Arco Reorganizes Operations, Names New President
Atlantic Richfield Co. on Tuesday named a new president, identified four executive vice presidents as possible successors to Chairman and Chief Executive Mike R. Bowlin and reorganized operations to focus on international growth.
The Los Angeles-based energy giant also announced plans to eliminate all employees other than Bowlin from its board of directors.
William E. Wade Jr. was named Arco president, filling a job that Bowlin, who took over three years ago, eliminated so that more managers reported directly to him. Bowlin remains chief operating officer, but Wade will assist him in a two-man office of the chairman in representing Arco before government, industry and other entities.
“There are tremendous demands on the chief executive officer to develop and maintain external relations,” Bowlin said.
Wade, 55, was executive vice president responsible for many of Arco’s domestic and international oil and gas operations. He is not seen as the heir apparent to Bowlin, 53, who currently has no plans to retire.
“I regard this as a near-perfect way for me to spend the remaining years of my Arco career,” Wade said in a statement.
Arco is restructuring its business under four executive vice presidents to “prepare for a smooth transition of management leadership at any given time and to take the organizational steps necessary to assure long-term growth,” Bowlin said.
“This restructuring strengthens the management of our upstream oil and gas [exploration and production] operations,” Bowlin said. “We’re trying to develop a very very strong slate.”
Arco is splitting its worldwide oil and gas operations, putting Alaska, California and Asia-Pacific under new Executive Vice President Ken Thompson, 46, who was president of Arco Alaska. Other U.S. operations, the Gulf of Mexico, Latin America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East will be handled by Michael E. Wiley, 47, who already is an executive vice president.
Arco’s other two new executive vice presidents are Marie Knowles, 51, chief financial officer, and Tony Fernandes, 52, who is responsible for refining and marketing operations.
By eliminating nearly all insiders from its board, Arco is “following the trend,” said Nell Minow, a Washington-based co-author of three books about corporate governance.
Over the last 18 months, the Council of Institutional Investors, the National Assn. of Corporate Directors and powerful pension funds such as the California Public Employees’ Retirement System have urged companies to take that step, and many have begun to comply.
“It’s generally considered to be [the] best practice,” Minow said.
Arco’s stock fell 38 cents to close at $73.63 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Times staff writer Martha Groves contributed to this report.
