Former CEO of BP Europa SE Michael Schmidt was born in Münster/Westphalia in 1960. After his University studies of Economics, he worked as Controller and General Manager in various departments of BASF. In 1998, he changed to Veba Oel AG as Head of the Department of Controlling and Economics. A year later, he was appointed CFO of the refinery in Gelsenkirchen. In addition, in 2000 he became Managing Director of the BP Refining and Petrochemicals GmbH (BP RP). As of 1 August 2005, he was appointed Director for Personnel at the Board of Directors of Deutsche BP AG. Additionally, two years later he became Vice President for Human Resources Europe of BP group. After BP Europa SE was set up in 2010, Michael Schmidt remained Director for Personnel and Director of various subsidiaries. From 1 May 2012, Michael Schmidt was appointed CEO of BP Europa SE. In May 2014, he also became CEO of the Mineralölwirtschaftsverband. As of 31 December 2016, Michael Schmidt decided to leave BP and all related organisations. In September 2017, he was elected President of the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany (BCCG e.V.)