Two oil majors announced new directors today. Chevron Corp. and ExxonMobil both announced adding new board members.
Chevron Corporation (ticker: CVX) announced that Jim Umpleby has been elected to Chevron’s board of directors, effective March 1, 2018. Chevron said Umpleby will serve on the Board Nominating and Governance Committee as well as the Management Compensation Committee.
ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) elected Steven A. Kandarian to its board effective Feb. 1, 2018. Kandarian is the chairman, president and chief executive officer of MetLife Inc.
Chevron outlined in a press release that Umpleby, 59, is CEO and a member of the board of directors of Caterpillar Inc. He joined a Caterpillar subsidiary, Solar Turbines, in 1980, and held leadership positions in a wide variety of functions at Caterpillar. Umpleby was named group president of Caterpillar’s Energy & Transportation business segment in 2013 and assumed the role of CEO on January 1, 2017.
Umpleby is a graduate of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. He serves on Rose-Hulman’s board of trustees, on the board of directors of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, and is a member of the Latin America Conservation Council and the Business Roundtable.
Regarding the makeup of its board, Exxon said that with the election of Kandarian to its board, the ExxonMobil board stands at 11 directors, 10 of whom are non-employee directors.
Exxon pointed out that Kandarian became president and CEO of MetLife in May 2011. He was elected chairman of the board in January 2012. Prior to assuming his current role, Kandarian was MetLife’s chief investment officer. Before joining MetLife, he was executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, an agency of the U.S. government.
Kandarian was founder and managing partner of Orion Partners LP, a private equity firm. Earlier he was managing director of Lee Capital Holdings. He began his career as an investment banker with Rotan Mosle Inc.
Kandarian serves on the boards of the Institute of International Finance, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Neuberger Berman and the Partnership for New York City. He is also a member of The Business Council and The Business Roundtable.
Kandarian earned a bachelor of arts degree from Clark University, a juris doctorate degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a master of business administration degree from Harvard Business School.
