Shell CEO To Be Replaced By Renewables Boss Shell CEO To Be Replaced By Renewables Boss British energy giant Shell announced Thursday that CEO Ben van Beurden will step down at the end of 2022 and that his successor will be the company''s renewables director. FT reported preparations for van Beurden''s departure began last May when Scottish businessman and former CEO of BHP Billiton Sir Andrew Mackenzie became Shell''s chair. Shell CEO Ben van Beurden Two unnamed sources told Reuters that Shell''s board succession committee met several times this summer about Beurden''s departure and potential successors. They picked Wael Sawan, Shell''s director of integrated gas, renewables, and energy solutions, to lead the company on Jan. 1. Wael Sawan, Shell''s director of integrated gas, renewables, and energy solutions "Sawan''s appointment last year as head of the group''s integrated gas and renewables business was viewed internally as a sign he was being groomed for the top job," FT noted. Mackenzie commented on Sawan''s appointment by saying he "is an exceptional leader, with all the qualities needed to drive Shell safely and profitably through its next phase of transition and growth." Sawan said: "I''m looking forward to channeling the pioneering spirit and passion of our incredible people to rise to the immense challenges, and grasp the opportunities presented by the energy transition." The outgoing CEO "can look back with great pride on an extraordinary 39-year Shell career," Mackenzie said, adding, over the last decade, van Beurden "has been in the vanguard for the transition of Shell to a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050." Now, the dual Lebanese-Canadian national, Sawan, will accelerate Shell''s strategy to become a net-zero company by 2050.