Renewable Energy Group announces resignation of CEO Daniel J. Oh

Biomass-based diesel producer Renewable Energy Group (REG) has announced that Daniel J. Oh has resigned as president and CEO and as a member of the company's board of directors.  The resignation was effective 3 July, 2017.

"The board appreciates Dan's work in guiding REG to its position as the industry leader with sales of over $2 billion in 2016, as well as his willingness to assist on transitional matters over the next several months.  We wish him the best in his future endeavors," said Jeff Stroburg, chairman of the REG Board of Directors.  

Oh said: "I am extremely proud of the REG team and the success we achieved over the past ten years."

The group did not expand on why Oh had resigned.

The board of directors appointed long-time director Randolph (Randy) L. Howard as Interim president and CEO.

Howard has served as a member of REG's Board of Directors since February 2007, serving on both the Company's Audit Committee and Nominating and Governance Committee and as chair of the Board's Risk Management Committee. 

Howard has extensive leadership experience in all aspects of a complex energy business, including international experience.  He was a senior executive with Unocal Corporation for 33 years, including time as president of its large North Asian Energy business, vice president of Refining and vice president of Supply, Trading and Transportation. Those positions included responsibility for crude, product and natural gas trading, as well as oversight of the Pipelines, Terminals, and Marine Shipping functions.

"We expect a seamless transition and firmly believe Randy Howard is an ideal choice to begin taking REG to the next level," Stroburg said. 

He added: "Randy is well known to our management team and has been deeply involved in setting our existing strategy, to which we remain firmly committed. The board is confident that Randy will help sustain and advance the momentum in our near-term strategic initiatives, including our efforts to increase the profitability from our base biodiesel business, grow our renewable hydrocarbon diesel platform and capture additional downstream margins by continuing to expand our market penetration. We are confident that the company is in excellent hands as we begin the search for a new CEO."

Howard said: "I look forward to an even deeper involvement with REG as we continue to grow our capabilities and reach. REG has a solid team of senior leaders and world class employees who will continue to operate our business in the same manner our customers, vendors, and shareholders expect.  We see near-term opportunities to substantially increase our earnings power, as we outlined in our recent analyst day presentation, and I intend to keep our team highly focused on realising this potential.”

The news comes as the US Environmental Protection Agency signed a proposed rule setting the minimum amount of renewable fuels that must be supplied to the market in calendar year 2018 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) programme.

Commenting on the new proposals, Howard said: "This proposal offers REG and the American biomass-based diesel industry the opportunity to prove once again how we exceed expectations and we fully embrace that opportunity. The renewable volume obligation is only one tool that aids biomass-based diesel growth and it is our job to convince policymakers that it should not restrain growth of American-made renewable fuel."

"We remain confident in a positive outcome in the trade complaint against unfairly subsidised imported biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia, and are just as confident that US production can make up for any lost import volumes.  And finally, there is momentum to reinstate and reform the federal biodiesel tax incentive to focus it on domestically produced fuel.  

“So, we look forward to additional meetings with the Administration in the coming weeks to show how an industry that is only running at about 65% capacity, has ample feedstock supply, and is helping fill growing diesel demand can help President Trump reaffirm his commitment to growing the supply of all American made fuels."