In a clear indication of who will eventually be tapped to assume the role now occupied by popular ExxonMobil Corp. Chairman Lee Raymond, the board of directors on Thursday elected Rex Tillerson president of the corporation effective Monday (March 1). Raymond, 65, will remain chairman and CEO, the board said.

Tillerson, 51, was elected to the position of senior vice president of the corporation Aug. 1, 2001. He runs ExxonMobil’s exploration and production arm, and has been instrumental in designing the corporation’s growing Russian investments. With his election to the board, ExxonMobil’s directors now are comprised of 10 non-employees.

On July 25, 2001, Raymond agreed to defer his retirement beyond the normal date of August 2003. The board did not set any specific time but said it would, “as in the past, continue to monitor progress in implementing its orderly plan to assure continuity in superior corporate management, which has been the hallmark of ExxonMobil.” The board added that there had been “no change” in its position as a result of Friday’s announcement.

Harry P. Longwell, 62, who is currently serves as executive vice president behind Raymond, was considered by insiders to be too close to retirement age to step into the chairman’s role. However, sources suggest he may become interim CEO should Raymond step down.

A native of Wichita Falls, TX, Tillerson joined Exxon Co. USA (EUSA) in 1975 after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin as a production engineer. He held several engineering, technical and supervisory assignments in the EUSA Production Department throughout Texas, and in 1987 was named business development manager in the EUSA Natural Gas Department, where his responsibilities included developing long-range plans for commercialization of Alaska and Canadian Beaufort Sea gas.

In 1989, Tillerson was named general manager of EUSA’s Central Production Division, responsible for oil and gas production operations throughout a large portion of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas. Tillerson moved to Dallas in 1992 as production adviser to Exxon Corp. and then to Florham Park, NJ as coordinator of Affiliate Gas Sales in Exxon Co. International.

In 1995, Tillerson was named president of Exxon Yemen Inc. and Esso Exploration and Production Khorat Inc., and in January 1998 became vice president of Exxon Ventures (CIS) Inc. and president of Exxon Neftegas Ltd. In those roles, he was responsible for Exxon’s holdings in Russia and the Caspian Sea as well as the Sakhalin I Consortium operations offshore Sakhalin Island, Russia. In December 1999, he became executive vice president of ExxonMobil Development Co.

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