Ray R. Irani and XXVII Army Corps (Germany)

Contents 1 Personal life 2 Career at Occidental 3 KB Home backdating scandal 4 References 5 External links

Personal life

Irani was born in Lebanon and is of Palestinian origin. He received bachelor of science in chemistry at the American University of Beirut in 1953. He moved in the same year to Los Angeles, California, and at age 18, began graduate studies in physical chemistry at the University of Southern California. He received PhD in 1957. He subsequently worked as a researcher for the Monsanto Company until 1967 and joined the Shamrock Corporation. Prior to working for Occidental, he was president and chief operating officer of Olin Corporation, a chemicals and metals company.

Irani is an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Chemists and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is currently a trustee of USC and co-chair of the board of Trustees of the American University of Beirut. USC named a primary life sciences building as Ray R. Irani Hall on February 9, 2007. In February 2012, Irani, was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He was recognized “for leadership in the petrochemical industry and processes for applications of particulate systems.” This is considered the highest honor in engineering in the United States. Career at Occidental

Irani was brought to Occidental in 1983 to help its struggling chemicals division, and soon was promoted to president, replacing a series of presidents fired by Hammer. By 1988, the media reported that Irani and his team were running the day-to-day operations of the company on behalf of the then 90-year-old Hammer. In 2008 Irani was awarded options worth $392 million.

Irani made news in 2007, when it was revealed that his total compensation for the 2006 year topped $450 million. His base salary was $1.3 million. Occidental justified the compensation by pointing to the stock price, which had risen from $9 a share when Irani succeeded Hammer to $48.60 at the end of 2006, and to the company's market capitalization, which grew from $32.1 billion at the end of 2005 to $42.5 billion at the end of 2006. His compensation in 2009 totaled $31.4 million, including $1,170,000 in salary and $24,758,827 in stock. According to the Associated Press, within the last decade, Irani has received $857 million.

Irani put funds into an overseas tax shelter arranged by Deutsche Bank AG that the IRS later deemed an illegal tax avoidance scheme. The Occidental Chairman opposed the U.S. Department of Justice subpoena of Deutsche Bank AG records as part of an investigation of myCFO Inc. His appeal was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2006. Occidental’s Board of Directors took no action against Irani despite the IRS ruling. An Occidental spokesman said that Irani’s participation in the tax avoidance scheme was a personal matter and was not a violation of the company’s code of conduct policy.

Irani was awarded a $900,000 cash bonus by the Occidental board of directors for exceptional performance in implementing a cost-cutting initiative (including reduction in force job terminations) in anticipation of a “world-wide economic deterioration.” This was awarded on a discretionary basis by the Occidental compensation committee and not by any company performance metrics. Chazen collected $38,080,344 and Irani $76,107,010 in fiscal year 2010, nearly doubling his 2009 compensation despite shareholder outrage over the Occidental board of directors executive pay policies.

Irani retired as CEO on May 10, 2011 after the California State Teachers' Retirement System and Relational Investors, two major institutional Occidental Investors, objected to the company's compensation policies and announced plans to replace long-term board members who were described as "ossified" in a letter written in protest of Irani's salary. They also termed Irani's salary a "corporate giveaway program."

Irani's salary was considered excessive and not truly performance based for decades by a number of corporate governance authorities who noted that Irani's compensation had exceeded that of the head of energy giant ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson, who leads a company that has a market cap that is five times larger than Occidental Petroleum.

Former CFO and current President Stephen Chazen was named CEO of Occidental to replace the 76 year-old Irani, who planned to stay on as executive Chairman until 2014.

Irani was removed from the board of directors of Occidental on May 3, 2013. KB Home backdating scandal

Irani chaired the KB Home executive compensation committee during the time period when CEO Bruce Karatz lied about the company’s practice of backdating options. Karatz was subsequently indicted and convicted April 21, 2010 on Federal charges stemming from his actions and sanctioned by the SEC in a separate civil action. The KB Home shareholders expressed their lack of confidence in the board and the compensation committee by a 19% opposition vote against Irani, who resigned from the KB Home board of directors after 15 years of service. Occidental offered no explanation for his resignation in their pruxy statement.

