Devon Energy Corp. has announced July retirement plans for Darryl Smette, executive vice president of marketing, facilities, pipeline and supply chain, and Frank Rudolph, executive vice president of human resources.
The late Tuesday announcement followed a company statement this week confirming significant downsizing for the Oklahoma City-based energy company.
“Devon will reduce its headcount by approximately 20 percent in the first quarter, or about 1,000 positions. Approximately 700 employees in Oklahoma City are directly impacted,” according to the statement.
Prompting the downsizing was what the company called “the current commodity price environment.”
Meanwhile, the company this week announced the pending retirements of two top executives: Darryl Smette, executive vice president of marketing, facilities, pipeline and supply chain, and Frank Rudolph, executive vice president of human resources.
Meanwhile, Tony Vaughn, executive vice president of exploration and production, is being promoted to chief operating officer.
Other newly announced moves reshaping the Oklahoma City-based firm include Tana Cashion, vice president of human resources, being promoted to senior vice president of that department, reporting to president and CEO Dave Hager. Sue Alberti, senior vice president of marketing, will assume oversight of the supply chain and evaluation and planning organizations upon Smette’s retirement and report to Vaughn.
Tracy Carter, vice president, will continue to oversee Devon’s facilities and pipeline function and report to Mike Stover, senior vice president of strategic services.
“We want to thank both Darryl and Frank for their years of distinguished service at Devon and for their many contributions to our Company’s success,” Hager said in a news release.
“While we’ll miss their valued counsel and commitment to Devon’s values, we’ll continue to have a strong leadership team to push Devon forward through these challenging times and beyond,” Hager said.
Smette, 68, joined Devon in 1986 and was elected to the position of executive vice president of marketing and midstream in 1999. Rudolph, 58, was elected to his current position in 2007. In the seven years before joining Devon, Rudolph was vice president of human resources for Banta Corp., an international printing and supply chain management company with 9,000 employees. His career in human resources spans more than 25 years.
Before joining Devon in 1999, Vaughn, 58, spent 12 years with Kerr-McGee Corp. and, prior to that, worked as an operations engineer for Amoco Production Co.
Upon Smette’s and Rudolph’s retirements, Devon’s executive committee will comprise Hager and Vaughn as well as Alan Marcum, executive vice president of Administration; Tom Mitchell, executive vice president and chief financial officer; and Lyndon Taylor, general counsel and executive vice president of legal.
Cashion, 44, began her career with Devon in 2005 and was promoted to vice president of human resources in 2010.
Alberti, 58, joined Devon in 2008 and was named senior vice president of marketing in January 2012. Before joining Devon, Alberti worked at Texas Instruments for seven years and at Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) for more than 20 years in engineering, finance and human resources.
Devon Energy is the second-largest oil producer among North American onshore independents. More information is available at www.devonenergy.com.