BP named outsider Albert Manifold, the former boss of building materials producer CRH, as its new chairman on Monday, as it grapples with a major strategy reversal in an attempt to turn around a weak share performance.

BP named a new board chair after activist shareholders pressured the company to move in a new direction. The London-based multinational that counts the BP Whiting Refinery as its largest refinery globally picked Albert Manifold to replace Helge Lund.