Chesapeake Energy Corp. Chairman Archie Dunham’s biggest challenge may be keeping Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon focused on selling $7.4 billion of assets this year to plug a widening cash-flow shortfall.
Dunham, who replaced McClendon yesterday as chairman of the second-largest U.S. natural-gas explorer, will need to curb the CEO’s penchant for costly expansions into uncharted oil and gas fields while overseeing corporate belt-tightening under a mandate from Chesapeake’s biggest investors.