OREANDA-NEWS. Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: ECOPETROL; NYSE: EC; TSX: ECP) reports that the Board of Directors held its first session on January 24th with the new members elected at the extraordinary Shareholder General Assembly meeting.

The Board elected Gonzalo Restrepo Lopez, an independent member, as the new president of the Board, and Roberto Steiner Sampedro, minority shareholder representative, as its vice president.

During the session, members were unanimous in their appreciation of the efforts of Fabio Echeverri Correa, who served on the board for 12 years, the majority of the time as president.

The Board highlighted the transformation experienced by Ecopetrol in the last decade, during which, under Echeverri Correa's leadership, the company saw significant growth in its main operating and financial indicators.

Among the principle milestones that determined the course of Ecopetrol in this period were the incorporation of corporate governance practices, internal changes aimed at attaining more effective and sustainable management, the capitalization undertaken in 2007 by means of the largest stock democratization process ever in Colombia, entry into the national and international stock markets and internationalization of its operations.

The Board of Directors, the corporate body responsible for electing Ecopetrol's president, expressed its unconditional vote of confidence in the company's current administration and its support for Javier Gutierrez Pemberthy as its CEO.