On September 26, 2016, The Williams Companies, Inc. announced the next step in its Board refreshment plan. Under the plan, Stephen Chazen, former President and Chief Executive Officer and current Board director of Occidental Petroleum, and Peter Ragauss, former Chief Financial Officer of Baker Hughes and current Board director at Apache Corporation, have been appointed to the Williams Board of Directors, effective immediately. The Board also announced that 3 Williams directors who served prior to 2016 will not stand for re-election at the 2016 annual meeting. The Company added that 5 new directors (i.e., directors who were not serving on the Board as of July 1, 2016), Stephen Bergstrom, Stephen Chazen, Peter Ragauss, Scott Sheffield and William Spence, in addition to 4 Williams directors who served prior to 2016, will stand for election as nominees of the Williams Board at the 2016 annual meeting. The Board also announced its goal to identify 2 additional qualified candidates to join the Board prior to the 2016 annual meeting. If the nominees are elected, the Williams Board will comprise 11 directors, 10 of whom are independent.