Louisa A Nara Profile

As a global leader in process safety, Louisa brings over 43 years of expertise in process engineering, process safety, crisis management, and emergency response. From 2010 through 2024, Louisa was AIChE’s Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) Global Technical Director. During that time, Louisa provided expertise on technical content and tools, including intellectual property, copyright, and branding issues, and was, and continues to be, an instructor for AIChE Academy and the CCPS Flagship course, Process Safety Boot Camp.

Louisa began her work at the site level in operations and process engineering and continued, successively, in regional and global technical leadership roles. She gained hands-on experience preventing, investigating, and responding to significant incidents through on-site leadership and corporate oversight positions.

Before joining CCPS, Louisa was Director of Risk Management and Compliance for Bayer MaterialScience NAFTA (now Covestro). She is known globally as a featured speaker and keynote on process safety topics and is a frequent speaker at universities, conferences, and meetings sharing information and lessons learned.

Louisa is currently a CPCS Emeritus Member, an AIChE Fellow, and a CCPS Fellow.
Nara has a BSChE from West Virginia University (1981), an MS in Environmental Engineering at Villanova University (1989), and is presently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Safety Sciences (2021-). Nara is a Certified Process Safety Professional (CCPSC) and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). She was elected to the West Virginia University Chemical Engineering Academy (2011) for her outstanding professional accomplishments.

In 2023, Louisa was selected as one of the Top 10 Inspirational Leaders by ERA Magazine. She also received the 2023 Mentorship Excellence Award from the Women in Chemical Engineering group.