Author Details

Steve Percy is the former Chairman and CEO of BP America, Inc., BP’s U.S. subsidiary prior to its merger with Amoco Corporation, and served in that capacity from 1996 until 1999. Prior to assuming those duties, he was President of BP Oil in the U.S. from 1992 to 1996, and since retiring from BP has also served as the head of Phillips Petroleum’s Refining, Marketing and Transportation Company. He currently is Visiting Professor, Corporate Strategy and International Business, at the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business. Mr. Percy returned to BP America from London, England where he served as Group Treasurer of The British Petroleum Company p.l.c. and Chief Executive of BP Finance International. Born in 1946, Mr. Percy is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a Masters in Business Administration from The University of Michigan and graduated with a Juris Doctorate from Cleveland Marshall College of Law. He is a member of the Ohio State Bar. Mr. Percy joined The Standard Oil Company in 1976 following service in the U.S. Army and several years with Babcock & Wilcox as a Senior Planning Analyst. His posts with Standard Oil included Manager of American Flagged Marine Transportation, Manager of the Eastern Crude Oil Division, Director of Operations Analysis, Director of Downstream Strategic Planning and Development, and Director of the Executive Office. In 1987, following the merger of BP and Standard Oil, Mr. Percy moved to London to become Manager, Oil Planning and Control in BP Oil International. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Omnova Solutions Inc. and is Chair of its Audit Committee. Past corporate board memberships include GenCorp, Inc., the Tranzonic Companies, KeyBank National Association, and Transtar International. Mr. Percy currently serves on the boards of Resources for the Future and Junior Achievement International and Chairs the Board of the Chautauqua Foundation which is a supporting organization to the Chautauqua Institution. At the University of Michigan, Mr. Percy is a member of the Ross School of Business Corporate Advisory Board and the External Advisory Board of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. He is also a member of Rensselaer’s Engineering School’s Advisory Board and the National Advisory Council of the Cleveland Marshall College of Law. Previously, he has served as a member of President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development in the role of Co-Chair of its Climate Change Task Force. He has Chaired Cleveland State University’s Foundation, held the position of Vice Chairman of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association and Chair of its Finance Committee and Chairman of Neighborhood Progress, Inc. He has also served as a member of the boards of University Hospitals of Cleveland, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Association of Manufacturers, the British American Chamber of Commerce and the Council on Economic Priorities.