Chevron Technology Ventures President Barbara Burger to Retire

Chevron Corp. said Dec. 15 that Barbara J. Burger, vice president of innovation and president of Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV), will retire and named Jim Gable, currently vice president of downstream technology and services, as her successor, effective Feb. 1.

CTV is the oil major’s capital venture arm, which has a 22-year history of investing in startups across a wide cross-section of energy innovation. Under Burger’s leadership, CTV has made important strides in its strategy to identify and integrate externally developed technologies and new business solutions with the potential to enhance the way Chevron produces and delivers energy now and into the future, according to Eimear Bonner, vice president and CTO at Chevron.

“Barbara is a respected leader in our industry and beyond,” Bonner commented in a company release.

“She has played a significant part in driving innovation, technology and new business solutions within Chevron,” Bonner continued. “She has also been instrumental in Chevron’s leadership of the external innovation ecosystem through partnerships such as The Ion innovation hub in Houston and Boston-based Greentown Labs.”

Burger joined Chevron in 1987 as a research chemist and has held numerous management positions with increasing responsibility across international marketing, chemicals, technology marketing, lubricants and CTV. She also holds board and advisory positions with several innovation and climate tech investment funds, incubators and accelerators, and serves on the board of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) Climate Investment LLP. Additionally, Burger just completed her term as chair of Houston Exponential, a convening body for the local innovation ecosystem.

In his new position, Gable will leverage the broad commercial, operations and technology experience he has cultivated through previous leadership roles in corporate business development, value chain optimization, manufacturing and oronite, and from his current role within the Chevron Technical Center.

“Jim’s experience at Chevron is deep and diverse,” Bonner added. “Combined with his technology commercialization experience with CTV early in his career, as well as in his current role, Jim is poised to lead CTV to even greater success.”

Gable, who has been at Chevron for 23 years, currently oversees the development and deployment of downstream-related technology for Chevron. He will be based in Houston.