Artis Brown Profile

Artis is a former ExxonMobil company officer with 30 years of global leadership experience in the downstream energy sector.  Throughout his career, he led integrated, multibillion-dollar portfolios, driving profitable growth through strategic leadership, operational discipline, and enterprise-level transformation. He was a key member of the leadership team driving ExxonMobil’s sharp business performance turnaround since 2019, increasing profit and total shareholder return performance.  

He was most recently the Vice President of the multi-billion dollar global Basestocks & Waxes business, delivering earnings outperformance despite challenging market conditions.  Artis engineered the company’s first integrated lubricants value chain strategy, and operationalized a multi-billion dollar capital investment in Singapore.  As Chief of Staff in Corporate Strategic Planning, he partnered with the CEO and his leadership team on strategy development, investor communications, board preparation, and the annual planning process—shaping decisions that influenced both short-term performance and long-term enterprise value. 

Artis has managed entire value chains — manufacturing, supply and logistics, revenue management, marketing, and sales—ensuring alignment between operational priorities and market strategies to maximize profitability. While his foundation was built in a large corporate environment, he has consistently excelled in being agile, adapting quickly to shifting market conditions, streamlining processes, and accelerating speed-to-market.

He is adept at diagnosing complex business challenges, uncovering hidden growth opportunities, and building execution roadmaps that unite commercial, operational, and financial priorities.   

Artis was recognized as one of the Most Influential Executives in Corporate America and serves on boards including the Stillman College Board of Trustees and the University of Alabama’s Capstone Engineering Society. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and is a University of Alabama Distinguished Alumni.  He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Alabama and an MBA in Finance from the University of Memphis, along with executive leadership certifications from Michigan Ross, Columbia, Thunderbird, and UNC Kenan-Flagler.