Conference Papers
Ms. Vilas currently serves as CEO of BakerRisk and FORTRESS. Karen brings a rare combination of technical expertise, field-tested leadership, business strategy, and personal purpose to one of the most critical areas of industrial safety.
Recognized globally as a leader in process safety, her career has focused on helping multinational petrochemical corporations identify hazards, manage risk, and keep people safe. Most notably, she has experience in modeling consequences and risks at oil refineries, natural gas facilities, storage facilities, and olefin units. Known for her unwavering commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction, Ms. Vilas provides unique risk mitigation and risk management solutions by focusing on providing high-quality, highly protective buildings in high-hazard environments.
Mr. Shah is a member of BakerRisk’s Process Safety Group. His work focuses on Risk Management Services, including Quantitative Risk Assessments (QRA), Corporate Risk Management, and Risk-based Decision Support. Mr. Shah brings an extensive array of skills that includes Risk Management Process Improvement, Decision Analysis, Decision Criteria/Guideline Development, Risk Analysis and Quantification, and development of conceptual layout and equipment specification for toxic risk mitigation.
During his career, Mr. Shah has identified and evaluated cost-effective risk optimization alternatives that allow management to make informed risk management decisions and has helped clients optimize their risk management budgets.
As the biofuels industry continues to expand in support of global decarbonization mandates and objectives, facility owners and developers are being challenged to balance production efficiency, operational reliability, and personnel safety.
As high hazard facilities, biofuels sites should focus on developing a fire protections strategy informed by performance-based analysis so strategies implemented meet the unique challenges found at each facility.