Steven Theede joined Yukos as Chief Operating Officer in 2003 and was President of Yukos-Moscow, the Yukos Executive Management Company. He served as President and the Chief Executive Officer as well as Chairman of the Management Board for Yukos Oil Company between 2004 and 2006. Between June 2005 and August 2006, he was a member of the Yukos Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Board.
Steven earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University in 1974 and turned it into an impressive and extensive career lasting more than 40 years in the oil industry. He has garnered extensive operational, corporate and executive leadership experience around the world, mostly while building his career at Conoco – later ConocoPhililps.
His experience and expertise spans a range of integrated oil company business activities, including Marketing, Refining, Corporate Strategy, Business Development, Pipeline, Rail and Trucking, Corporate Mergers and Exploration and Production.
In the mid 1990s, he served as CEO and Managing Director of Conoco’s UK refining marketing company, Conoco Limited working out of Warwick, England. While there he also studied International Energy at Oxford University. Upon returning to the US he took over as General Manager of Conoco’s Lower 48 Exploration and Production activities in the US. He was subsequently promoted to Vice President of Human Resources for Conoco Inc and was one of the seven members of the Corporate Management Committee.
A further promotion in 2000 led to his living and working back in England, this time in London as President of Exploration-Production for Conoco’s European, Russian and Caspian businesses, a role that he filled until August 2003 when he accepted an offer from Michael Khordokovsky to move across to Yukos as Chief Operating Officer. While in his Conoco position he also led for Conoco the merger of the Conoco and Philips Exploration and Production Companies as part of that overall corporate merger.
Steven is a past non-executive director of Serica Energy PLC, a role he held from 2007 until 2016. He is involved in a number of outside activities. He was awarded the DuPont Marketing Excellence Award and has been inducted into the Kansas State Engineering Hall of Fame. He currently serves as a director of the Kansas State University Foundation and he and his wife Kay are major contributor to the University. He is also a business owner in his home state of Kansas.