Texaco people profile: Geert Tavernier

Texaco people profile - Geert Tavernier Texaco people profile - Geert Tavernier

Geert Tavernier
Integrated Supply Chain Operations Manager Europe

Specialism: Supply Chain and Project Management
Length of time in business: Over 30 years
Based in: Ghent Lubricants Blending Plant, Belgium
Interesting fact: Plays percussion instruments (African and Brazilian music). Married and proud dad of four daughters, so equal rights for women is something I support whole heartedly.

What credentials / experience do you have?

 

My career spans more than 30 years, starting in procurement, before joining Chevron in 2001. After three years with the company, I moved to a supply chain supervisory role where I remain to this day. My work has covered most aspects of the supply chain, including SAP (system application product in data processing), manufacturing, storage and logistics for finished lubricants, marine lubricants, and base oils. 

 

What do you believe Texaco has to offer customers? 

 

I believe that Texaco offers reliable and high-quality products and, as part of the Chevron Group, has a culture and values that always put people at the centre of the energy conversation. 

 

What do you most want to achieve in the next 12 months?

 

My team and I are working hard on a three-year development strategy to turn the Ghent Blending Plant into a lower cost, high efficiency, and lower carbon intensity production facility, to help with market changes and enable further growth.

 

What’s the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received?

 

Don’t try to wait till everyone is in agreement to proceed with taking decisions. Take action and show others how to move a project forward by providing clear solutions and outcomes.

 

What skill do you think more people should learn? 

 

I think everyone should embrace an eagerness to learn. I also think we should take advantage of the ability to visit other places in the world to see how things are done differently. Learning about other people’s constraints, opinions and issues, helps to build context, and allows us to view both sides of a story. It may also help people to put their own worries and situations in perspective. If we focus on the bigger picture and understand that we’re part of a larger world than just our small personal one, then we see our personal world can’t survive without that bigger picture.