October 1, 2007
BP’s next chairman: a tip for the top
As the FT reported last week, BP is starting to think about finding a new chairman to replace Peter Sutherland, although not with any great degree of urgency just yet. Mr Sutherland has got until 2009, and seems likely step down at that year’s AGM. Anna Mann, the doyenne of London headhunters, has been hired, but is still in the early stages of her work. Sir Ian Prosser, as the senior non-executive director, is in charge of the search.
Various names have been kicked around in speculation, but none of them seem quite right. With all due respect to Sir Nigel Rudd, for example, he does not quite seem the right man for such a massive challenge as sustaining a turnaround at BP, which may still be a fragile bloom by the spring of 2009.
Of the current non-execs, Sir William Castell is the pre-eminent candidate for the top job. But BP appears also to want to look outside. Like Jorma Ollila, the former Nokia chief executive, at Royal Dutch Shell, the chairman is likely to have a background from outside the oil industry.
He or she will need excellent political and financial contacts. Mr Sutherland, with a CV including the European Commission, the WTO and Goldman Sachs, was ideally qualified. It would help a lot, too, for the chairman to have the highest level of contacts and prestige in the US: BP’s most important country and the source of most of its problems over the past couple of years.
A job for Robert Rubin, maybe? But there is someone closer to home who has the perfect background in terms of popularity in the US, poliitical expertise and top-level contacts, and ten years’ experience in running a large organisation, too. Step forward Tony Blair?
