Exxon’s senior VP Swiger to retire
US major ExxonMobil announced July 19 that its senior vice president, Andrew Swiger, is retiring after 43 years at the company.
Effective September 1, Swiger, who joined the company in 1978 as an operations manager, will be stepping down. The board of directors chose Kathryn Mikells, a former executive at Xerox, United Airlines and the UK multinational alcoholic beverage company Diageo, as his replacement. Effective August 9, Mikells will also assume the role of CFO.
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Rising from the ranks, Swiger ascended to the role of vice president for the European, Caspian and Russian region for Exxon by 2003. By 2009, he was elected senior vice president and became a principal financial officer four years later.
“I’d like to thank Andy, both personally and on behalf of the board of directors, for his many years of dedicated service, and wish him all the best in his retirement,” CEO Darren Woods said. “We welcome Kathy to ExxonMobil and look forward to the perspective and experience she brings as we work together to deliver on our strategies and increase shareholder value.”
Exxon just recently bristled over the shape of its board of directors with activist shareholder Engine No. 1. The hedge fund, which holds only $54mn of Exxon’s estimated $248bn market capitalisation, waged a proxy battle with the major last year, alleging its focus on fossil fuels over climate change represented an “existential risk” to its shareholders.
Exxon's shareholders ended up electing three directors nominated by Engine No. 1 along with nine more put forward by the company.