Chesapeake Energy Corp. to name new chairman this coming week

Industry analyst Fadel Gheit said there are many qualified candidates for the position, but the biggest question is whether any of them wants to accept the challenge of rehabilitating Chesapeake's tarnished image.

McClendon, who has shepherded Chesapeake since 1989, has agreed to step down as chairman amid questions about the company's corporate governance after an April 18 report indicating he had secured up to $1.1 billion in personal loans, including some from a private equity firm that does business with Chesapeake. He will remain the company's CEO.

Chesapeake has said it will name a new chairman — and four new board members — by Friday, but the company has not given any indication of who its new leader will be. The board hasn't even accepted the resignations of two directors who were overwhelmingly denied re-election at Chesapeake's June 8 annual meeting.

The board's nominating committee has been considering candidates for chairman since May. The two-man committee is close to making its selection, member Don Nickles said earlier this week.

Chesapeake is the No. 2 natural gas producer in the United States, behind industry giant ExxonMobil, but media reports continue to portray the company as the personal fiefdom of McClendon, who no longer even holds a major stake in the company he co-founded.

McClendon's aggressive moves have helped Chesapeake grow into a major player in the energy industry, but his bets on natural gas have failed to pay off on at least two occasions. A 2008 margin call wiped out much of his personal holdings in Chesapeake, while recently decade-low gas prices have put a dent in the company's revenue stream.