Total Nominates ex-IEA Chief to Board

French major Total is to propose the nominations of Maria van der Hoeven and Jean Lemierre as board members at the May 24 annual general meeting, it said March 16.

Van der Hoeven, formerly executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), brings “expertise and knowledge of the energy sector,” Total said. Lemierre, the chairman of the board of BNP-Paribas, brings “his expertise and knowledge of the financial sector at a global level.”  And to join them to represent employee shareholders the board of directors have chosen a Polish employee, Renata Perycz who works in the company’s marketing and services affiliate in Poland. Van der Hoeven left the IEA top job in September 2015 and was replaced by its chief economist Fatih Birol.

Leaving the board are Thierry Desmarest, the honorary chairman; and Gunnar Brock. Their terms expire at the AGM and they did not wish to renew them. Desmarest built up Total through two takeovers during the last oil price crash, buying Fina and Elf. The board thanked Desmarest for his “exceptional contribution to the group’s development over the past 20 years.”

Desmarest was Total's chairman and CEO from 1995 until early 2007, then chairman until May 2010, remaining as a director later. When former chief Christophe de Margerie died in a Moscow airport accident on October 20 2014, Desmarest stepped into the breach, becoming chairman and holding the post until December 2015 while Patrick Pouyanne assumed the reins as CEO. 

On March 15, Statoil proposed that Jeroen Van der Veer -- the Royal Dutch Shell CEO from 2004 to 2009 when he retired -- join its board as a director. He already chairs the supervisory boards of the Dutch ING Bank and electronics firm Philips.

William Powell