CEO moves up at Wood Group as Chairman retires

Sir Ian Wood, the Chairman of oilfield services firm Wood Group, is to retire in November to be succeeded by the group's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Allister Langlands.

Bob Keiller, the Chief Executive of the Wood Group PSN division, will become group CEO.

The practice of a CEO moving up to become Chairman is frowned upon by the City but seeing as Sir Ian Wood himself was CEO before becoming Chairman the company clearly does not subscribe to the City's view in all cases.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

Commenting on these moves, Ian Marchant, Wood Group's Senior Independent Director, said the decision to move Langlands up to the top seat was a unanimous one.

"In reaching this decision, the board has considered carefully the UK Corporate Governance Code recommendation that a chief executive should not normally go on to be chairman of the same company and we have thus consulted with representatives of our major shareholders holding in excess of 40% of the equity in the company. They recognised that Allister has been with the group for over 20 years, has been a successful CEO and provides the necessary continuity at the top level for our people and customers and, in these circumstances, they unanimously supported the board changes," Marchant said.

Alongside these moves, Robin Watson, the current Head of Wood Group PSN in the UK, will succeed Bob Keiller as Chief Executive of the Wood Group PSN division, while Mark Dobler will be the new Chief Executive of the Wood Group GTS division. Both will join the Wood Group board on January 1st, 2013. Both have been with the group for more than 10 years.

JH