Kathy Mikells, the first outsider to join Exxon Mobil Corp.’s inner circle of top executives, will retire next year as she battles a serious but non-life threatening health condition.
Mikells, 60, joined Exxon in 2021 when the Texas oil giant was under pressure from shareholders to improve financial performance, diversify its leadership and build a low-carbon business. She will retire on Feb. 1 to focus on her health, Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said in a presentation to investors Tuesday. She will be replaced by Neil Hansen, a 25-year Exxon veteran who leads the company’s global business solutions division.
“In recent months Kathy has undergone a series of procedures and surgeries to address a debilitating but thankfully non-life threatening health issue,” Woods said. “While her condition has improved, it has become clear to her, and I think the rest of us, that she needs to focus fully on her recovery.”
Mikells came to Exxon from beverage titan Diageo Plc and became the first female senior vice president on the company’s management committee, which oversees day-to-day operations and sets strategy. She was also the first executive to hold such a high position at Exxon without a background in oil, natural gas or chemicals.
“Things are absolutely getting better, but it has been slow going, and I still have a lot of work to do with my doctors to one day get back to my usual self,” Mikells said. “I know my colleagues on the call today will recognize the sincerity of my disappointment in needing to leave this great company.”
Mikells modernized Exxon’s finance function and was the first manager to hold the formal title of chief financial officer. She overhauled investor communications and provided more granular, forward-looking information to analysts and the market in general.
Hansen has been prepared for the CFO role “for many years,” Mikells said. “It became clear to me in recent weeks that my love for this company meant I had to step aside and let someone who could focus full time on the CFO role take over.”
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
element
var scriptTag = document.createElement(‘script’);
scriptTag.src = url;
scriptTag.async = true;
scriptTag.onload = implementationCode;
scriptTag.onreadystatechange = implementationCode;
location.appendChild(scriptTag);
};
var div = document.getElementById(‘rigzonelogo’);
div.innerHTML += ” +
‘
‘ +
”;
var initJobSearch = function () {
//console.log(“call back”);
}
var addMetaPixel = function () {
if (-1 > -1 || -1 > -1) {
/*Meta Pixel Code*/
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1517407191885185’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
/*End Meta Pixel Code*/
} else if (0 > -1 && 50 > -1)
{
/*Meta Pixel Code*/
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1517407191885185’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
/*End Meta Pixel Code*/
}
}
// function gtmFunctionForLayout()
// {
//loadJS(“https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-K6ZDLWV6VX”, initJobSearch, document.body);
//}
// window.onload = (e => {
// setTimeout(
// function () {
// document.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”, function () {
// // Select all anchor elements with class ‘ui-tabs-anchor’
// const anchors = document.querySelectorAll(‘a .ui-tabs-anchor’);
// // Loop through each anchor and remove the role attribute if it is set to “presentation”
// anchors.forEach(anchor => {
// if (anchor.getAttribute(‘role’) === ‘presentation’) {
// anchor.removeAttribute(‘role’);
// }
// });
// });
// }
// , 200);
//});
