SAN ANTONIO – Valero Energy Corp. has announced that Gary Simmons has been named Vice President and General Manager of the company’s St. Charles refinery.

Simmons succeeds Jonathan Stuart, who was promoted to Vice President of Regional Refinery Operations.

Stuart will continue to oversee Valero’s St. Charles and Krotz Springs, Louisiana refineries, with the added responsibility for the company’s Lima, (Ohio) and Memphis refineries, acquired with Valero’s acquisition of Premcor.

Simmons, who previously served as Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Ardmore refinery, actually began his career at that plant in 1986.

He served in various technical and operations management positions during his 10 years at the refinery. He was then promoted to the company’s headquarters in San Antonio where he held various corporate management positions in refinery planning, economics and optimization.

&#8220I’m excited to have Gary in St. Charles. He has such strong leadership and management skills, and a genuine interest in each employee’s development and success,” said Rich Marcogliese, Senior Vice President of Refining Operations for Valero.

&#8220His past work experience makes him the ideal candidate for this position. He was effective in guiding Ardmore through its recent plant-wide turnaround – including the commissioning of a new FCCU scrubber and sulfur recovery unit. I know he will be a great benefit to our organization in St. Charles.

&#8220Jonathan has done an outstanding job leading the St. Charles refinery for the past two years, and will continue to oversee its operations in his new role,” said Marcogliese. &#8220He is one of our top plant managers and he’s got a proven track record of improving operations at all of the refineries he’s led. He has done a great job of integrating the St. Charles refinery into the Valero system and making it one of our most profitable plants. He is ideally suited to guide the Lima and Memphis operations to even greater success as part of the Valero family.”

Simmons earned his Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Oklahoma and served as an intern at the Ardmore refinery during college.

He also holds a master of business administration degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio.