Stephen Chazen

Stephen Chazen
Born1946
Died22 September 2022
NationalityAmerican
Alma materRutgers University
University of Houston
Michigan State University
Occupation(s)CEO, Occidental Petroleum (2011–2016)
SuccessorVicki Hollub

Stephen Chazen (1946 – 22 September 2022) was an American businessman. He was president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Occidental Petroleum from 2011 to 2016.[1]

Early life

He was born in 1946.[2] He earned a bachelor's degree in geology from Rutgers University, a master's degree in finance from the University of Houston, and a PhD in geology from Michigan State University.[2][3][4]

Career

He worked as a managing director in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions at Merrill Lynch.[3][4]

In 1994, he started his career at Occidental Petroleum (OXY), a publicly-traded oil corporation then headquartered in Los Angeles, California and the fourth largest oil producer in the United States.[3][4][5] He was executive vice president-corporate development at Occidental Petroleum from 1994 to 1999, and as its executive vice president-corporate development from 1999 to 2004.[3][4] He was its senior executive vice president from 2004 to 2007, and as its chief financial officer from 2004 to 2007.[3][4] He was its president since December 2007 until 2016 and as its chief executive officer since May 5, 2011 through April 29, 2016.[3][4][6] He replaced Ray R. Irani, who went on to serve as chairman.[5] He has denied conflict with Irani.[5]

According to a study by the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, under his leadship, OXY earned US$3.4 billion in profit in 2011, an increase of $1.6 billion from 2010, making him the value-generation business leader in Southern California.[7]

He was on the board of directors of the American Petroleum Institute, Lyondell Chemical Company, Premcor and Washington Mutual.[4]

As of August 2016, he was reported to be worth over US$128 million, due to his stock holdings in Occidental Petroleum and other companies.[8]

He was on the board of trustees of the Aquarium of the Pacific and Catalina Island Conservancy.[4] He was a Republican.[2]

In 2019, Chazen was asked to rejoin Occidental as a board member.[9]

Death

Chazen died on 22 September 2022.[10][11]

References

  1. ^ "Stephen Chazen: Magnolia aims to be $10B company in 5 years". Houston Chronicle. September 20, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c nndb
  3. ^ a b c d e f Bloomberg BusinessWeek
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Forbes
  5. ^ a b c Guy Chazan, Occidental denies fight over Chazen heir, The Financial Times, April 8, 2013
  6. ^ Message from the CEO Archived 2013-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Tiffany Hsu, Occidental's Stephen Chazen tops list of value-generating CEOs, The Los Angeles Times, May 03, 2012
  8. ^ "STEPHEN I CHAZEN Insider Trading Overview". www.insidermole.com. Retrieved 2016-08-09.
  9. ^ Lombardo, Christopher M. Matthews and Cara (2019-07-26). "Icahn Looks to Occidental's Ex-CEO for Help in Fight With Company". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
  10. ^ Limehouse, Jonathan (24 September 2022). "UH System regent, oil executive Steve Chazen dies". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  11. ^ Morenne, Benoît (23 September 2022). "Stephen Chazen, Former Occidental CEO, Dies at 76". WSJ. Retrieved 25 September 2022.