by Judith Willson

Created on: July 22, 2010   Last Updated: November 04, 2010

A scapegoat was needed by the press, the government, and indeed BP itself for the devastation wrecked by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  Fitting this role perfectly was the gaffe prone chief executive, Tony Hayward.  From his wildly insensitive and apparently self-obsessed statement ‘I want my life back’ near the start, to his yachting trips later on, he did almost on cue everything that the public face of BP should not.  As the entirely avoidable tragedy took human lives, destroyed livelihoods, and devastated ecosystems he became a convenient hate figure. 

An explanation for Tony Hayward’s out of touch behaviour might be found in his background.  It is not politics, which is really what was needed in the circumstances, but geology.  Anthony Bryan Hayward was born on the 21st of May, 1957.  He got a first class degree in geology from Aston University in Birmingham (England), which was quickly followed with a PHD in the same subject from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland).  These qualifications led to his first job straight after completing his PhD, which was indeed with BP in 1982, working as a rig geologist in Aberdeen.

He rose rapidly in both technical and commercial positions, landing his first major role as president of BPs operations in Venezuala in 1995.  He continued moving up, until he became the overall chief executive in January 2007.  It is ironic to note that the replacement of his predecessor, Lord Browne, was speeded up because of safety problems.  These included an explosion at a Texas oil refinery that killed 15 and injured 170.

Hayward is well compensated for his role.  His basic annual salary is over a million GDP with bonuses that are over twice that.  He is in fact on over 3 million pounds a year.  His lifestyle in interviews does not sound that excessive, apart from his interest in yachts.  He is married, with two children and lists his interests as mostly relating to sports.  Sailing comes first, and he also apparently enjoys watching rugby, cricket and football (soccer), claiming to be a big supporter of the West Ham football team.

It is now looking like BP will survive the results of its own malpractice.  At the time of writing (November 2010) it had just announced a return to profit. Big corporations usually do survive, they tend to be powerful, amoral, and able to get past practically anything.  Individuals that may bear a portion of the responsibility, although certainly not all, are expendable. Tony Hayward did not keep his job, and indeed is not very employable elsewhere.  With a ten million pound pension pot this is not a huge problem. 

http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/resea rch/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=4172393&ticker=BP:US

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6257149.stm

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10359120

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