John Wright Promoted to President’s Post at Fluor

In a step toward passing corporate power on to a younger generation, Fluor Corp. said Wednesday that John Wright, the youthful chief executive of its St. Joe Minerals Corp. subsidiary, has been promoted to the post of president and chief operating officer.

Wright succeeds Buck Mickel, who joins Chick Cannon as a vice chairman of the Irvine-based engineering, mining and natural resources conglomerate. Mickel was named president in 1984.

Wright, 43, is now considered a likely successor to Fluor Chairman David S. Tappan.

“The selection of John Wright as president is a major milestone in Fluor’s management succession program,” Tappan said in a prepared statement. “John has shown outstanding leadership in managing the natural resources group through a difficult period.”

Tappan, who was named Fluor’s chairman in September, 1984, when J. Robert Fluor died, repeatedly has said he will abide by the company’s mandatory retirement policy and has pledged to retire after his 65th birthday in December, 1987.

While Fluor officials declined to confirm whether Wright is being groomed for the chairmanship, a company spokesman said Wright “is of the generation that will follow Tappan, Mickel and Cannon.”

Although Mickel, 60, and Cannon, 63, could replace Tappan, both are considered unlikely candidates.

“Fluor has been . . . talking about the need for young management talent” for several years, said Mark Altman, a securities analyst with the brokerage firm of Paine Webber in New York.

“Certainly, John Wright’s appointment at a young age to the chairmanship of St. Joe meant he’s been a candidate for the top management at Fluor.”

Because Tappan’s route to the top passed through the presidential suite, Wright is a good contender to take over when Tappan steps down, said Richard Rossi, vice president of research for Merrill Lynch in New York.

Neither Tappan nor Wright could be reached Wednesday for comment.

Wright joined St. Joe in 1971 after spending several years with International Paper Co., and he was promoted to the post of vice president of sales in 1975.

Five years later, he was named executive vice president and elected to St. Joe’s board. After Fluor paid $2.2 billion for St. Joe in 1981, he was elected to Fluor’s board. He became St. Joe’s chairman and chief executive in 1982.