James Ratcliffe is a former chemical engineer and the current chairman and CEO of Ineos who has an estimated net worth of $17.4 billion as of July 2019. He is the 33rd richest person in the United Kingdom and is ranked 1268th in the list of World Billionaires according to Forbes.

James Arthur Ratcliffe was born on October 18, 1952 in Manchester, United Kingdom. He earned his degree in chemical engineering from the University of Birmingham in 1974. He started accumulating his estimated net worth of $1.1 billion when he took his first job with oil giant Esso. However, he still wanted to broaden his skills in finance by studying management accounting and took an MBA at London Business School.

While working at the $43 billion in sales chemical powerhouse Ineos Group, he has helped grow the firm over the years. It has been through a series of acquisitions and partnerships including the purchase of Belgium-based Tessenderlo's European chlor-vinyls business for $110 million, a $1 billion sale of a 50% stake in Ineos's European refinery operations to Petrochina, and a joint venture with Germany's BASF. Its biggest acquisition happened in 2005 with an $8.7 billion deal to buy BP Group’s Innovene business. As a result, it is now one of the world’s biggest producers of styrene monomer and polystyrene.

In 2010, Ineos Group moved its headquarter from the UK to Switzerland in order to save from the tax bill. In 2012, Ineos Group made a joint venture with Accsys Technologies to produce and distribute a water-resistant, wood-based construction material called Tricoya. It has an interest to pursue its joint ventures in the Middle East.