BP plc has appointed Fergus MacLeod as the new strategy chief. MacLeod, a former Deutsche Bank oil analyst, has been in charge of BP’s investor relations unit since 2002 and he will continue to run that unit. Ian Smale, 51, who has been BP’s head of strategy for the past three years, has retired from BP after 30 years. MacLeod will report directly to CEO Bob Dudley. Because MacLeod formerly was an energy analyst, he is expected to be attuned to shareholder concerns as the oil major attempts to revive investor confidence. Dudley said in July that stabilizing the company was his top priority (see Daily GPI, July 27).

An investment banker very familiar with the energy sector, Kirkland Andrews, was named Wednesday as the new CFO at Princeton, NJ-based NRG Energy Inc. He is currently a managing director and co-head of power and utilities in the Americas for Deutsche Bank Securities. Andrews will become NRG’s executive vice president (EVP) and CFO on Sept. 6, replacing Christian Schade, who earlier announced he was leaving NRG to return to the health care industry as EVP and CFO at Omthera Pharmaceuticals. Andrews holds a bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest and an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

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