Darryl Keith Willis (born c. 1969) is an American geologist and publicist, currently working as Corporate Vice President Energy Industry at

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

. He previously worked as Vice President of Oil, Gas and Energy for

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

and as President and General Manager of BP Angola.

Deepwater Horizon response

Willis gained national attention in 2010 when the Louisiana native volunteered to lead the company's claims efforts following the

Deepwater Horizon oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill was an environmental disaster off the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico, on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. It is considered the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum in ...

. Willis was vice president for resources at BP at the time and appeared in many public relations advertisements clad in an orange

polo shirt A polo shirt, tennis shirt, golf shirt, or chukker shirt is a form of shirt with a collar. Polo shirts are usually short sleeved but can be long; they were used by Polo#Players, polo players originally in British Raj, British India in 1859 and ...

. He was also featured in CNN's The Situation Room and testified before Congress about the incident and response. Willis, a geologist by profession, said he was tapped for the volunteering after hearing BP executives discuss the plan. "Folks were talking about paying claims in 30 to 60 days...And I knew, being from Louisiana, that that was going to be about 30 days too long, and we needed to get people's claims paid as quickly as possible." Willis grew up in

Pontchartrain Park, New Orleans Pontchartrain Park is a historically registered neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Gentilly District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Leon C. Simon Drive to the north, the Industri ...

, and graduated from McDonogh No. 35 Senior High School. Willis said he was surprised by his high-profile position. "I actually took over this role assuming I would be tucked away in some office making sure systems and processes were working," he said.

Personal life

Willis graduated from

Louisiana Scholars' College The Louisiana Scholars' College at Northwestern State University, or "Scholars' College" as it is known by its students and faculty, is Louisiana's only designated four-year, selective-admissions honors college in the liberal arts and sciences. ...

Northwestern State University Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSULA) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport, Louisiana, Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville, Louisiana, Leesville/Fort Jo ...

in 1991, and then earned a Master of Science in Geology and Geophysics from the

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...

in 1993, as well as a Master's in Global Management and Public Policy from

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

in 2007. Willis married his wife, Dawnia Tyrese Richard Willis, on September 10, 2005, on

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, lying just south of Cape Cod. It is known for being a popular, affluent summer colony, and includes the smaller peninsula Chappaquiddick Isla ...

days after his mother, Cora Hambrick Willis, lost her house in

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Darryl K. American public relations people Living people Businesspeople from New Orleans 1969 births Northwestern State University alumni University of New Orleans alumni Stanford University alumni