The Supervisory Board of Vallourec recently decided to submit to the vote of the Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting the appointments of Vivienne Cox and Alexandra Schaapveld as members of the Supervisory Board.
Cox and Schaapveld are both independent within the meaning of the AFEP/MEDEF code of corporate governance, which will bring to nine the number of independent members of the board (out of 11).
“Vivienne Cox and Alexandra Schaapveld are remarkable business women,” said Jean-Paul Parayre, Chairman of Vallourec’s Supervisory Board. “Their wide-ranging international careers allowed them to achieve very high levels of responsibility in the companies in which they spent their whole careers. The deep knowledge of the energy sector acquired by Vivienne Cox at BP and the international financial expertise acquired by Alexandra Schaapveld in the course of her career at ABN AMRO will contribute to the quality of the work and the governance of Vallourec’s Supervisory Board.”
Cox spent all of her career at BP, which she joined in 1981. She first held commercial roles at BP Chemicals, and then was analyst with BP Finance before running the commodity derivatives team. In 1993, she became Chief Executive of BP’s Benelux refining and supply organization before being appointed Commercial Director of BP Central and Eastern Europe in Vienna. In 1997, she became Chief Executive of Air BP, and then took on the management of BP’s integrated supply and trading organization.
In 2004, Cox became Executive Vice President and CEO of BP Gas, Power and Renewables. From 2007 to 2009, she ran BP Alternative Energy. Cox is a nonexecutive director of several companies and institutions, including Rio Tinto and INSEAD, and is the Chairman of the advisory and investment firm Climate Change Capital.
Schaapveld spent all of her career at ABN AMRO, which she joined in 1984. Her first eight years were within Corporate Banking, and the subsequent eight years in Investment Banking: Equity Capital Markets and Mergers and Acquisitions. In 2001, she became Senior Executive Vice President responsible for Sector Expertise, and in 2004, Head of Global Clients and Investment Banking.
After the acquisition of ABN AMRO, Schaapveld was appointed head of Europe for Royal Bank of Scotland during 2008. She is presently a member of the Advisory Council of “The Central Planning Office” of the Netherlands (Minister of Finance office), member of the Supervisory Board of Holland Casino, member of the Board of the Amsterdam University and the University Medical Center, and member of the Advisory Board of Plan Nederland (a nonprofit organization).
Vallourec is a world leader in premium tubular solutions primarily serving the energy markets, as well as other industrial applications. With a presence in more than 20 countries, Vallourec has 18,000 employees, integrated manufacturing facilities, and advanced R&D.