BP Reshapes Its Leadership Team as Some Executives Leave

BP Plc restructured its top management as the departure of some executives allowed new Chief Executive Officer Murray Auchincloss to put his mark on the oil and gas giant.

The executive leadership team will be reduced to 10 members in an effort to simplify the organizational structure, according to a statement on Thursday. William Lin, previously head of regions, corporates and solutions, will replace Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, 57, who is retiring as the leader of natural gas and low-carbon energy.

“We need to deliver as a simpler, more focused and higher value company,” Auchincloss said in the statement. “These changes will help us do just that.”

Emeka Emembolu will now run BP’s technology division, taking over from Leigh-Ann Russell who is leaving the company, according to the statement.

BP will still have three main business units: production and operations led by Gordon Birrell; gas and low-carbon energy led by Lin; and customers and products headed by Emma Delaney, according to the statement. Those divisions will continue to work with trading and shipping, run by Carol Howle.

Those business units will be supported by five functions: finance led by Kate Thomson; technology headed by Emembolu; strategy, sustainability and ventures run by Giulia Chierchia; people and culture led by Kerry Dryburgh; and legal headed by Mike Sosso.

The company’s regions, corporates and solutions organisation will be integrated into these businesses and functions, according to the statement.

Dotzenrath joined BP in 2021, having previously overseen the integration of EON SE and Innogy SE’s renewables businesses into a new company, RWE Renewables. Under her leadership, BP’s gas and power division expanded further into offshore wind, last year winning one of Germany’s biggest ever auctions for the right to develop projects. More recently, the company has stepped back from further wind projects as the industry suffers severe cost inflation.

In a message sent to her team within BP, which was seen by Bloomberg, Dotzenrath said she was retiring to devote more time to her family after a 30-year career in energy.

Her replacement, Lin, has had a long career at BP, with more than 20 years working on the operational side of oil and gas projects from Indonesia to Texas and Scotland to Egypt.