Might the current CEO of Irving-based Exxon Mobil become the next U.S. secretary of state? Or maybe the prior Exxon CEO, retired since 2005, will get the federal job next year?
Rumors connecting president-elect Donald Trump with both current Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson and former CEO Lee Raymond have been getting multiple media attention. But some rumors are pointing in totally different directions as recently as today.
Even considering the Exxon leaders for secretary of state, however, is in spite of a lack of evidence that either of them has the degree of non-business expertise.
Dennis McCuistion, director of the UT Dallas Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance, says the rumors are a bit of a head-scratch. Exxon is a corporation that has enormous international relationships, he said. And an Exxon leader could have clear history about issues affecting the federal cabinet's energy and business jobs.
But secretary of state? Much of that position is tied to non-business issues. Why would Exxon leaders be qualified?
"That just doesn't ring true to me," McCuistion said.
But there are possibilities, shrugged Joshua Rovner, director of the strategy and security program at the SMU Tower Center. It all depends on what Trump thinks the duties of the secretary of state ought to be.
"It could be very unusual," he said. "The only reason in might make sense has to do with the way Trump feels about international relations, that it seems always to be related to a business transaction."
It's pretty likely that Exxon leaders actually have international knowledge and experience, said Steven Gardner, director of the McBride Center for International Business at Baylor University. But the Exxon experience is likely pretty narrow, he said.
Yes, Exxon wants to know what risks are for its particular oil programs in many nations, Gardner said. But most of the issues that U.S. secretaries of state have had to focus on are very different.
"We need someone in that job without an incredibly large learning curve," Gardner said.
The rumors considering the current and former Exxon CEOs started getting popular on Thursday.
For instance, Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough wrote in a tweet that President-elect Donald Trump thought his meeting about the post with former Massachusetts governor and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney went well, but he was also considering Tillerson.
The SecState process continues. Trump considered the Romney meeting "great" but is expanding options and looking at Exxon CEO RexTillerson.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) December 1, 2016
That night, Rachel Maddow said on her MSNBC show that she'd heard Raymond is also a candidate for the job.
And NBC had reported that both Tillerson and Raymond may be getting Trump consideration.
But an Exxon spokesman said today that the company won't comment on the rumors.
Tillerson may be stepping down from Exxon next year because he turns 65 in March -- the age generally considered right for retirement by the company. A successor was announced last year. But ultimately, it's up to the Exxon board of directors to make the call next official year.
Raymond, now 78, had stepped down as Exxon's CEO in 2005.
Tillerson has demonstrated his willingness to get involved in controversial arguments. This year, for example, he's been butting heads concerning Exxon's relationship with climate change and the burning of petro fuels. In May, several resolutions had been presented at the annual corporate meeting.
The arguments happened but most shareholder-initiated resolutions related to climate change failed. And Tillerson was applauded by most of the attendees when he defended the company.
Exxon, he said, was committed to producing fuels in the most environmentally responsible manner and in researching alternative technologies that would reduce carbon emissions.
"We are grounded in the world we live in today and the technology we have available to us today," Tillerson said.
But this year's arguments weren't new for Tillerson. In 2015, he had said why he thought the corporate discussion wouldn't accomplish much:
"What if everything we do, it turns out our models are lousy, and we don't get the effects we predict?" he had said last May. "Mankind has this enormous capacity to deal with adversity, and those solutions will present themselves as those challenges become clear."
The definition of the Secretary of State, included on the federal website, offers the kinds of responsibilities considered high-level in that job:
"The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President's chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President's foreign policies through the State Department and the Foreign Service of the United States."
The basic duties were created in 1789 -- and haven't changed much -- according to the Department of State site. Among the 14 specific duties mentioned is only one that is focused specifically on business-related issues:
"Promotes beneficial economic intercourse between the United States and other countries."
And by Friday morning, the latest rumors and comments from Trump-related experts seemed to have moved away from the Exxon leaders. At least for the moment.
Kellyanne Conway, a Trump adviser, was on TV and mentioned four possible candidates: 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney (who never endorsed Trump this year), former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (who did endorse Trump), former U.S. Army general David Petraeus and U.S. Senator Bob Corker, a GOP in Tennessee.
There's no record that Conway mentioned Exxon leaders once on Friday.
