Meet the new LYB CFO: Agustin Izquierdo

I mean personally I want to make sure that we have a best-in-class finance organization and that we can compare it not only across chemicals but industrials and any other sector, and that anybody from the outside can say LYB is really going through a positive transformation and finance is a key enabler and a world-class organization. For that, as I mentioned before, developing our talents, having the right tools, and being closely aligned with our strategy will be key.

I'm married. My wife is from El Salvador. We actually met in New York City working at a bank. We have two little kids, a nine-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy. They keep us very active. So third grade and kindergarten. Family, we love to explore and we do the normal things: soccer, karate, taekwondo, and swim. So you're very busy in what little free time you probably have.

All roles give you different skills, whether it's learning about the industry, having the people management, or having ownership for a P&L and living with the consequences of your decisions. That is very important. So just be open, be curious, and just go for the roles. Every little assignment will give you something for your tool belt.

Thank you very much, Deep, and very happy to be here.

Thank you for the question. I'm originally from Mexico. That's where I grew up and I started my career in investment banking. I thought that would be a great platform to learn about many industries, have an accelerated learning curve, and it actually did deliver on that. So I started in Mexico, then moved to New York, later Argentina, and I was covering all of Latin America doing the usual investment banking activities: corporate finance, M&A. Then I left the bank, did my MBA because I wanted to learn more about business topics, and came back to the bank actually for three more years in a different area, capital markets. We help companies raise money. But I always had that little bug about learning more about marketing, strategy, and operations, and being a bit more rounded professional. So I joined the chemical industry. I was with a German company called BASF and I stayed there for roughly 13 years. It was a great experience because I had the ability to be working on strategy projects. I ran a couple of businesses. I also was in finance and strategy roles for the catalyst division. And now at LYB, I joined November of 2022, so a little bit over two years ago. And again, I've had the chance to have an interesting career: first joining the I&D segment, then for the past year I've been running O&M America, and now as of March 1 became the CFO of LYB. So I think having this wide variety of experiences, having run a business, seeing how other industries work, and just being intensely curious has really helped my career.

I'm married. My wife is from El Salvador. We actually met in New York City working at a bank. We have two little kids, a nine-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy. They keep us very active. So third grade and kindergarten. Family, we love to explore and we do the normal things: soccer, karate, taekwondo, and swim. So you're very busy in what little free time you probably have.

I think as I mentioned before, taking the risks of just moving to a different country. As I said, I'm originally from Mexico, so moving to New York first when I joined the bank was a big one. Then moving to Argentina, leaving the bank honestly to do my MBA. I had to leave my bank position before even knowing if I was accepted into the MBA. So taking that risk, trusting yourself, and then really stepping out of your comfort zone. It was tough to be running a business the first time. Every business has its own unique characteristics, but also being a people manager is difficult. Being in the spotlight is difficult. I'd say just taking roles that push you out of your comfort zone is really what has helped me. And all roles give you different skills, whether it's learning about the industry, having the people management, or having ownership for a P&L and living with the consequences of your decisions. That is very important. So just be open, be curious, and just go for the roles. Every little assignment will give you something for your tool belt.

I think having run a business gives you that extra ownership and empathy with the business, right? You can look at the financial metrics and see what's going right or wrong, but then having that ability to dig deeper and try to find the root cause and then work closely with the business to find the solution. Not only is it okay to point out the problems, but it's even better to work with them and together craft the path forward. And that's something I really enjoy.

It was wonderful that I had the time to overlap with Michael almost two and a half months, and I'm very grateful for that opportunity. There's a lot of strategy, of course, working capital, cash, EBITDA. And LYB is going through a great transformation right since Peter arrived: the new strategy, pushing into CLCS, the expansions that we've announced on the Middle East, Flex 2 that was announced a couple of weeks ago. There are just so many things and topics that finance is a key enabler.

Yeah, that and having the full enterprise view, right? When you're in a different segment or different function, you're very focused on delivering and doing a very good job for that segment or function. But now stepping back and having the overall view and the holistic view, connecting all the dots, that is fundamental for the success in this role.

Correct. Yeah. So for me it has been great because obviously he joined a few months before, but he was able to set the strategy and the tone and really transform LYB, right? We're much more present. The push for circularity, for sustainability has been great and put us on the forefront as a leader in that space. And it's been really fun also to be able to help build that along with him and the entire executive committee.

I would say be very, very curious. To me that has been a great asset. Try to learn as much as possible. Ask questions. Help people. I'm also someone that tries to be in constant cool panic. So what is cool panic? When things go wrong, instead of running like a chicken without a head, just try to figure out the reasons, stay calm, find the root cause, and then learn from that and avoid it in the future. But just take different assignments. As I said, if you want to be a CFO, you don't have to be on the finance track your whole career. Take roles in procurement, in business, go to a different side, take an international assignment. You don't need all these things, but if you have them, it just makes you a much better professional.

I think I would continue obviously the talent development. I've been very fortunate to be an LYB employee and be the first CFO actually that is internally recruited, and I would like to keep that tradition. For that, obviously we need to build a strong bench. And I'm also very happy and grateful for Michael and all the work he did because he truly built a very strong finance team. But we also, as I said, need to bring people from the business, from manufacturing, from R&D, that if they're interested, they can also have the mobility and the opportunities. I think I will also make a big push into digital tools, trying to enable and accelerate the work and the thinking that we do around our strategy and analysis, and just making life easier for all our employees in the finance function. And just in general, enable and help Peter and LYB achieve the goals and strategies that we've put forward, which are very ambitious, so will require quite a bit of work.

We've announced Middle Eastern ventures. As I said, we have Flex, Circularity, CLCS. That business has a lot of potential and work, and the market is being developed. It's a big startup within LYB. So I think really steering and making sure we have all the right resources, that we prioritize, and obviously manage our cash flow and resources in the appropriate way to make sure that we can get all the priorities going. And that prioritization will be very important to have and get it right.

I think there are some key principles that we've established also during Capital Markets Day, and we will continue to do that. LYB has a very strong balance sheet, investment grade, we have great liquidity, very good cash conversion, and all those things are the base for how we operate and should be the priorities on how we move going forward. I mean personally, I want to make sure that we have a best-in-class finance organization and that we can compare it not only across chemicals but industrials and any other sector, and that anybody from the outside can say LYB is really going through a positive transformation and finance is a key enabler and a world-class organization. For that, as I mentioned before, developing our talents, having the right tools, and being closely aligned with our strategy will be key.

Passionate about continuing to develop the talent pipeline at LYB, not only in finance but the entire organization. That is something that is dear to my heart. So I will continue to be very purposeful and diligent on that. And then, of course, just helping LYB achieve its goals. As we mentioned before, Peter has laid out a very aggressive and ambitious agenda, and I want to make sure that finance and the entire LYB organization can help enable that.

Thank you.