Taking Over

Bob Dudley: BP’s New CEO after Tony Hayward

Dudley will be first American CEO.

When BP meets Monday to formally decide its CEO's future, the company is expected to give Americans one of their own: BP’s managing director Bob Dudley is set to become the first Yankee to run the company when CEO Tony Hayward steps down later this year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Dudley, who joined the BP board in 2009 after working in Russia, is already experienced in cleaning up Hayward’s messes, as he was chosen to lead the Gulf cleanup after Hayward’s many gaffes. “Dudley's ascension underscores the critical importance of the U.S. to BP,” The Journal writes. The country represents up to 40 percent of BP’s business and much of its growth potential. The company hopes that an American CEO will be able to deal better with both the U.S. government and the local people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the spill.