Exxon Mobil Corp. chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson will retain both of those jobs at the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company after a highly public, Rockefeller-led push to separate the roles that failed again Wednesday.

Stripping Tillerson of the chairman’s job in favor of an independent director was the main focus of the company’s annual shareholder meeting at a downtown symphony hall. In the end, the measure got support of only 39.5 percent of shareholders, slightly less than last year’s 40 percent, despite a hard push by descendants of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Exxon Mobil predecessor Standard Oil Corp.

A variety of institutional investors in the U.S. and abroad also lined up behind the proposal.

After the meeting, Tillerson, who’s held both positions since 2006, said continued strong support to change company leadership — despite massive profits in recent quarters — was not lost on him.

“It just reemphasizes to me the importance of our continuing efforts to communicate better with shareholders and with the public and with policymakers,” Tillerson told reporters at a news conference.

That said, none of the 17 shareholder proposals considered at the three-hour meeting received enough support to pass, and all were opposed by the Exxon Mobil board.

Introduced primarily by environmental-minded investors and shareholder activists, they sought such things as quantitative goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, shareholder input on executive compensation and a report on the likely consequences of climate change for developing countries and poor communities between now and 2030.

This marked the seventh time the proposal to split the roles of chairman and CEO was considered.

During the gathering, Peter O’Neill, a great-great grandson of John D. Rockefeller, said he spoke for a majority of the family when he wished Exxon Mobil continued success. “We’re very, very pleased with the performance that the company has been delivering,” O’Neill said.

But Rockefeller family members and others have said they’re concerned Irving-based Exxon Mobil is too focused on short-term gains from soaring oil prices and should do more to invest in cleaner technology for the future. Some shareholders lambasted the company for not doing enough now to create far-reaching policies to reduce harmful greenhouse-gas emissions.

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