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Jeet Bindra: 'Success follows when people come first'

Jeet BindraJeet Bindra, president of Chevron Global Refining, is the winner of the 2008 Diamond Award for Distinguished Achievement in Industry.

This award honors alumni of the UW College of Engineering who have distinguished themselves by their outstanding knowledge and significant contributions to the field of engineering in industry.

The award celebrates the professional, business, academic, and personal accomplishments of the recipient.

Bindra encourages future industry leaders with key messages: “maintain the highest level of ethics and integrity, never stop learning, dream big, work hard to get there, and success follows when people come first.”

Success has come to Bindra through perseverance and living his principles. Raised in poverty in India, he learned the value of hard work and sacrifice.

He earned a BS in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, then chose to pursue a master’s degree at the UW. He took out a loan for his plane ticket to Seattle and arrived in the U.S. with $8 in his pocket. He earned his MS in chemical engineering from UW in 1970.

In 1977 Bindra joined Chevron as a research engineer, beginning his 30-year career with the company. He propelled up the career ladder but hit a barrier to upper management. A colleague told him that because he looked and dressed differently and had an accent, it would be difficult to move past middle management.

Bindra took this as a challenge, and through personal initiative, along with a gradual corporate cultural change, he shattered the glass ceiling to help dispel the myths about minorities and women common at that time.

Among his many career accomplishments, Bindra led an effort to negotiate the financing, design, and construction of a pipeline from the Tengiz Field in Kazahstan to the Black Sea.

Bindra is a past chairman of the board of the South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow (SAALT), was vice chairman of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines, and now chairs the Business Leadership Council of SAALT and serves on the board of directors for GS Caltrex.

Bindra is one of five UW alumni to receive a 2008 Diamond Award. Read a Q&A with him on the AIChE's website.