Former Chevron Lanka MD/CEO carving out a new life
View(s):Former Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC’s long-standing Managing Director/CEO Kishu Gomes, who suddenly stepped down on Wednesday after a long ‘innings’ at two multinationals, is aiming to carve out a new future: Inspiring young people and helping society through his proven skills and ability.
File picture of Kishu in a train, during a 2016 mission to understand the issues of public transport.
When Mr. Gomes resigned after 22 years at Chevron of which 18 years was as MD/CEO, there was no reason for the unexpected move which took the corporate world by surprise. The US multinational simply announced the resignation, giving no reasons, and said an acting appointment has been made to the post.
Asked to comment on the unexpected move, Mr. Gomes told the Business Times on Wednesday that this change (moving out) had been planned for a long time to enable him to spend more time on helping people, particularly the youth, and communities. “I have been working with young people and inspiring them but I wanted to do more and thought this is the best time to do it,” he said, adding that he would continue to be in the corporate sector and continue to champion causes that he has been engaged with in the past.
In corporate circles, his ascension to the top of the ladder of a successful multinational with good results – company turnover at Rs. 600 million when he started as CEO and raising it to Rs. 3.4 billion by 2016 -, triggered speculation that he would be scaling the corporate ladder faster in the next decade. However Mr. Gomes said on Friday that while he has proved that locals are as good as expatriates in managing multinational companies, he felt it was time for a change to ‘do good’ to society.
Before moving to Chevron, he was associated with Coca Cola for over a decade.