Juan Carlos Echeverry Steps Down as Ecopetrol President, Will Be Replaced by Felipe Bayón Pardo

Felipe Bayón Pardo, the incoming president of Ecopetrol, has served as the state-controlled oil company’s executive vice president since February 2016. (Credit: Ecopetrol)

Ecopetrol President Juan Carlos Echeverry has resigned from his position and will be replaced by Felipe Bayón Pardo, who has served as the state-controlled oil company’s executive vice president since February 2016.

In its statement announcing the news this morning, the company did not reveal why Echeverry was stepping down.

Bayón is scheduled to officially take over as the head of Ecopetrol S.A. on September 15.

The decision to appoint the incoming president was made by a board of directors subcommittee, which sought the counsel of a management selection consultancy and conducted a “rigorous analysis of the proposed candidates,” according to Ecopetrol.

Bayón is a mechanical engineer by trade who was trained at the University de Los Andes in Bogotá and has worked in the industry for more than 25 years both in Colombia and internationally. Before joining Ecopetrol, he worked as a senior vice president at BP Americas, among other jobs.

The company recognized Echeverry, who served as Colombia’s minister of finance prior to joining Ecopetrol, for expanding the company’s focus toward offshore exploration in the Caribbean and helping to improve operational efficiency during the last three years of low oil prices.