PETROLEUM EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR 2015
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (ExxonMobil)
A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Rex Tillerson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering at the University of Texas at Austin before joining Exxon Co., USA, in 1975 as a production engineer.
In 1989, he became general manager of Exxon Co. USA’s central production division, responsible for oil and gas production operations throughout a large portion of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas.
In 1992, Mr. Tillerson was named production adviser to Exxon Corp. Three years later he was named President of Exxon Yemen Inc. and Esso Exploration and Production Khorat Inc., and in January 1998 became Vice President of Exxon Ventures (CIS) Inc. and President of Exxon Neftegas Ltd. In those roles, he was responsible for Exxon’s holdings in Russia and the Caspian Sea as well as the Sakhalin I consortium operations offshore Sakhalin Island, Russia.
In December 1999, he became Executive Vice President of Exxon Mobil Development Co. Mr. Tillerson was named Senior Vice President of Exxon Mobil Corp. in August 2001, and was elected President of the corporation and member of the board of directors on Mar. 1, 2004. He assumed his current position on Jan. 1, 2006.
Mr. Tillerson is a member of the executive committee and a former Chairman of the American Petroleum Institute. He is also a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and a trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is a member of the National Petroleum Council, a member of the Business Roundtable, a member of the Business Council, an honorary trustee of the Business Council for International Understanding and a member of the Emergency Committee for American Trade. In 2013, Mr. Tillerson was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
Mr. Tillerson is the Vice Chairman of the Ford’s Theatre Society, immediate past National President of the Boy Scouts of America and a former Director of the United Negro College Fund. He is also a member of the Chancellor’s Council, Development Board and the Engineering Advisory Board for the University of Texas at Austin, where he was named a distinguished alumnus in 2007. In 2011, he received an honorary doctorate engineering degree from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. In 2013, he was awarded the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation.