Aspen Technology Announces Key Personnel Additions

Aspen Technology, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass), a provider of Smart Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management software and services for the process industries, announced the addition of two members to its business development and life sciences divisions. Victor Rice and Mark Wheeler have joined AspenTech from Simulation Sciences and Sequencia, respectively, and will serve in newly created positions to help enhance the company's product integration and customer support initiatives.

Victor Rice joins AspenTech as VP of business development for plant optimization. Rice, who will be based in Houston, was previously with Simulation Sciences Inc. (SIMSCI), a Siebe Group Company. At SIMSCI, he served for four years as VP of technology and chief technology officer. Rice has 20 years of experience in the advanced control and optimization of process facilities, largely concentrated in rigorous modeling of online plant systems. He holds a B.S. and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Oklahoma State University.

Mark Wheeler has been appointed to the position of general manager of the Life Sciences and Specialty Chemicals division in Cambridge, Mass. He will be responsible for leading the team in developing software and services solutions customized for the life sciences and specialty chemicals markets. Wheeler joins AspenTech from Sequencia Corporation (formerly PID Inc.), where he was most recently vice president of sales and marketing. He brings more than 15 years of experience in control and automation of batch processes, first as a process control engineer at GE Plastics and Hoechst-Celanese and later as director of project engineering for PID. Mr. Wheeler holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

"The addition of Victor and Mark will strengthen AspenTech's ability to provide integrated solutions that are customized to the specific needs of our customers and the industries they serve," says Larry Evans, chairman and CEO of Aspen Technology. ``They each bring decades of valuable experience in the chemical industries, both at on-site manufacturing facilities and in developing software to maximize the efficiency of process plants. We believe they will make substantial contributions toward helping AspenTech continue to deliver Plantelligence solutions for our key markets.''

Plantelligence is a suite of products and services for optimizing manufacturing enterprises from supply chain to plant execution.

Aspen Technology is a supplier of software and services for the design and automation of process manufacturing plants and the optimization of the supply chain in process industries including chemicals, petrochemicals, petroleum refining, pulp and paper, metals and minerals, electric power, pharmaceuticals, semiconductor, consumer packaged goods, and food and beverage.