PhD Quantitative Analysis, non-executive director and Chairman of the Audit Committee; Board member since April 2013, 68.
Byron is chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees. He is Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Akzo Nobel, a non-executive director of Standard Chartered PLC and Tesco PLC, and a member of the Cornell University Johnson School of Graduate Management Advisory Council. He joined The Standard Oil Company of Ohio in 1979 and in 1985 became director of planning for its mining subsidiary, Kennecott. In 1988 Byron was appointed as commercial vice president for BP’s Alaskan North Slope production activities. In 1989 he became commercial general manager of BP exploration, based in London, and then group treasurer and CEO of BP finance in 1992. In 1994 he took up the position of regional chief executive in Latin America. In 1995 Byron became deputy CEO of BP Exploration. Following the merger of BP and Amoco in 1999, Byron was appointed executive vice president, exploration and production. He was appointed to the BP board in 2000 and he served for two years as CEO of BP Chemicals and then as BP’s chief financial officer (CFO) from 2002 until 31 December 2011. Byron was also non-executive director at Unilever NV and Unilever PLC until April 2015.
