CITGO names new permanent general counsel

CITGO Petroleum Corporation has appointed Mark Holstein as its new general counsel, a role in which he oversees all aspects of the company's legal strategy and material litigation. Holstein reports directly to Jack Lynch, vice president of legal and government affairs.

Holstein had been CITGO’s interim general counsel since December 2020. Before joining CITGO, he managed the insurance defense practice for Travelers Insurance and before that spent nearly three decades at BP America where he served in numerous legal roles.

According to Holstein’s LinkedIn profile, his tenure with BP included spending six years as chief counsel for claims related to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. His profile also states that he previously worked in private practice as a senior trial attorney with an insurance defense litigation firm.

‘CITGO holds itself to the highest standards of moral, legal and ethical behavior,’ CITGO president and CEO Carlos Jordá says in a statement. ‘Mark brings a wealth of experience and insight dealing with complex legal issues related to the energy industry, and we welcome him to this vitally important position at CITGO.’

The company earlier this year hired Steven Scarpino as its new chief compliance and ethics officer. Scarpino joined CITGO from BP, where he had been director for ethics and compliance in global programs since 2009. Before working at BP, he held director and managerial posts in the fields of compliance, privacy, CSR, business development and financial services, among others, at NCR Corporation, AT&T GIS and Greyhound Lines.

The position of chief compliance and ethics officer had previously been part of Lynch’s responsibilities.