Michael Wirth (born 1960) is an American businessman who ihas been the chairman and CEO of Chevron Corporation since 2018. Previously, he was the vice chairman of the company.

Early life

After graduating from high school, Wirth attended the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

, where he earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1982.

Career

Wirth joined Chevron in 1982 and worked in multiple sectors including engineering, construction, and operations. He became president of marketing for Chevron's Asia, Africa and Middle East region in 2001. He has been on the board of directors for Caltex Australia and GS Caltex. In 2018, Wirth was widely speculated and eventually confirmed to succeed John S. Watson as CEO of Chevron.

Climate Change Inaction

Wirth's company, Chevron, is responsible for one of the highest total carbon emissions of any private company worldwide. Despite these practices, Wirth's company has been involved in several

greenwashing Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on " whitewash"), also called "green sheen", is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which green PR and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization's products, aim ...

tactics, and was found by a Federal Trade Commission to be misleading its customers on its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In response to CNBC host

Jim Cramer James Joseph Cramer (born February 10, 1955) is an American television personality and author. He is the host of ''Mad Money'' on CNBC and an anchor on ''Squawk on the Street''. A former hedge fund manager, founder, and senior partner of Cramer ...

asking if Chevron had considered calls to invest in alternative energy, Wirth responded that Chevron would "go back to our shareholders and let them plant trees". In 2022, the Guardian newspaper named Wirth one of the US' top 'climate villains' due to Chevron's "greenwashing tactics to downplay the company’s environmental impact".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wirth, Michael 1960 births Living people Directors of Chevron Corporation Date of birth missing (living people) Businesspeople from Colorado University of Colorado alumni American chief executives of Fortune 500 companies