Brian MacDonald will soon replace Lynn Elsenhans as Sunoco CEO amid the company's ongoing exit from the manufacturing industry and transition to a logistics and retail focus.
US-based Sunoco announced last September that it plans to leave the refining business by mid-2012.
Effective March 1, MacDonald will become president, CEO and director of Sunoco. He currently serves as senior vice president and chief financial officer for the company.
Elsenhans will remain chairman of Sunoco and Sunoco Logistics until Sunoco’s annual shareholders meeting in May, at which time MacDonald will become chairman of both companies.
Michael Hennigan, currently president and chief operating officer of Sunoco Logistics, will become president and CEO of Sunoco Logistics effective March 1.
“Lynn Elsenhans has led Sunoco through one of the most significant periods of change in the Company’s history,” said presiding director John P. Jones. “With her deep expertise in manufacturing, Lynn has been instrumental in driving portfolio actions to reposition the company.
“Under her leadership, Lynn has overseen the sale of Sunoco’s heating oil and chemical businesses, the spin-off of SunCoke Energy, and the exit of the refining business, representing two-thirds of Sunoco’s assets since the time Lynn joined the company in 2008,” he continued.
“While very difficult for employees and other Sunoco stakeholders, the restructuring was absolutely necessary to provide for a sustainable future for the company and its stakeholders.
“Brian MacDonald is a superb executive who is the ideal leader for Sunoco as we move from a manufacturing to a logistics and retail focus. He has played a leading role in Sunoco’s transformation.”
“Given Sunoco’s latest strategic initiatives and its business focus on logistics and retail, now is the right time for me to step aside and enable the company to realign its management structure to fit its new profile,” said Elsenhans.
“I have full confidence that Sunoco will be in good hands under Brian’s leadership,” she added.
MacDonald, 46, joined Sunoco in 2009 from Dell, where he spent six years in increasingly senior financial management positions, most recently as chief financial officer of the commercial business unit overseeing all aspects of financial management.