit teams: the kinds that understand the assignment, have individuals who embrace their roles and those that execute responsibly for growth that lasts.
Creating value beyond the transaction.
For Scott, sales is not as simple as closing an attractive deal. In his experience, customers buy from people they trust, believe in and know will help them solve real problems.
As Director of Sales for the Eastern U.S. Region with Orbia’s Connectivity Solutions business Dura-Line, Scott works to build a sales team culture grounded in transparency and customer-centered value creation. He sees performance as the result of both attitude and behavior: how people show up individually, how they work together and how consistently they focus on the customer.
Through Orbia’s Succeed program, Scott gained new perspective on leading through disruption, embracing change and connecting business goals to people goals.
“It’s brought more structure and depth to how I work with my team, requiring that I adjust my approach, to influence individual and group behaviors as we move forward. We’re meeting more frequently for one-on-ones, talking things through to make sure everyone understands how their pursuit of individual goals contributes to success for the entire enterprise.”
Scott Wells
Director of Sales – Eastern U.S. Region
Orbia Connectivity Solutions (Dura-Line)
Building capability where no blueprint exists.
Miranda studied computer science and international affairs, a combination that gives her a view of cybersecurity shaped by global events, geopolitical pressure, business continuity needs and the realities of protecting a company operating around the world.
As Chief Information Security Officer at Orbia, Miranda leads the global team responsible for cyber threat operations, incident response and system vulnerability management. Her work requires vigilance, judgment and the ability to build capability before a threat materializes.
Personally and professionally, Miranda is energized by challenges that do not come with a finished playbook and give her the opportunity to build stronger structures and systems from the ground up.
“I like it when I can come into a clean slate and really leave my mark. I feel like I can make a big impact here at Orbia.”
Today, Miranda is building a cybersecurity center of excellence that helps Orbia anticipate, respond to and recover from threats in a fast-changing digital environment. Through Orbia’s Succeed program, she strengthened her ability to connect that business-critical work with talent development.
“Succeed did a really great job in helping us to manage how we attract, retain and develop talent internally in a sustainable way.”
For Miranda, leadership means building resilience before it is needed: creating the systems, capabilities and pipelines that keep Orbia secure as the world keeps changing.
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