Stephen Chazen

He was born in 1946.[2] He earned a bachelor's degree in geology from Rutgers University, a master's degree in finance from the University of Houston, and a PhD in geology from Michigan State University.[2][3][4]

He worked as a managing director in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions at Merrill Lynch.[3][4]

In 1994, he started his career at Occidental Petroleum (OXY), a publicly-traded oil corporation then headquartered in Los Angeles, California and the fourth largest oil producer in the United States.[3][4][5] He was Executive Vice President-Corporate Development at Occidental Petroleum from 1994 to 1999, and as its Executive Vice President-Corporate Development from 1999 to 2004.[3][4] He was its Senior Executive Vice President from 2004 to 2007, and as its Chief Financial Officer from 2004 to 2007.[3][4] He was its President since December 2007 until 2016 and as its Chief Executive Officer since May 5, 2011 through April 29, 2016.[3][4][6] He replaced Ray R. Irani, who went on to serve as Chairman.[5] He has denied conflict with Irani.[5]

According to a study by the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, under his leadship, OXY earned US$3.4 billion in profit in 2011, an increase of $1.6 billion from 2010, making him the value-generation business leader in Southern California.[7]

He was on the board of directors of the American Petroleum Institute, Lyondell Chemical Company, Premcor and Washington Mutual.[4]

As of August 2016, he was reported to be worth over US$128 million, due to his stock holdings in Occidental Petroleum and other companies.[8]

He was on the board of trustees of the Aquarium of the Pacific and Catalina Island Conservancy.[4] He was a Republican.[2]

In 2019, Chazen was asked to rejoin Occidental as a board member.[9]

Chazen died on 22 September 2022.[10][11]