John S. Watson, 52, was elected chairman and CEO of Chevron Corp. effective Dec. 31. Watson, who is currently vice chairman, succeeds David J. O’Reilly, who will retire from the company and its board after a 41-year career, including 10 years as chairman and CEO. The Chevron board also elected George L. Kirkland, 59, to be vice chairman of the board, succeeding Watson in that capacity. As vice chairman and executive vice president of Upstream and Gas, Kirkland will retain responsibility for overseeing Chevron’s global exploration and production activities for crude oil and natural gas. Watson has had a 29-year career with Chevron and was named vice chairman of the corporation on April 1. Watson joined Chevron in 1980 as a financial analyst. He held financial, analytical and supervisory positions before being elected president of Chevron Canada Ltd. in 1996. In 1998 he was elected a vice president of the corporation with responsibility for strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions. In 2000, he led the company’s integration effort following the Chevron-Texaco merger and then became the corporation’s CFO. In 2005 Watson was elected president of Chevron International Exploration and Production. In 2008 he was elected executive vice president for strategy and development. Watson is a director of the American Petroleum Institute. Kirkland joined Chevron as a construction engineer in New Orleans in 1974 and moved to Caltex Pacific Indonesia in 1978. After returning to the United States Kirkland became group manager of Upstream Technology for Chevron Research and Technology Co. in 1990. In 1992 Kirkland was appointed general manager of production for Chevron Nigeria Ltd. In 1996, he was named managing director for Chevron in Nigeria. He became president of the company’s North American Exploration and Production operations in 2001. He was later appointed corporate vice president and president of Chevron’s International Exploration and Production operations in 2002 and assumed his current position in January 2005.

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