Mr. Gjervik, a native of Norway, earned his degree in naval architecture and marine technology from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. 

He served with the Norwegian Navy prior to joining Esso Norway in 1998, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil. Mr. Gjervik has held various technical, planning, operations, projects and leadership positions in Norway, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Angola and the United States. These roles included operations area manager for the Gulf of Mexico, general manager for ExxonMobil projects in Nigeria and operations manager for ExxonMobil’s North Sea operation. 

In 2013, Mr. Gjervik was appointed senior upstream advisor to the ExxonMobil Management Committee, based in Irving, Texas. In 2015, he relocated to Luanda, Angola, to serve as the ExxonMobil lead country manager and as managing director for Esso Angola. 

Mr. Gjervik joined XTO in January 2018 as senior vice president, Permian Integrated Development, where he focused on optimizing value chain integration across ExxonMobil’s upstream, downstream and chemical business with regard to the long-term development of the corporation’s Permian Basin assets. 

Mr. Gjervik brings extensive leadership experience across ExxonMobil’s global operations. Since joining in 2019 as Senior Vice President of the Unconventional business and President of XTO Energy, he has held key executive roles, including President of ExxonMobil Global Services Company (2020) and President of the newly established Supply Chain function (2023), which oversees one of the world’s largest supply chain networks. 

As of January 2026, he serves as President of Global Projects, driving strategic initiatives and execution across ExxonMobil’s worldwide projects portfolio. 

Staale and his wife, Hilde, have two children, both engineers working in Houston, Texas. He and his wife reside in Texas.