Stephen Pryor to retire as ExxonMobil Chemical's president

After more than 44 years of service, Stephen Pryor, president, ExxonMobil Chemical Company and vice president of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), will retire on January 1, 2015. Neil Chapman, senior vice president, Polymers, ExxonMobil Chemical Company, is expected to be appointed in Pryor’s position.
 
Pryor, 64, joined Mobil Corporation in 1971 and has held a number of financial and managerial positions in the US, Cyprus, the UK and New Zealand. In 1993, he was appointed vice president, Mobil Chemical Company and general manager, Plastics Division.
 
In 1996, he became president, Mobil Asia Pacific and in 1998, executive vice president responsible for Mobil’s international downstream business. Following the merger between Exxon and Mobil, he was appointed president of ExxonMobil Lubricants & Specialties Company, and in 2002 became executive vice president, ExxonMobil Chemical Company. He was appointed president of ExxonMobil Refining & Supply Company in 2004 and president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company in 2008.
 
Chapman, 52, joined Esso Chemical in 1984 at the Esso refinery in Fawley, UK. He advanced through a series of engineering, operations, planning and marketing roles in various chemicals affiliates in the UK, Belgium, US and Hong Kong.
 
After the merger, Chapman was Chemicals sales manager in Asia Pacific and project executive of the Fujian Integrated Refining and ethylene joint venture project in China. In 2002, he joined the fuels marketing division as head of ExxonMobil Aviation International Ltd in the UK before becoming vice president, Industrial and Wholesale Fuels based in the US.
 
Chapman became vice president, Global Polyethylene Business Unit of ExxonMobil Chemical Company in 2005 and was appointed executive assistant to the chairman of Exxon Mobil Corporation in 2006. He became president of ExxonMobil Global Services Company in 2007 and was appointed to his current role in 2011.