Occidental Petroleum, an international oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, Middle East/North Africa and Latin America regions, has elected Margaret Foran to its board of directors. Her election brings the board to 15 members, 13 of whom are independent outside directors.

Foran is chief governance officer, vice president and corporate secretary of Prudential Financial. Prior to joining Prudential, she was executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Sara Lee; senior vice president, associate general counsel and corporate secretary at Pfizer; and vice president and assistant general counsel at J.P. Morgan & Co.

Foran is a former director of The MONY Group and MONY Life Insurance Company. She served as co-chair and a director of the Council of Institutional Investors, and is the current co-chair of the CII International Corporate Governance Committee. She is the former chair of the American Bar Association committee on corporate governance and presently sits on the ABA's Business Council. Foran is the former chair of the coordinating committee of the Business Roundtable Corporate Governance Task Force.