Royal Dutch Shell PLC has named Ben Van Beurden as chief executive officer effective Jan. 1, 2014. He succeeds Peter Voser who will leave at the end of March 2014, marking the end of 29 years with the company.
Van Beurden has been downstream director since January. He joined Shell in 1983 and has held a number of technical and commercial roles in both the upstream and downstream businesses. He has worked in The Netherlands, Africa, Malaysia, the US, and most recently, the UK.
In January 2005, Van Beurden became vice-president, manufacturing excellence, based in Houston. In this role he was responsible for standards in operational excellence and high-performance initiatives in refining and chemicals manufacturing.
In December 2006, he was appointed executive vice-president, chemicals, based in London. During his tenure in the role, Ben was appointed to the boards of a number of leading industry associations including the International Council of Chemicals Associations and the European Chemical Industry Council.
