An Unparalleled Career
A graduate of Rice University and Harvard Business School, Elsenhans’s career reflects a willingness to take the road less traveled. At Shell, she pursued engineering and manager roles at the company’s plant in Deer Park, Texas – not common for women at the time. She became the first woman to lead a group in Asia Pacific, the first Shell expat to live in Singapore, and the first Shell businesswoman operating in Saudi Arabia.
“As the British say, I ate ‘the dog’s breakfast’ – I did a bit of everything at Shell,” Elsenhans quips.
By 2004, she was the most senior Shell employee in the U.S. When she retired in July 2008, there was no rest for Elsenhans as she was recruited to serve as CEO of Sunoco by August. There, she had to make difficult decisions to keep the company afloat during the 2008 financial crisis.
Since retiring in 2012, Elsenhans has shared her expertise with numerous organizations, including becoming the first woman to serve on the Saudi Aramco board – the result of her proven experience in the region decades before. Or, the result of taking the road less traveled.
