Business intelligence gathering specialists Brendan Wood identified the top CEOs using information gathered from about 3000 investors and 2000 companies using 11 core investment criteria.
King joined Jiping Zhou of PetroChina and Pailin Chuchottaworn of PTT on the list of “platinum class” CEOs for the Pacific Rim.
Anadarko Petroleum CEO James Hackett was on the “platinum” list for the US, along with Apache Corporation chairman and CEO Steven Farris.
Drilling service provider Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard was on the “gold” list, while Chevron CEO John Watson, Exxon Mobile CEO Rex Tillerson and Transocean CEO Steven Newman were each categorised on the “silver class” list.
According to the company, platinum TopGuns were Frank Chapman of the BG Group and Peter Voser of Royal Dutch Shell.
The company said the “TopGun” designation was an expression of the highest level of confidence in the CEO by investors.
In some instances, a CEO will be selected for leading a company out of difficulties or repairing inefficiencies, while others are chosen because they lead the industry.
“There are eleven core criteria which drive the future performance of a company,” Brendan Wood International chairman Brendan Wood said.
“In these times, which we refer to as the ‘age of full disclosure’, the board of directors is increasingly accountable for the strategy and performance culture of the companies whose shareholders they represent.
“Their choice of CEO and the rapport between the company and the shareholders is the critical execution link.
“In many cases, the CEO is the architect of strategy.”
He said TopGun CEOs realised who owned the company and behaved accordingly, whereas “BottomGun” CEOs appeared to view the company as a fiefdom and investors as an annoyance.
“The trend amongst investors to make boards more accountable to owners and less toward management has had a positive effect on the number of CEOs vying for higher levels of performance,” he added.
“There are simply more TopGun nominations this year.”
This article first appeared in ILN's sister publication EnergyNewsBulletin.net.
