Charles Koch appoints co-chief executive from outside namesake family; details here

Charles Koch, who turned the fortunes of Koch Industries around, making it the United States’ second-largest private company over half a century, has decided to share power with an executive from outside his family. Koch has appointed Dave Robertson as co-chief executive as part of a reshuffle. According to a Financial Times report, Charles Koch will continue to be the chairperson while his son Chase will step up as the executive vice-president, in addition to leading Koch Disruptive Technologies, the company’s investment arm. Koch Industries said that the reshuffle would help the industry “succeed well into the future”. “My role and responsibilities will continue as they have been,” Charles Koch stated, as quoted by Financial Times. “I believe altogether these changes will improve our ability to continually transform for the benefit of our company, our employees, our customers and people throughout society,” the 87-year-old billionaire added. Dave Robertson, who was the chief operating officer earlier, has been part of the conglomerate since 1984. He will also add the title of vice-chair to his post. The executive has run some of Koch’s largest operations including the firm’s refineries and pipelines company Flint Hills Resources. Robertson also serves on the boards of the business’s subsidiaries. Robertson had defended Koch Industries’ decision to maintain two glass factories in Russia even as western multinationals shut their businesses in the country following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Koch had later sold the two factories. Executive vice-president Jim Hannan, who oversees operations like the paper products group Georgia-Pacific and the Guardian Industries glass business, will succeed Robertson as the company’s president and chief operating officer. Koch Industries began as a 300-person oil and ranching business. It now stands at the second spot in Forbes’ revenue-based ranking of private American companies. The conglomerate remains a major stakeholder in the energy refining and trading industries, where it first made its fortune. But the firm has diversified to consumer products like paper towels. It has also made investments in batteries for electric vehicles and other technological innovations. Koch Industries presently has 120,000 employees across 60 countries and revenues of $125 billion annually. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .