Wael Sawan has been appointed upstream director for Royal Dutch Shell plc. Sawan, who has been executive vice president of deepwater, would become a member of the executive director. He takes over from Andy Brown, who is stepping down in September from Shell after 35 years. Sawan joined Shell in 1997 and has held a series of commercial and operational leadership roles across the upstream, integrated gas and downstream units. He holds a masters degree in chemical engineering from McGill University and a masters degree in business from Harvard Business School.