• Ad Age, MSNBC, Friday, June 25, 2010 10:45 AM

Guy in an orange shirt walks up to the camera on a dock and says, "I'm Darryl Willis. I oversee BP's claims process on the Gulf Coast. BP has got to make things right, and that's why we're here."

Who is Darryl Willis? He is VP of resources for BP, based in Houston, reports Edmund Lee, and he grew up in New Orleans. Some say he's a better spokesman for the fractured oil company than CEO Tony Hayward (who wouldn't be).

"Willis has been setting up and overseeing BP's claims offices in the affected Gulf Coast states -- a juxtaposition that some commenters on black-focused blogs said has undertones of racial perfidy," Lee writes, prefacing a Q&A with the man via phone as he was en route from Florida to New Orleans.

Meanwhile, MSNBC reports that inside the company, experts believe, there is a natural tension between public relations people who want BP to project a positive image and lawyers who don't want to be boxed into a corner. 

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