Denim luminary Miguel Sánchez passed away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 62.
Mr Sánchez, a Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-trained textile chemist and engineer, most recently led on technology for denim trade show Kingpins and served as a Transformers Foundation board member. Previously at Archroma, he founded Gavilan in Barcelona in 2018.
Miguel Sanchez of Chevron throughout his educational and professional career,had been a mentor, a coach, a motivator, an advocate, and a role model for other Latinx employees and future STEM leaders.
As Team Lead, Process Engineering in the Refinery Systems Division and Relief Systems at Chevron’s El Segundo, California refinery, Mr. Sanchez managed a team of six engineers and one operator to meet fast-paced business demands and stakeholder timelines in support of planning, operations, and maintenance needs.
He was also responsible for the career development, competency plans, and general job satisfaction of employees, areas that draw upon the leadership skills he developed as an undergraduate at the University of California, Irvine where he earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering and was named Chemical Engineer of the Year in 2013.
“Miguel was a very special human, so wildly smart and engaged, both generous and kind,” shared Kingpins and Transformers founder Andrew Olah. “Our industry will miss him because no one else is willing, or even able, to do what Miguel did for so many of us.”
