Dive Brief:
- Global oil giant BP announced Tuesday that it had removed Chair and Director Albert Manifold, effectively immediately, citing “serious concerns” brought to the board “related to important governance standards, oversight and conduct.”
- Bp Senior Independent Director Amanda Blanc said in the May 26 announcement that “the board has been surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action.” The statement did not elaborate on the specific issues raised to the board.
- Manifold’s ouster comes nearly a month after the United Kingdom-based oil company’s annual meeting, where over 18% of participating investors voted against his reelection — the most substantial opposition against any board nominees up for election at the time. In a rare rebuke, two manager-proposed resolutions also failed at the meeting.
Dive Insight:
Manifold’s tenure at BP ended after less than a year; he joined the company in October to support then-CEO Murray Auchincloss. Under Manifold, Auchincloss stepped down in December and was replaced by current CEO Meg O’Neill. However, Manifold recently came under fire, in part, over his handling of a shareholder resolution submitted by activist investor Follow This.
Proxy adviser Glass Lewis recommended investors oppose his reelection due to his handling of a proposal from Follow This, which asked for the company to disclose its strategies for “creating shareholder value” under a declining oil and gas scenario, Reuters previously reported. His decision to exclude the proposal from the annual meeting also prompted Follow This to threaten legal action.
Proposals for the company to adopt new articles of association and revoke some of its climate reporting resolutions were also put before investors at the April 23 AGM; Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services both opposed the climate resolution clawback, while ISS also opposed the articles of incorporation, according to BP’s AGM information. Both ultimately failed, with over 52% of investors opposing each resolution, according to meeting results.
In Manifold’s absence, corporate board veteran Ian Tyler will serve as interim chair of the company, and BP said in Tuesday’s release that it will begin the search for a new permanent chair. Despite the ouster, Tyler expressed “deep conviction” in the company’s strategic direction and pace in the release. He also said the board has been “very impressed” with O’Neill’s fledgling tenure as CEO.
Before joining the oil giant, Manifold spent nearly three decades in various executive roles at Ireland-based building materials company CRH, including chief operating officer and group CEO, according to his LinkedIn profile. He joined the oil giant after its previous board chair, Helge Lund, departed in April 2025 amid the strategy reset.
Manifold said he “was removed without warning and without explanation,” in a statement to multiple news outlets on Wednesday, reported by The Guardian, Reuters, CNN and others. “I dispute entirely the characterization of my conduct and I will not allow a false narrative to go unchallenged,” he reportedly said in the statement.
Prior to Manifold’s arrival, BP moved to “significantly” cut its renewable energy spending and redouble its fossil fuels efforts last year. The energy company’s head of strategy and sustainability departed in May 2025, and BP terminated the position following the strategy shift.
“Shareholders who raised concerns about governance at BP have been heard,” Follow This Founder Mark van Baal said in https://follow-this.org/bp-fires-chair-after-shareholder-vote-against-him-over-broken-governance/https://follow-this.org/bp-fires-chair-after-shareholder-vote-against-him-over-broken-governance/. “The board's decision today confirms what investors signaled at the AGM: that the standards of oversight at BP were not adequate.”
Van Baal said the investor group will engage with the company’s interim leadership on issues of shareholder rights and transparency, but added that the next chair of the oil giant “must bring real expertise in governance, climate risk, and transition risk, otherwise nothing changes.”