XXVII Army Corps (Germany) and Ray R. Irani

The corps was originally raised in August 1939 in Wehrkreis VII.

Contents 1 Wartime service 1.1 1939 1.2 1940 1.3 1941 1.4 1942 1.5 1943 1.6 1944 1.7 1945 2 Commanders 3 References

Wartime service 1939

Organisation (September 1939): 16th, 69th, 211th and 216th Infantry Divisions

During September 1939 the XXVII Corps was used to screen the Dutch-German border. 1940

Organisation (June 1940): 211th, 213th, 218th and 239th Infantry Divisions

The Corps participated in Nazi Germany's Invasion of France as part of Army Group C. In May, it crossed the southern Netherlands and Belgium towards Roubaix, where it helped in surrounding the French 1st Army. Later in the campaign, it attacked from the east bank of the Rhine towards Colmar. It then remained on occupation duties in eastern France until the following year. 1941

Organisation (November 1941): 86th, 129th and 162nd Infantry Divisions; Gruppe Landgraf (parts of 6th and 7th Panzer Divisions)

The XXVII Corps did not take part in the initial stages of Operation Barbarossa, but was transferred to the Ninth Army, Army Group Centre, for Operation Typhoon, the attack on Moscow. On the Army's north flank, it advanced towards Kalinin, but by December had been forced to retreat into the Rzhev salient. 1942

Organisation (early November 1942): 6th, 72nd, 87th, 95th, 129th, 251st and 256th Infantry Divisions; heavy artillery and assault gun detachments

The Corps suffered heavy losses during 1942 in the series of defensive battles around Rzhev. Its organisation changed several times during this period, but included up to eight infantry divisions at various points. Along with the remainder of Army Group Centre, it was ordered to evacuate the Rzhev salient the following year in Operation Büffel. 1943

Organisation (July 1943): 52nd, 197th, 246th and 256th Infantry Divisions

In the autumn of 1943 the Corps, now assigned to Fourth Army, took part in the defence against the Soviet offensive Operation Suvorov around Smolensk. By the next year, it had been pushed back to positions east of Orsha. 1944

Organisation (June 1944): 25th Panzergrenadier Division, 78th Sturm Division, 260th Infantry Division

During 1944, the Corps was positioned in the sector of the strategically important Minsk - Moscow road near Orsha, having been specially reinforced for the purpose. In late June the Soviets commenced their summer offensive, Operation Bagration; the XXVII Corps was attacked by forces of the 3rd Belorussian Front and took heavy casualties. Bypassed by a breakthrough of Soviet forces to the north, the Corps found itself encircled in the forests east of Minsk, and despite a breakout attempt on 5 July spearheaded by the 25th Panzergrenadier Division, was almost entirely destroyed. The corps commander, General Paul Völckers, was captured, as were the commanders of the 78th and 260th Divisions, Traut and Klammt.

The Corps, and its staff, was hurriedly reconstructed in July / August from replacement units and deployed on the East Prussian border. 1945

The rebuilt XXVII Corps was transferred to Second Army, facing the Soviet East Prussian Offensive. During the course of the offensive it was encircled on the Baltic coast at Danzig, and again destroyed / disbanded. The staff was evacuated and transferred to the reconstructed Third Panzer Army; the remnants of the Corps eventually surrendered to troops of the US Army on 4 May, north of Ludwigslust. Commanders August 1939 General Karl Ritter von Prager November 1939 General Alfred Wäger 23 December 1941 Lieutenant-General Eccard Freiherr von Gablenz 13 January 1942 General Joachim Witthöft 1 July 1942 Colonel-General Walter Weiß 10 February 1943 Lieutenant-General Karl Burdach 8 June 1943 General Paul Völckers 27 July 1944 General Helmuth Prieß October 1944 General Maximilian Felzmann April 1945 General Walter Hörnlein
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