Kauffmann to Retire From Exxon Corp.
Exxon Corp. President Howard C. Kauffmann will retire after the company’s May 16 annual meeting, the New York-based oil company announced Wednesday.
In a prepared statement, Chairman Clifton C. Garvin Jr. said he will recommend that Lawrence G. Rawl, currently a senior vice president, be nominated as Kauffmann’s successor.
Kauffmann, who turns 62 on Feb. 25, was elected president of the nation’s largest oil company after a career devoted in large part to Exxon’s overseas operations. He joined the organization in 1946.
Rawl, 56, joined Exxon in 1952 and was named a senior vice president in 1973.
Sanford Margoshes, an oil analyst with the investment firm Shearson Lehman Bros. Inc. in New York, said Rawl is “an excellent choice” to be Exxon’s president.
Rawl has “demonstrated a broad depth of understanding not only of his own company but of the whole industry,” Margoshes said. “Also, he is an expert in exploration and production, and that’s the leading edge of where Exxon will be concentrating its efforts in the foreseeable future.”
LOS ANGELES COUNTY
The holding company for Buffums department stores has named an Australian retailing executive president and chief executive of the 15-store chain. Robb Hampson, 40, will succeed William S. Hansen, 63, who will remain chairman of David Jones (California) Inc., the holding company for Buffums and three other firms. Hansen, who had served as president of Long Beach-based Buffums since 1970 and chief executive since 1973, said he was relinquishing the Buffums post because he wants to devote his attention to “another fairly good-sized acquisition” that David Jones (California) will be completing in the next two months. He declined to give details of the pending deal.
Hampson was group merchandise director for David Jones Australia Pty. Ltd., the retail arm of David Jones Ltd., one of the two Australian corporations that own the holding company.
Hampson said the 29 stores of the 147-year-old David Jones chain are “very upscale,” compared to Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman-Marcus in this country.
He declined to say what changes might be ahead for the 80-year-old Buffums chain, noting that he is still “making the adjustment” to a new job.
John A. (Jack) Teske, president and chief operating officer of Garrett Corp., Los Angeles, has been named to the additional posts of chairman and chief executive, following the retirement of Harry H. Wetzel as chairman.
Wetzel will remain as a consultant to Garrett, a major producer of aerospace components and systems. He will also continue as a director of both Garrett and La Jolla-based Signal Cos., Garrett’s parent company.
Rexon Inc., Culver City, announced its new management team following the infusion of $6 million in capital from an investor group led by Hambrecht & Quist Inc.
As previously reported, Q.T. Wiles, chairman of Hambrecht & Quist, will become chairman of Rexon. Wiles, along with Ben C. Wang, who will continue as Rexon president, and Richard Ormond, a member of Wiles’ staff, form the office of the chief executive.
Wang and Michael Preletz will be the presidents of Rexon’s two operating subsidiaries, Wangtek Inc. and Rexon Business Machines, respectively.
Additionally, Glenn Maddalon will become executive vice president and chief operating officer of Wangtek.
Rexon Business Machines makes business computer systems and Wangtek produces high-speed data-storage systems.
Camron Cooper, vice president and treasurer of Los Angeles-based Atlantic Richfield Co., has been named a director of Inland Steel Co., Chicago.
PerfectData Corp., Chatsworth, has named Richard D. Brounstein vice president-finance and chief financial officer. He formerly was treasurer of Verbatim Corp.
The California Chicano News Media Assn., a nonprofit professional organization based at USC, has selected Suzanne Manriquez as executive director. She replaces Frank Newton, who left CCNMA to head the recently organized National Assn. of Hispanic Journalists.
Manriquez previously was a community relations officer for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee and was general manager of KUBO-FM, a bilingual public radio station in Salinas, Calif.
