Royal Dutch Shell today announced the appointment of Ben van Beurden as Downstream Director, effective January 1, 2013. In his new role, van Beurden will become a member of Shell's Executive Committee and will take over from Mark Williams who will be returning to the United States and leaving the company after 33 years' distinguished service.

Van Beurden, a Dutch national and currently Shell's Executive Vice President Chemicals, has a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from Delft University in the Netherlands. He joined Shell in 1983 and has held various engineering, plant management and operations and commercial roles in the Netherlands, Africa, Malaysia, UK and the USA.