Vision 2020 Advisor, Panelist Named to Inquirer’s Top 100 Best Paid Execs in Region

Of the top 100 best-paid execs in the Philadelphia region, six are women, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last month.

The special report featured two of the six women in a smaller article.  One of them, Lynn Elsenhans, will be a panelist in Vision 2020’s upcoming October conference.   She will participate in the Conversation on Business Law and Finance.  Along with this role, Elsenhans is also one of Vision 2020’s National Advisors, a group of amazing women who have achieved in leadership on a national level.

Elsenhans currently serves as chief executive officer and chairman of Sunoco, Inc.  She is the company’s first female CEO.  Elsenhans joined Sunoco in 2008 after having served at Royal Dutch Shell as executive vice president of global manufacturing from 2005 – 2008.  Previous to that she had served concurrently as president of Shell Oil Company and president and CEO of Shell Oil Products US from 2003 – 2005.

In the Inquirer article, Elsenhans speaks of initial reluctance to discuss her status as a pioneering woman leader in a male-dominated industry.  Elsenhans later changed her stance, opening up about her experiences, while still telling other women, “”Don’t use gender as an excuse….The absolute best prescription I can come up with is: perform, perform, perform. Deliver on your commitments, exceed expectations, be results-oriented vs. effort-oriented, and prove the stereotypes wrong.”

Apart from her other leadership positions, Lynn Elsenhans also serves on the board of trustees for Rice University and the Council of Overseers for the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice. She is a trustee for First Tee, a World Golf Foundation youth initiative. She is on the board of directors of International Paper Company.

Elsenhans graduated from Rice University with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematical Science in 1978 and earned a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1980 before joining Shell Oil Company in Houston.