Since childhood, Mark Quartermain, who in May became president of Shell Energy North America and head of UK-based Shell Energy Trading, knew exactly what job he wanted to do. "When I was 13 my father sat me down and said I should try to pick a career early on," he says. "He suggested three options: banking, computing or oil, all of which were big news in the UK at the time. I picked oil."

Graduating in 1983 with a degree in chemical engineering, he spent the first six years of his career at Shell