Transocean Ltd. announced a CEO succession plan on Feb. 18 in which President and COO Keelan Adamson will take the reins of the company as its chief executive in the second quarter of 2025.

Adamson will also join the company’s board of directors upon approval at Transocean’s 2025 annual general meeting of shareholders.

Current CEO Jeremy Thigpen will step aside following Adamson’s appointment and continue his position as a member of the board of directors through his current term. Upon shareholder approval at the general meeting, Thigpen will then assume the position of executive chair of the board of directors and current Chair of the Board Chad Deaton will transition to lead independent director of the board.

“On behalf of the entire board, I would like to recognize and thank Jeremy for leading Transocean through the most challenging market in the history of offshore drilling,” Deaton said. “He guided Transocean as we transformed our fleet through opportunistic asset transactions, as well as the acquisition of two major competitors; under his leadership, we placed into service the most technologically advanced rigs in the world, including the first 8th generation, 20K drillships.”

 He oversaw the continuation of Transocean’s legacy for leading the industry in innovation, with the application of new technologies that improve the safety, reliability and efficiency of our operations. Jeremy’s contributions and leadership have been recognized and appreciated by the entire industry, and we look forward to his continued work with Transocean as he transitions into his new role.”

Adamson has served as Transocean’s president and COO since February 2022. Adamson has held a variety of other executive positions in the company, including executive vice president and COO, senior vice president of operations and senior vice president of operations integrity and HSE.

“As I work alongside the entire Transocean team as CEO, we will maintain a sharp focus on executing our business strategy—delivering enhanced shareholder value by optimizing operations, safely and efficiently meeting our customers’ objectives and meaningfully reducing our debt," said Adamson. “It is an honor to succeed Jeremy, who skillfully guided Transocean through an unprecedented industry downturn and prepared it for the opportunities that we are realizing today.”