Mr Whitacre is chairman emeritus of communications major AT&T, where he was chairman and CEO until his retirement in 2007. With his election, the ExxonMobil board stands at 11 directors, 10 of whom are non-employee directors.
Mr Whitacre was chairman and CEO of SBC Communications until its 2005 acquisition of AT&T, when he took on the same roles at the merged company.
He held a number of key leadership positions during his time at SBC Communications and Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, including group president, vice president of revenues and public affairs, vice chairman and CFO, and president and COO.
