Whats next for behind the Scenes Powerhouse
The oil giant has to face the future without Peter Sutherland , its Irish chairman, but what does someone who has already run the World Trade Organisation move onto next?
Peter Sutherland was less than happy on Monday morning: the day preceeding his native country’s loss to Argentina in the Rugby World Cup, he could scarcely refrain from showing his annoyance. He’d been present 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, travelling back to Paris, for a meeting that was part politics and part business. Such are the contrasting worlds of Sutherland: Dubliner, father of three, huge rugby enthusiast, chairman of BP, chairman of Goldman Sachs International, new chairman of the London School of Economics, diplomatic fixer and afterdinner speaker extraordinaire.
If when we reach the gates of heaven we are presented with a choice I’d opt to come back as a smart Irishman. Previously, I might deliberated over being an English aristocrat but it’s the Irish who are the masters these days. They seem to be in control of everything. None more so than, a key figure in two business powerhouses and a millionaire many times over, thanks to his partnership at Goldman. But he’s served for a decade 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 its problems 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.
