Phil Snyder

Lead Advisor


Phil Snyder has more than 38 years’ experience in the petroleum and chemical industries. He has held various senior managerial HSE positions as well as  multiple technical roles earlier in his career. He joined Pilko as independent HSE consultant in 2014, and since January 2015, he has regularly worked to characterize the business risks associated with proposed M&A transactions and supported efforts to improve client HSE performance.

Prior to Pilko, Phil was the General Manager for Product Stewardship at Shell serving the global refining and chemical business lines where he designed and implemented a new global organization and supporting systems across 100 countries. Prior to this, Phil was the General Manager for HSE for the newly formed global Chemicals organization and led changes in HSE processes, manufacturing standards (including HSE), risk management and organizational learning.

During his 34-year career at Shell, he also served in various plant and operational positions where he successfully provided leadership to improving HSE risk management, process safety, epidemiology, toxic tort litigation, incident & crisis management, compliance issues, capital projects, business divestment and plant acquisitions. Phil is recognized for his breadth and depth of professional experience in health, safety and environmental management (multimedia), as well as his ability to integrate across these disciplines to provide pragmatic solutions to support business strategy. His global experience provides a sensitivity of international issues and considerations. His legal training enables him to readily incorporate and pragmatically bridge law and business needs. His leadership at one of the world’s largest integrated refining and chemical plants, coupled with his many global leadership roles gives him the knowledge and understanding to bring unique perspectives for delivering solutions to highly complex organizational issues involving HSE risk. He is uniquely positioned to identify and drive organizational change and the effective use of management systems and networks to support business needs.

Phil holds professional designations of Certified Safety Professional (1981-2018) and Certified Industrial Hygienist in the Comprehensive Practice of Industrial Hygiene (1980-2017) and is currently licensed to practice law in the State of Texas.

Phil is married, has two grown children and resides in Houston, Texas.