The SABIC Ventures team has decades of expertise across many aspects of the industry. We are a global team with a presence in USA, Europe and China. Click on a photo for more information:

Aruna Subramanian
Europe Managing DirectorAruna has over 28 years of international experience in the oil and gas, petrochemical and venture capital industries. She has worked with Schlumberger Oilfield Services in a range of field, operational and management positions. For the last 15 years, she has been an investor with Shell Technology Ventures, Kenda Capital, Chemelot Ventures and SABIC Ventures. Aruna is currently the Managing Director for SABIC Ventures. She graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology and also holds an MBA from IMD, Lausanne.

Ian Freelance
EUROPE SENIOR INVESTMENT MANAGERIan has over 30 years of experience in life science, material science, and technology-driven companies. During the last 12 years, he has focused upon venture capital investing, initially 10 years with DSM Venturing, and, more recently, with Qbic Venture Partners, a Belgian institutional venture fund. Ian holds a chemistry degree from the University of Sheffield. He has invested in materials, sustainable chemistry, renewable energy, industrial biotech, biotech, food & nutrition, and medtech start-ups in Europe and the USA.

RICHARD WARREN
North America SENIOR INVESTMENT MANAGER
ABDULAZIZ DAABASH
Saudi Arabia SENIOR TECHNOLOGY MANAGERAbdulaziz joined SABIC 10 years ago and has worked in several functions within Technology & Innovation including Process Technology, Ventures and Licensing. Before he was appointed as Senior Manager, Technology, he worked as Sr. Manager, Chemicals Technologies, Licensing. Abdulaziz holds an MS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston and a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Stepan Braginskiy
Europe Senior AssociateStepan has over 11 years of cross-industry experience in finance, project management, and strategic planning. He is a recent MBA graduate from IMD, Lausanne. Before his MBA study, Stepan held senior finance roles across both large and entrepreneurial organizations. He has four years of experience as CFO of a high-growth scale-up, following seven years of advisory experience in professional financial services with EY. He holds an Economics degree from Novosibirsk State University and is a qualified Association of Chartered Certified Accountants member.

Howard Huang
CHINA SENIOR TECHNOLOGY MANAGERHoward has over 15 years of experience in the chemicals and advanced materials industries in R&D, business development and innovation management roles. Howard graduated from Tsinghua University with a PhD in Physics.

Frank Heessels
Europe Senior Technology ManagerFrank brings over 30 years of experience in R&D and application development in automotive, building & construction and renewable energy markets. Frank received his MSc degree in Aerospace Technology from Technical University, Delft, The Netherlands, with specialization in composites.

Michael Claes
EUROPE SENIOR TECHNOLOGY MANAGERMichael brings 20 years of industrial experience among which 15 years in start-up ecosystem, notably acting as Chief Technology Officer and Global Head of Business Development. His field of expertise covers a large spectrum of technology areas and business segments such as polymers, additives, chemicals, compounding, (bio)feedstocks, (renewable) energy, automotive, semicon and E&E. He studied polymer chemistry at University of Liège with complementary business education from Solvay Brussels School of Executive Management.

Ekaterina Kremlova
EUROPE SENIOR TECHNOLOGY MANAGEREkaterina joined SABIC from Saudi Aramco, where she was working within the Market Insights and Technology group of the Aramco Overseas office in Den Haag as a Technology Specialist. She was responsible for technology scouting, companies and vendors technology due diligence and evaluation for various internal customers including R&D centers, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures and Engineering department. Ekaterina has a degree in Chemical Engineering and Petrochemicals and PhD from Russian Academy of Science in catalysis.

Jim Allman
NORTH AMERICA SENIOR TECHNOLOGY MANAGERJim has over 40 years of experience in the chemical and petrochemical industries in research and technology roles. Jim graduated from the University of Texas, Austin with BS in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, and from the University of Houston, Clear Lake City, with a MS in Process Control.

JAY AMARASEKERA
NORTH AMERICA SENIOR TECHNOLOGY MANAGERJay has over 30 years experience in catalysis, materials, minerals, plastics, coatings, surfactants, colorants, chemicals and elastomers area both as a technologist and as technology management roles. Jay holds a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, MS in Chemistry from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and BS from University of Peradeniya Sri Lanka.

Dan Doble
NORTH AMERICA SENIOR TECHNOLOGY MANAGERDan has 20+ years of experience in the renewable energy, advanced materials and chemical industries in technical and managerial roles. Dan graduated with a Master’s degree from the University of Cambridge, a PhD from the University of Nottingham, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. Dan focusses on new technology identification, developing strategic investment cases and due diligence. Dan focusses on the Americas region and lives in Boston where he is actively engaged with innovation ecosystem.

Anuradha Asthana
North America Compliance and Operations ManagerAnu has over 15 years of experience in chemicals and retail industries. She has worked in several functions including sales, finance and project management. For last 6 years, she has been responsible for establishing and managing the Deal flow process and associated governance protocol. Before joining SABIC, she worked as Lead, Special Projects at Shoe Carnival, reporting to CEO of the company. She is a MBA graduate from University of Southern Indiana.

Theresa Biggerstaff
NORTH AMERICA Administrative Assistant, DIRECTOR’S OFFICETheresa has over 30 years of administrative and executive support in a variety of industries, including Coldwell Banker, Tribune Company, Robbins Research International, Westwind Group and Bank of America. She was also the co-owner and manager of a successful full-service restaurant in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Theresa graduated from San Jacinto College and has worked at SABIC for six years.