Enron Corp. Pres. Jeffrey K. Skilling has been elected CEO of Enron Corp. effective Feb. 12. Kenneth L. Lay will continue to serve as chairman of the board.
"The best time for succession is when the successor is ready and when the company is well-positioned for the future," said Lay, currently Enron's chairman and CEO. "With Jeff's promotion, succession is clear, our deep pool of management talent remains intact, and no other organizational changes need to be made to take the company to new levels of growth."
Skilling joined Enron in 1990 after leading McKinsey & Co.'s energy and chemical consulting practices. He is widely credited with pioneering Enron's use of risk management products and forward contracting structures in the natural gas industry. Now the largest US marketer of gas and electricity, the Houston-based firm has since applied similar risk-management concepts in electricity, bandwidth, metals, and a range of other commodity products.
He became president and COO in December 1996 and has served on the company's board of directors since then.
"I am particularly happy that Ken and I will continue running the company together and that he has put the rumors of his possible departure to Washington, DC, to rest," said Skilling, in reference to speculation of Lay being considered for a cabinet post in the administration of US Pres.-elect George W. Bush.
Lay became Enron's chairman and CEO in February 1986, following the creation of the company through the merger of Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth. Prior to his tenure at Enron, Lay had served as chairman and CEO of Houston Natural Gas, president and COO of Transco Energy Co., and president of Continental Resources Co. Lay also served as an officer in the US Navy, and as Deputy Undersecretary for Energy.
Charles R. Williamson has been named CEO of Unocal Corp. effective Jan. 1.
Williamson, who most recently served as executive vice-president, international operations, succeeds Roger C. Beach, who retired as chairman and CEO at the end of 2000.
Williamson started his Unocal career in 1977 in the area of exploration and production, holding senior positions of "increasing responsibility" in the UK, the Netherlands, and Thailand. Beach, who recently retired from Unocal after 40 years, said, "The timing of my retirement is part of an orderly succession that the board and I have been working on for the past 2 years. Chuck Williamson brings global experience and a track record of success to the CEO position. He can take Unocal to the next level of performance and capture the full value of our growth portfolio."
Beach became CEO in 1994 and chairman in 1995. "Under Roger Beach's leadership, Unocal has developed one of the industry's best growth portfolios, with high-potential exploration programs in four of the world's major deepwater basins," Williamson said.
In other moves within Unocal, Timothy H. Ling has been named president and COO. He joined Unocal in 1997 as CFO and in 1999 was named executive vice-president, North America operations. Prior to joining Unocal, Ling was a partner with McKinsey & Co.
Other moves
In other personnel moves, Richard K. Hebert, president of Howell Corp., Houston, assumed the responsibilities of CEO as well Jan. 1. Hebert succeeds Donald W. Clayton, who will retain his position as chairman of the company.
Herbert joined Howell in May 1997, at which time he was elected president and COO. Before that, Hebert was co-owner and CEO of Voyager Energy Corp. Prior to that, he served as executive vice-president and COO of Meridian Oil Inc. Hebert has also held numerous engineering and management positions with Mobil Oil Corp., Superior Oil Co., and Amoco Production Co.
Clayton said of Hebert's appointment, "This promotion reflects the confidence that the boardellipsehas in Rick and solidifies an experienced management group that is talented and capable of growing the company in the future."
Gary Spears has been named manager of the Ontario Oil, Gas, & Salt Resources Library in London, Ont., effective Jan. 2. Spears has more than 15 years experience in the oil and gas industry both in Alberta and overseas working as a wellsite geologist, a reservoir engineer, a fluids engineer, and a data engineer. He will be responsible for the library's operation and will develop new programs and policies to help achieve the state mandate of maintaining and improving access to existing and new data.