Stephen Chazen

Early life

He was born in 1946. He received a Bachelor of Science 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.

Career

He worked as a Managing Director in Corporate Finance and Mergers and Acquisitions at Merrill Lynch.

In 1994, he started his career at Occidental Petroleum (OXY), a publicly traded oil corporation headquartered in Los Angeles, California and the fourth largest oil producer in the United States. He served as Executive Vice President-Corporate Development at Occidental Petroleum from 1994 to 1999, and as its Executive Vice President-Corporate Development from 1999 to 2004. He served as its Senior Executive Vice President from 2004 to 2007, and as its Chief Financial Officer from 2004 to 2007. He served as its President since December 2007 until 2016 and as its Chief Executive Officer since May 5, 2011 through April 29, 2016. He replaced Ray R. Irani, who serves as Chairman since then. He has denied conflict with Irani. In 2011, he earned over US$31 million. He owns 3,245 shares of OXY. 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 economic profit in 2011, an increase of $1.6 billion from 2010, making him the value-generation business leader in Southern California.

He serves on the Board of Directors of the American Petroleum Institute. He has served on the Boards of the Lyondell Chemical Company, Premcor and Washington Mutual.

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

He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Aquarium of the Pacific and Catalina Island Conservancy. He is a Republican.