Peter Voser’s appointment as chief executive of Shell suggests an effort has been made to draw a line under the murkiest episode in the company’s recent history.
Mr Voser – born in Baden, Switzerland in 1958 – joined the oil company in 1982 after graduating in business administration from the University of Applied Sciences in Zurich.
He worked in a variety of roles for Shell’s finance, audit and downstream operations in Chile, Argentina, Switzerland and the UK.
His internal rivals for the top job, Linda Cook and Malcolm Brinded, were senior executives in 2004, when Shell was forced to admit that it had overstated its proven oil and gas reserves by nearly 25 per cent.
However, Mr Voser managed to dodge the fallout.
In 2002 he left Shell to become chief financial officer of ABB, the Swiss engineering group, where he stayed for two years before being invited to return to Shell after the storm had passed in late 2004.
In the meantime, the misreporting scandal had led to a shake-up at the company, including the resignation of Sir Philip Watts, its chairman, the scrapping of its antiquated dual board structure in favour of a single chairman and chief executive, the creation of a single headquarters in The Hague, and a London listing.
Mr Voser worked closely with Jeroen van der Veer, from whom he now takes over as chief executive, on the group’s recovery.
He was a board member of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce in Switzerland until September 2004 and of UBS, the Swiss banking giant – where he gained further experience in crisis management. It could prove to be a valuable tool in the current economic climate.
Mr Voser is married with three children.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
