Engine No. 1 to Nominate Four Highly Qualified, Independent Director Candidates to ExxonMobil Board
Sends Letter to ExxonMobil Board Outlining Need for Directors with Diversified Energy Experience, Greater Capital Allocation Discipline, Strategic Plan for Sustainable Value Creation, and Better Shareholder-Aligned Management Incentives
Believes Oil & Gas Industry is in Transition and ExxonMobil Must Evolve to Protect and Enhance Long-Term Value for Shareholders
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (“CalSTRS”), the nation’s second largest pension fund and owner of over
In a letter sent today to the Board, Engine No. 1 outlined the case for much-needed change at
Engine No. 1’s plan to reenergize
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Refresh the Board with highly qualified, independent directors who have diverse track records of success in the energy sector and can help the Board, which has no independent directors with any outside energy experience, position
ExxonMobil to successfully evolve with changing industry dynamics; - Impose greater long-term capital allocation discipline by applying more stringent approval criteria for new capital expenditures, including lower required break-even oil and gas prices;
- Implement a strategic plan for sustainable value creation by fully exploring growth areas, including more significant investment in clean energy, to help the Company profitably diversify and ensure it can commit to emission reduction targets, all with the benefit of a Board better qualified to consider such opportunities; and
- Overhaul management compensation to better align incentives with shareholder value creation.
In its letter, Engine No. 1 stated, “We believe that for
Engine No. 1’s Director Candidates include:
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Gregory J. Goff –Mr. Goff has a long track record of success in the energy industry.Mr. Goff served as the CEO ofAndeavor , a leading petroleum refining and marketing company formerly known as Tesoro, for eight years ending in 2018. During his tenure,Andeavor generated total returns of 1,224%, versus 55% for theU.S. energy sector. He was named one of the “Best-Performing CEOs in the World” byHarvard Business Review in 2018. Prior toAndeavor , he spent almost 30 years with ConocoPhillips in various leadership positions in Exploration and Production, Downstream, and Commercial operations.
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Kaisa Hietala –Ms. Hietala is an experienced leader in strategic transformation in the energy sector who began her career in upstream oil and gas exploration and crude oil trading.Ms. Hietala served as the EVP of Renewable Products at Neste, a petroleum refining and marketing company, for five years ending in 2019. During her tenure, the Renewable Products segment’s revenues grew by 1.6x and operating profits grew by 4x. She played a central role in the strategic transformation of Neste into the world’s largest and most profitable producer of renewable diesel and jet fuel, which was named byHarvard Business Review as one of the “Top 20 Business Transformations of the Last Decade” in 2019.
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Alexander Karsner –Mr. Karsner is a leading corporate innovation strategist and accomplished energy entrepreneur and policymaker with more than three decades of global conventional and renewable energy experience. He is Senior Strategist at X (formerly Google X), the innovation lab of Alphabet Inc. He began his career developing and financing large scale energy infrastructure. As a private equity investor, venture partner, and advisor, his portfolios have included some of the most successful cleantech startups of the past decade. He previously served asU.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy, responsible for multi-billion dollar federal R&D programs. He is a Precourt Energy Scholar at Stanford University’sSchool of Civil and Environmental Engineering .
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Anders Runevad –Mr. Runevad is a successful business leader with global energy experience. He served as the CEO of Vestas Wind Systems, a wind turbine manufacturing, installation, and servicing company with more installed wind power worldwide than any other manufacturer, for six years ending in 2019, and is credited with turning around the company. During his tenure, Vestas stock returned a total of 480%, significantly outperforming the global energy and industrials sectors. He was included in Fortune’s “Businessperson of the Year” list in 2016.
The full text of the letter is available here.
Additional information regarding Engine No. 1’s plan to reenergize
About Engine No. 1
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Disclaimer
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Source: Engine No. 1
Media Contacts
Gasthalter & Co.
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212-257-4170
Engine1@gasthalter.com
Investor Contacts:
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212-750-5833