UPDATE 1-Exxon lobbies against CEO-chmn split, say on pay

(Adds company response, background)

NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is lobbying investors to vote against proposals that advocate separating its top leadership positions and giving shareholders an advisory vote on executive pay.

The company said in a filing with regulators on Monday that it is sending an e-mail to investors asking them to consider its previously laid-out arguments against the proposals.

Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded company in terms of market capitalization, has come under fire this year to separate its chairman and chief executive positions. Rex Tillerson currently holds both jobs.

Members of the Rockefeller family and proxy advisory group ISS are in favor of the split.

The company may also be feeling the heat on executive pay, as investors holding 41.2 percent of the voted shares supported a similar proposal last year. Shareholders with about 40 percent of the voted shares also backed splitting the chairman and chief executive positions in 2007.

"The Exxon Mobil board believes that the decision as to who should serve as chairman and chief executive officer is the proper responsibility of the board," Exxon Secretary Henry Hubble said in the e-mail.

"The Exxon Mobil board also believes that a shareholder advisory vote on executive compensation is not warranted and that clearer, more effective channels of communication between shareholders and the board already exist."

Both proposals are nonbinding.  Continued...