Anderson Gets Top Position at Santa Fe
In a long-anticipated move by a company that still considers itself a family, Gordon M. Anderson was named president and chief executive Wednesday of Santa Fe International Corp., the Alhambra-based oil-drilling firm controlled by Kuwait’s state-owned oil company.
E. L. (Ed) Shannon, 65, president and CEO for almost three decades, will retire but remain affiliated as non-executive chairman of the board.
Anderson, 59, has been with Santa Fe International since 1951--two years longer than Shannon. So experts expect few changes at the firm.
“This would be what the Kuwaitis would be most comfortable with--bringing Anderson into the top slot,” said Joe Hunt, a former company executive who is a consultant in San Juan Capistrano. “It would be very strange for them to bring in someone from the outside, someone who they hadn’t dealt with for years.”
Added Santa Fe Vice President John J. Mika: “Ed Shannon defined and formed the character of Santa Fe, and Gordon will carry on.”
The company was acquired by the Kuwait Petroleum Corp. in 1981, a boom year in oil prices, for $2.5 billion, then the largest cash takeover in U.S. business history. Though four of seven board members are Kuwaitis, management has generally been left to U.S. executives.
“I think right now they’re viewed as an in-house resource by the Kuwaitis, though they usually run pretty well at arm’s length,” said Albert J. Anton Jr., an energy specialist with Carl Pforzheimer & Co.
The firm has acted as a liaison for Kuwait’s interests, however. Shannon, for instance, testified July 11 before a U.S. Senate panel, defending Kuwaiti government and private efforts to quench that nation’s oil field fires.
Santa Fe’s core business is oil-drilling services in the North Sea, Venezuela, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Egypt, Oman and Qatar. It is also exploring for oil and gas in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, as well as offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
Bio: Gordon M. Anderson Anderson has been named president and chief executive of Alhambra-based Santa Fe International Corp., an international oil-and gas-drilling services company owned by Kuwait Petroleum Corp., an agency of the Kuwait government.
Age: 59
Born: Los Angeles
Education: B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California.
Family: Anderson’s wife, Elizabeth (Liz), graduated from USC as well.
Resume: Anderson began part-time work with Santa Fe International while still an engineering student at USC. In 1955, he became a Navy officer, but three years later returned to the company. In 1960, he was appointed manager of operations in Chile; in 1962, manager of Libyan operations; in 1966, regional manager for Africa. In 1972, he became president of Santa Fe Drilling Co., then, 10 years later, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Santa Fe International. He has been a member of the board since 1968.
Business philosophy: Anderson has said he intends to continue the traditional view of employees and customers as members of the Santa Fe “family,” a word still in common use at the company despite its friendly acquisition by Kuwait 10 years ago.
