CEO Tillerson to Leave Exxon Year-End

ExxonMobil CEO and chairman Rex Tillerson is to retire three months earlier than planned at year-end after more than 41 years of service and 11 years in the top jobs, the US major said December 14. He leaves with a glowing endorsement from one of his peers for his prospective post in Washington.

Tillerson, 64, has been nominated to serve as secretary of state under US president-elect Donald Trump, who moves into the White House in January. Tillerson's successor has been named as Darren Woods, currently president of Exxon Mobil Corporation.

Thanking Tillerson, the board said he generated value for shareholders and that his service to the nation would be equally successful and distinguished.

Tillerson was scheduled to retire in March 2017 when he reached 65, the company’s mandatory retirement age for his position. After consideration, Tillerson concluded, and the board agreed, that given the significant requirements associated with the confirmation process, it was appropriate to move the retirement date.

Senators are not bound to accept Trump's nomination and in the past, secretaries have normally worked their way up through the ranks, rather than moved into the top job from an – arguably equivalent – position in industry.

Woods, 51, was elected president of ExxonMobil and a member of the board of directors in January 2016. He joined Exxon Company International in 1992. In 2012, he was appointed president of ExxonMobil Refining & Supply Company and a vice president of the corporation. In this role, Woods had primary responsibility for the company’s global refining, supply and transportation activities. In 2014, he was named a senior vice president of the corporation and became a member of its management committee.

Rex Tillerson (Photo credit: ExxonMobil)

Tillerson 'a good listener... who can find solutions'

On December 13, Tillerson won a glowing endorsement from one of the major oil and gas CEOs who has sat on the same and opposite sides of the negotiating table with him, Eni chief executive Claudio Descalzi.

Asked at an Eni analysts briefing in New York if Tillerson would make a good US Secretary of State and help lower tension in areas of the world where Eni operates, Descalzi replied: 

"Rex is very experienced. He’s a very good listener, a very good negotiator. I know him very well. For Kashagan, also for other reasons, we have a lot of activity in Nigeria, in Angola, in the US. I think that he can give value. Everywhere, he knows everybody. He’s very respected. I think he’s a good character, he’s a good listener. He’s a person who can find compromise. And because he creates such big value in the past, that means that he’s able to find solutions and not create problems. So my answer - Yes, I think he will be very positive."

William Powell,  Mark Smedley