Who we are

Vice President Exploration Europe, Russia & Caspian
Royal Dutch Shell plc

Max Brouwers grew up in and around Maastricht, in the South of The Netherlands. He has a degree in Geology from the University of Utrecht and an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management. He has worked his 20 year career in 3 continents, within Shell.

Max is currently Shell’s Vice President for Europe, Russia and Caspian within Exploration. He started with Shell in 1996 as a seismic interpreter in London. Since then, he has held a variety of exploration and commercial roles, including Head of Global Exploration Strategy & Planning and New Business Coordinator. Has worked in a variety of exploration roles within Latin America and most recently, held the position of Vice President Exploration Latin America, based in Rio de Janeiro.

During these roles, he has been focused on setting up new offshore Shell ventures in frontier settings, mitigating safety and non-technical risks and creating value by maturing discoveries for handover to development, as well as pursuing organic growth opportunities. He was also involved in the Enterprise Oil and BG acquisitions, as well as the successful Libra bid.

Outside work, he likes to spend time with his wife and two children. He is an avid road cyclists and loves riding in the mountains.

General Manager External Relations UK, Ireland, South Africa & Nordics

Alex joined Shell in 2003 as Environmental and Social Project Finance Lead on the Sakhalin liquefied natural gas project in Russia and then other project finance deals. She went on to lead the Group Carbon policy team for several years before taking a senior stakeholder management role in the ER Corporate team in 2015. In this capacity, Alex delivered strategic communications and engagement on several key topics, including Shell’s Net Carbon Footprint ambition and the energy transition. She played a leading role in establishing and implementing the multi-stakeholder Global Methane Guiding Principles initiative.

Before joining Shell, Alex worked internationally in several sustainability roles in governmental bodies and non-governmental organisations, including the UK’s Department for International Development, United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Environment.

Outside of work, Alex enjoys spending time with her husband and two children.

Vice President Global Operations for the Trading and Supply Business

Nigel Hobson is currently Vice President Global Operations for the Trading and Supply Business based in London. This follows two recent assignments as VP Supply & Distribution for Europe and Africa based in London and with Shell’s Chemicals business as VP Global Operations & HSSE based in the Netherlands.

Nigel joined Shell in 2005 as Consultancy Manager for the Downstream Management Consultancy which included prime responsibility for projects in Manufacturing, Supply & Distribution well suited to his diverse experience gained across many Downstream businesses. Following graduation as a Chemical Engineer from Exeter University previous leadership roles with ExxonMobil include Refinery Operations, Crude Oil Trading, Supply Operations and Commercial Sales.

Nigel is a Fellow of The Institution of Chemical Engineers; He is married with three teenage daughters and in any free time enjoys outdoor pursuits including sailing and fishing.

Steve Phimister - Upstream Director UK & Ireland

Steve has a varied background in technical, commercial and asset management roles working with Shell for nearly 25 years across Europe, Australia, Asia and the Americas. He has also worked in Shell’s Upstream, Downstream and Integrated Gas businesses.

Returning to the UK earlier in 2016, he led a multi-functional team successfully integrating the upstream businesses of Shell and BG in the UK and Ireland. Prior to this, Steve spent seven years leading a period of strong growth for Shell in Australia, including roles as GM Non-Operated ventures, GM Unconventionals and GM Business Development.

He has a degree in Chemical & Mineral Engineering from the University of Birmingham in the UK and is a member of several Engineering Institutes. He is a Graduate and Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has served on the board of a number of energy-related businesses in Australia. Steve is married with two daughters.

Bruce Taylor, UK and Ireland HSE Manager

Bruce joined Shell in 1985 as a Shell Expro Technician trainee and subsequently spent several years offshore on Cormorant Alpha as Operator and Technician. From 1996 to 2007 he worked as Onshore Support Supervisor and Team Leader for the Mature Assets.

In 2007, Bruce returned to Cormorant Alpha as Offshore Installation Manager concluding that assignment with a handover to the new operator. In January 2009, Bruce was appointed to Brunei Shell Petroleum as Head of Operations for the development team, a role that covered all stages from project initiation through to post implementation review.

He subsequently was selected as Operations Manager for Brunei’s East Asset for a further 3 years before returning to the UK to take up his current role in June 2015.

Robbert van Rutten - Vice President and Global CIO, Shell Downstream

Robbert van Rutten became the Shell Downstream CIO & Vice President on April 1st 2020. In his previous role, Robbert was the CIO for Global Functions & Information Risk Management, he has been a member of the RDS IT Executive leadership team since 2016.

He has nearly 30 years experience with Shell in both Upstream and Downstream worked in many of the different functions including Finance, Commercial, Technology and IT.

In his recent roles Robbert led the Global Functions IT organisation and oversaw Information Risks and Cyber Security, ensuring maximum business value delivery through the execution of a broad digital agenda for the Corporate Functions.

Robbert has a background in Business Economics and holds an MBA from Tilburg University.

Robbert lives in The Netherlands with his wife Sandra and they are the proud parents of Tess and Mick, some of his interests are travelling, skiing, spending time with friends and family, and you can find him at the local football club at Saturday’s coaching his son

Head of UK Government Relations

Madeline joined Shell from BG Group in October 2016 to lead the UK Energy Transition Programme and the international climate policy brief in Government Relations.

Madeline joined BG in 2007 and over the years held a number of roles in policy and corporate affairs, including as President of BG Canada where she was responsible for early stage development and non-technical risk in the Prince Rupert LNG project. She returned to the UK to work for the new Chief Executive Helge Lund as Chief of Staff in February 2015.

Prior to BG, Madeline spent ten years in Brussels, working in the European Parliament, European Commission and latterly as a public affairs consultant, advising multinational clients on lobbying and reputation management strategies.

Madeline lives with her husband and two young children in Oxfordshire. She enjoys seeking out wildlife and the natural world in the UK and beyond.

Bernie Williamson is Shell’s UK Retail General Manager, responsible for our retail business in the UK.

Bernie has a background in retail with UK leadership experience with various food and convenience retailers including Safeway (now Morrisons), Sainsbury’s and T&S Stores (formerly the largest convenience retailer in the UK).

She joined Shell after leading the BG Contracting and Procurement integration in 2016, and then led Shell’s Retail Contracting and Procurement team for Europe and South Africa. During her time at BG, Bernie held roles in Upstream - including Asset CP Manager for UK and Norway – and as Head of Functional Excellence.

Bernie is married with two children. In her spare time, she loves spending time with family and friends, and outdoor activities such as mountain biking, skiing and gardening.