Oil Prices Fall, CEO Turnover Rises

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Energywire – Oil Prices Fall, CEO Turnover Rises

Chief executive turnover soared in the oil industry in 2014, with an 11.1 percent CEO succession rate and a 60 percent rate of disciplinary succession, or departures involving a CEO leading a low-performing company. “When there are company performance issues, one of the things that boards do is they really try to discern, is this a market effect, or is this a management effect, or both?” explains Trent Aulbaugh, a consultant at Egon Zehnder, Houston. “Challenging times tend to prompt more questions,” he adds. Is change at the top the answer for troubled oil companies, asks EnergyWire? “The executive that’s perfect for our growth market may not necessarily be the best executive to manage a decline,” admits Aulbaugh. But while some executive change can be triggered by activist investors, Aulbaugh questions the long-term effectiveness of this mechanism.

Full story: Pamela King and Edward Klump: Price slump could change energy firms’ executive suites in EnergyWire (18 February 2015).