March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Webber Energy says president is leaving > Mullen, Mahany cite management differences

A little more than a year after being named president of Webber Energy Fuels, James Mullen is leaving the company, citing philosophical differences with the ownership.

Mullen, 45, confirmed Friday that he would be leaving Webber some time in early June. The former head of Key Bank of Maine, Mullen has been with Webber for five years and was brought on board to be groomed for the presidency, which he assumed in February 1995.

Now Mullen is parting company with Webber and its CEO and chairman of the board, Larry Mahany.

Both Mullen and Mahany said Friday that the break was an amicable one, although they acknowledged that it had been prompted by differences in philosophies and management styles. Both declined to be specific about these differences. But Mahany suggested some of the differences may have arisen because Mullen had come to Webber, a privately held company, from Key Bank, a publicly held company.

“Coming from a publicly owned company, the philosophy on the direction you go and the handling of people may be different than the philosophy or how you handle people in a privately owned company,” he said.

Mullen said he had made no immediate plans for work and will “see what happens and where things take me.” He suggested he may do some consulting work and would continue to participate in the Maine Chamber and Business Alliance, which he serves as chairman of the board of directors.

Mahany said he is uncertain if Mullen will be replaced or that office will be restructured and covered somewhere else. Mahaney had been president of the company before naming Mullen to that post in 1995.

Mullen came to Webber in 1991 as the company’s executive vice president, having left Key Bank where he had been president and chief operating officer in Maine. Leaving an 18-year banking career and a leadership role in one of the state’s largest banks was a move that surprised a lot of people.

But Mahany said managing an oil company and managing a bank have many similarities and that Mullen had brought to Webber a strong work ethic, a high degree of intelligence and financial insights.


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