Shell announced the appointment of Sinead Gorman as chief financial officer (CFO), replacing Jessica Uhl after a distinguished career of 17 years with Shell, the last five years as CFO. Uhl officially steps down March 31, with Gorman taking over the CFO role on April 1.
Gorman will become a member of both Shell’s executive committee and board of directors. Uhl will be available to assist Gorman and the board with transition until June 30, after which she will leave the group.
“I am delighted to welcome Sinead to the leadership of our company,” said Shell Chair Sir Andrew Mackenzie. “She combines broad finance, trading, new business development and capital projects experience with a deep knowledge of Shell, and a strong commercial and external focus. I look forward to working with her in the execution of our strategy to accelerate Shell’s transition to a net-zero emissions energy business purposefully and profitably.”
Sinead Gorman
Gorman is currently executive vice president of finance in Shell’s global upstream business. She started her career as a civil engineer before embarking on a finance career when she joined Shell in 1999. Since then, she has held several increasingly senior finance roles in all Shell’s major businesses in Europe, North America and lately globally. A British national, she will be based in London.
Uhl was a key architect of recent strategic changes, including the simplification of the company’s share structure and the relocation of the corporate headquarters, along with the roles of chief executive officer and chief financial officer, from The Netherlands to the U.K. However, due to family circumstances a long-term relocation to the U.K. is not sustainable, and therefore she will step down from her role.
“The board is immensely grateful to Jessica for her tremendous contribution to the company over many years, but particularly as CFO and especially during the past two years as we successfully tackled the many challenges presented by the pandemic,” Mackenzie explained. “She has been instrumental in strengthening Shell’s financial position, putting in place measures to secure the company’s long-term health while delivering industry leading cash flows year on year.”
Mackenzie called Uhl an exemplary ambassador for Shell, adding that the company’s strength today is testament to her professionalism, resolve and values-driven leadership.
“It has been an immense privilege to contribute to Shell’s leadership as we sought to reposition Shell for the future,” said Uhl. “Our forward thinking on the energy transition and firm commitment to reflect our principles and values in all we do made each day meaningful.”
Uhl joined Shell’s renewables business in 2004 in a finance and business development capacity, and was appointed to CFO in March 2017. Prior to her appointment to CFO, Uhl held various senior roles in Shell in the Upstream, Integrated Gas and Downstream businesses in the U.S., U.K. and the Netherlands. She has been the executive committee sponsor of the Shell LGBTQ+ network and was recently recognized as a Global OUTstanding LGBT+ role model.
Gorman, since joining Shell in 1999, has held various key leadership roles in finance across the Shell value chain. She started her career in trading, working in STASCO and the Coral Energy Joint Venture, based in Houston and Calgary, Canada. She worked in mergers and acquisitions as well as treasury, based in The Netherlands.
Recently, Gorman has held the position of executive vice president of finance for projects and technology, integrated gas and new energies.
Gorman is a British national and holds a Master of Engineering degree in Engineering, Economics and Management from the University of Oxford, and a Master of Science degree in Finance from London Business School. She is married and has two children.
