Professional: Gene Kiesel received a B.S. in General Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign concentrating in systems controls, economics and marketing. He enhanced his executive education through the extensive TIO-IFO management program at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, sponsored by his employer AGA Gas, Inc. His career spans six companies, Air Products and Chemicals (2 years), AGA Gas (12), Dow Chemical (4), Oil Dri (7), and Parallel Environmental Services Corp (20) and concurrently Parallel Products Technology, LLC.
The primary goal in changing companies was to advance new skills, obtain a diversity of experiences, and enable an increase of responsibility. His functional experience includes Engineering (3 years), Sales and Sales Management (7 years), New Product Commercialization (6 years), and General Management (32 years). He is currently President and CEO for Parallel Environmental, and past board member of a privately held company, Continental Carbonic, Inc., which was sold to Nippon Sanso.
All six companies are classified to be in the chemical, environmental services or alternative/biofuels sectors. They all have a strong product or service orientation but were also focused on adding value through technical services to assist the customer in improving their processes or operations. Product differentiation, through the innovation of the product and service offering has been his favorite challenge throughout his career. He enjoyed working for all six firms and having to acclimate to new corporate cultures, different firm sizes, a variety of resource capabilities and business planning strategies.
Recently, Mr. Kiesel became an active member of Illini Angels, an organization of investors with the mission of funding and mentoring promising Illini affiliated businesses at the pre-seed financing stage.
Personal: Married (U of I alum), three children (all U of I alumni), enjoy golf, cycling, travel, jazz and classical music. Philanthropic contributor to the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Governing Member) and the University of Illinois Foundation.
Contact: Kieselgene@gmail.com, Cell Phone: 312-203-8401