Michael Lawrence Haider (October 1, 1904 - August 14, 1986) was a noted American

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

engineer, business executive, and a founder of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

. He was chairman of

Exxon Corporation ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

from 1965-1969.

Life and career

Haider was born on a wheat farm in

Mandan, North Dakota Mandan is a city on the eastern border of Morton County and the eighth-largest city in North Dakota. Founded in 1879 on the west side of the upper Missouri River, it was designated in 1881 as the county seat of Morton County. The population was ...

, moved to California as a teenager, and in 1927 received his B.A. in chemistry from Stanford University. In 1929 he started his career in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

, as a chemical engineer with Carter Oil (an affiliate of

Standard Oil of New Jersey ExxonMobil, an American multinational oil and gas corporation presently based out of Texas, has had one of the longest histories of any company in its industry. A direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the company traces its roo ...

, later Exxon). One early assignment was to check the quality of

helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...

for

dirigible An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

s. He became chief petroleum engineer and then managed all engineering for Carter. In 1938 he moved to New York as manager of Exxon's production engineering and research, and in 1945 became executive assistant in the Producing Department. In 1946 Haider moved to Toronto, where in 1947 as manager of the Producing and Exploration Department of Imperial Oil, Limited, a Canadian affiliate, he obtained the Leduc oil field that made western

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

a net oil exporter. He was subsequently elected a director of Imperial (1948) and vice president (1950). In 1952 Haider returned to New York where he served for two years as deputy coordinator of worldwide production. He then became president and a director of International Petroleum Company, Limited, responsible for parts of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. In 1959 he was elected an Exxon director, then vice president and director for Latin America (1960), and executive vice-president and member of the Executive Committee (1961). In 1963 he was elected president and vice chairman of the Executive Committee, and in 1965 he became chairman of the board and chief executive officer until his retirement in 1969. Haider served as chairman of the

American Petroleum Institute The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the largest U.S. trade association for the oil and natural gas industry. It claims to represent nearly 600 corporations involved in production, refinement, distribution, and many other aspects of the ...

and president of the

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) is a professional association for mining and metallurgy, with over 145,000 members. It was founded in 1871 by 22 mining engineers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Uni ...

(1952). He was director of

First National City Bank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City Ba ...

and the

Economic Development Council of New York City An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

, trustee of the

Committee for Economic Development The Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board (CED) is an American nonprofit and nonpartisan public policy think tank. The board of trustees consist primarily of senior corporate executives from a range of U.S. industries an ...

, and member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...

, the National Petroleum Council, and

The Business Council The Business Council is an organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C.Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says th ...

and

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

board member. He was elected to Spain's Instituto de Cultura Hispánica (1962) and was awarded its ''Gran Cruz de la Order del Merito Civil'' in 1969, in which year he also received Italy's ''

Cavaliere di Gran Croce The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking h ...

''. It was the year 1969 that Haider was also awarded the

John Fritz Medal The John Fritz Medal has been awarded annually since 1902 by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) for "outstanding scientific or industrial achievements". The medal was created for the 80th birthday of John Fritz, who lived betw ...

. In 1970 he was awarded the Charles Frederic Rand Memorial Gold Medal, bestowed by the

References

National Academy of Engineering memorial tribute

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haider, Michael Lawrence 20th-century American engineers Founding members of the United States National Academy of Engineering People from Mandan, North Dakota 1986 deaths 1904 births