Alek Duerksen
About Alek Duerksen
Alek Duerksen is the Vice President of Product Management & Digital at Emerson's Actuation Technologies in Houston, Texas, with extensive experience in strategic planning and valve management.
Current Position at Emerson
Alek Duerksen is currently serving as the Vice President of Product Management & Digital at Emerson's Actuation Technologies division, based in Houston, Texas. In this role, he oversees the strategic direction and digital transformation of product lines within the Actuation Technologies segment.
Previous Roles at Emerson
Before his current role, Alek served in various director-level positions at Emerson. He was the Director of the Butterfly Valves Strategic Business Unit from 2021 to 2023 in Houston, Texas. Prior to that, he worked as the Director of Product Management for Knife Gate Valves from 2019 to 2021 in Reno, Nevada. He also held the position of Strategic Planner from 2017 to 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and originally joined the company as a Strategic Marketing MBA Intern in 2016 for a 3-month stint in the Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area.
Experience at Rio Tinto
Alek Duerksen's early career includes significant on-site mining experience with Rio Tinto at the Bengalla Mine in Australia. He worked as a Project Engineer from 2014 to 2015, as a Dragline, Drill & Blast Supervisor from 2013 to 2014, and as a Production Engineer from 2012 to 2013. These roles provided him with hands-on operational experience in the mining industry.
Educational Background
Alek holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School, where he studied from 2015 to 2017. He also earned a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Mining and Mineral Engineering from Virginia Tech, studying there from 2009 to 2011. Additionally, he holds a Bachelor's of Science in Mining & Minerals Engineering from Virginia Tech, completed between 2005 and 2009.
Early Career and Internships
Alek's early career included multiple internships that provided diverse industry exposure. He worked as a Workflow Systems Engineering Intern at P&H MinePro Services in Antofagasta, Chile, in 2008. Prior to that, he served as a Mining Engineering Intern at International Coal Group in Morgantown, West Virginia, in 2007.