Chevron Corporation (Chevron) announced the retirement of Peter J. Robertson as vice chairman of the board, after serving for more than 35 years in the company. Robertson is replaced by John S. Watson as new vice chairman of the company. Watson is currently executive vice president of strategy and development. The company also announced the appointment of Charles A. James presently vice president and general counsel, executive vice president of the company, effective April 1, 2009.
Robertson joined the company in 1973. He served in several leadership roles in finance, strategic planning, exploration and production. He was appointed as vice president, finance, for Chevron US in 1989, and president of Warren Petroleum Co. (Chevron’s former natural gas liquids subsidiary) in 1991. In 1994, he was named as vice president, strategic planning, for Chevron. He held this position until being appointed as president of Chevron U.S.A. Production Company in 1997. In 2000, Robertson became president of Chevron Overseas Petroleum Inc. He held the position of vice chairman ever since 2002.
“By any measure, Peter’s contributions inside and outside Chevron have been remarkable,” said Chevron chairman and chief executive officer Dave O’Reilly. “As vice chairman, Peter established himself as one of our industry’s most tireless, passionate and effective emissaries. For me personally, Peter has been a valued partner and a tremendous source of support in helping lead Chevron.”
Robertson is a resident of Edinburgh, Scotland. He served in several leadership roles with different organizations, including United Way of the Bay Area, the Bay Area Council, the US-Russia Business Council, Resources for the Future, and the American Petroleum Institute. He serves on the corporate advisory board of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He is former chairman of the U.S. Energy Association, co-chairman of the US- Saudi Arabian Business Council, and vice chairman of the Leon Sullivan Foundation.
Watson joined Chevron in 1980 as a financial analyst after receiving a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago. He assumed his present position in 2008. As vice chairman, Watson will add corporate compliance and policy, government and public affairs to his broad portfolio of responsibilities that includes business development, mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, procurement and the project resources company, which supports the development of main capital projects with the company.
“John’s breadth of corporate and operational experience, combined with his strategic vision, make him ideally qualified to assume this important leadership position,” O’Reilly said.
Ever since joining Chevron, Watson has held positions of increasing responsibility. He was named as president of Chevron Canada Ltd. in January 1996 and in February 1998 became vice president, strategic planning, for Chevron. Watson was held as the integration executive for the merger of Chevron and Texaco, and in October 2001 he was appointed as vice president and chief financial officer of the corporation. He became president of Chevron International Exploration and Production in 2005, where he will supervise Chevron’s production and exploration activities outside the US.
James will presume the expanded accountability of executive vice president of the company, overseeing the company’s legal, corporate governance, human resources and security organizations. James joined the company in 2002 after serving as assistant attorney general in charge of the antitrust division at the US Department of Justice. Previously in his career, James practiced law at Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in Washington, D.C., where he chaired the firm’s global antitrust and trade regulation practice.