Stephen M. Johnson will retire from his positions as chairman of the board, president, director, and CEO of McDermott International in December 2013. David Dickson has agreed to join McDermott and to succeed Johnson as president and CEO.

Dickson has been appointed executive vice president and COO, a position he will hold until December.

With approximately 23 years of offshore oilfield engineering and construction business experience, including 11 years of experience with Technip and its subsidiaries, Dickson has served as president of Technip USA Inc. since September 2008, with oversight responsibilities for the company’s North American operations.

Dickson will commence his employment with McDermott on Oct. 31, 2013. He will initially serve as McDermott’s COO, succeeding John T. McCormack, whose retirement from that position was previously announced. Dickson will succeed Johnson as president and CEO on or before Dec. 16, 2013. Dickson will lead the previously announced search effort for a new COO. Concurrent with Dickson’s appointment as president and CEO, McDermott’s board of directors will elect him as a member of the board.

The search for a successor president and CEO began in January 2013, as part of McDermott’s regular succession planning process and following Johnson’s expression of interest to retire by year-end. Johnson and Roger A. Brown, the chairman of the board’s governance committee, led the search effort for Johnson’s replacement. They were assisted by a nationally recognized executive search firm.

McDermott also announced that Gary P. Luquette has been appointed to its board of directors, effective Oct. 18, 2013. Luquette will serve on the board’s compensation and finance committees. Luquette, retired from his position as president, Chevron North America E&P, a unit of Chevron Corp., in September 2013, following 35 years of service with Chevron. He held that position since 2006, and his duties included serving on Chevron’s upstream executive leadership team. Previously, he held key E&P positions with Chevron in Europe, California, Indonesia, and Louisiana.