Marathon in executive changes. Search for new CFO underway

Marathon Oil, a global exploration and production company based in Houston, has undergone several executive changes and is currently searching for a new CFO.

Marathon said on Monday that Mitch Little was promoted to executive vice president of Operations and will oversee the Resource Play and Conventional businesses.

Little, who is currently vice president of Conventional, previously served as managing director of Marathon Oil Norge AS and general manager of Worldwide Drilling and Completions. His E&P experience includes a number of engineering, subsurface and management positions across the company’s US operations in Oklahoma, Wyoming, Louisiana, and Alaska, as well as internationally in Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Libya. Little has been with the company since 1986.

Lee Tillman, Marathon Oil president and CEO, said: “Mitch brings proven leadership skills and significant technical experience to the new role of EVP of Operations at Marathon Oil, and has been integral to our ongoing transformation into a resource play focused E&P.”

In conjunction with this change, Cathy Krajicek, currently vice president of Technology and Innovation, has moved to the role of vice president of Conventional while Bruce McCullough, currently vice president, has accepted the role of vice president of Technology and Innovation. He will also remain the company’s chief information officer.

As far as departures go, Lance Robertson has decided to leave the company and resign from his position of vice president of Resource Plays to ‘pursue other opportunities.’ The other departure, unrelated to the changes listed above, is J.R. Sult, the company’s executive vice president and CFO, who has chosen to leave the company ‘for personal reasons.’ The company emphasized that the Sult’s departure is in no way related to any disagreement with Marathon regarding financial disclosures, accounting or business matters.

Marathon appointed Pat Wagner as the interim chief financial officer until a new CFO is found. Wagner, vice president of Corporate Development and Strategy, joined Marathon Oil in 2014 and has held senior roles at QR Energy LP, Scotia Waterous, and Devon Energy Corp.

Tillman said: “Pat brings a solid balance of financial and operating skills to his role as interim CFO and will continue to support our ongoing focus on financial discipline during this transition.”

“I want to sincerely thank J.R. and Lance for their substantial contributions to the Company over the years and wish them both well in their future endeavors.”

Marathon added that all leadership changes are effective immediately.