Peter Sutherland Departs Oil Giant
The oil giant has to face the future without Peter Sutherland , its Irish chairman, but what next will prove a big enough lure to a person who has already been in charge of the world trade organization?
Peter Sutherland was in a grim mood on Monday morning: the day preceeding his native country’s loss to Argentina in the Rugby World Cup, he could scarcely withhold his obvious frustration. He’d been at the game at Parc des Princes with his children and words such as “suicidal” and “bejesus” poured from his lips.
Just the day before, he was on the Eurostar, on his way back to Paris, for a meeting that was a fusion of not only business but politics also. Such are the contrasting worlds of Sutherland: Dubliner, father of three, rugby fanatic, chairman of BP, chairman of Goldman Sachs International, new chairman of the London School of Economics, diplomatic fixer and afterdinner speaker extraordinaire.
If at the Pearly Gates we are given the option I’d like to come back as a smart Irishman. In the past, I might have said an English aristocrat but it’s the Irish who are the masters now. They seem to be in control of everything. None more so than, a key figure in two business powerhouses as well as an extremely wealthy individual, thanks to his partnership at Goldman. But he’s served 10 years at BP and has begun the search for a successor. Suddenly, the oil major has to confront life without him .
You only have to talk to anyone at the top of BP, these past few years to realise what a powerhouse behind the scenes Sutherland has been. While the company has had a variety of issues in America, they have been operational. On personnel matters, notably the attempt by Lord Browne and his friends to get the chief executive’s term extended, and then Browne’s departure following his lying under oath, Sutherland has played a pivotal role. His contribution in bringing BP forward is something which few can dispute.
