A Message from CEO Roger Kearns

This article originally appeared on LinkedIn on January 11, 2024.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and enjoyed time to rest and relax with family and friends.

Becky and I welcomed our adult children to our home in Calgary this year. We are thoroughly enjoying living in the “Great White North” and found time to hike the beautiful mountains of western Canada together. My career has taken us to several geographies through the years, and it is a pleasure to lead NOVA Chemicals with its deep and proud Canadian roots.

The past six months have shown me what an amazing company NOVA is – with talented, innovative, and committed people. I am most proud of the company’s strong focus on personal safety and Responsible Care™ performance. Last year, we had our best ever safety performance and will likely reach first quartile. It is a testament to our people and how they take care of each other.

While 2023 was greatly impacted by industry-wide trough market conditions and ongoing uncertainties around the world, I have optimism as we move into 2024. At NOVA, we have much to look forward to with our second Advanced SCLAIRTECH™ polyethylene facility (AST2) located in Ontario. We are making progress in our start-up milestones and look forward to commercial operations, bringing premium-value plastic materials that support sustainable packaging solutions to the marketplace. More than 7,500 contractors and employees dedicated over 12 million hours working on the completion of our new Rokeby Site and the linked Corunna Cracker Expansion projects. I thank and applaud everyone who has been involved in these efforts.

I am excited about where NOVA Chemicals is headed – not just in 2024 – but also as we strive to meet our ambitious 2030 Roadmap to Sustainability Leadership. The world is changing, and with it so are the expectations for how companies develop resources, manufacture everyday products, and protect our environment for future generations. We are highly motivated to tackle these opportunities, especially as we develop a circular economy for plastic materials and begin to build a state-of-the-art mechanical recycling business.  Last year, we invested in our first facility to create recycled polyethylene under our SYNDIGO™ brand. This facility will begin operating in the next 12 months, and I can assure you there will be more news about recycled polyethylene from us in the coming year.

The future holds much promise as we seek to reshape plastics for a better, more sustainable world. Surrounded by the team at NOVA, I am optimistic for the future and excited to get back to work. Happy New Year to all my colleagues. Let’s welcome all that’s to come in 2024.