Wrap Text
CEO Retirement and Appointment
NEWS RELEASE
Release Time IMMEDIATE
Date 20 February 2013
Number 03/13
MARIUS KLOPPERS TO RETIRE, ANDREW MACKENZIE TO BECOME CEO
The Board of BHP Billiton today announced that Marius Kloppers will retire as Chief
Executive Officer and a Director of the company on 10 May 2013 and that Andrew
Mackenzie, will succeed him and join the Board on that date. Marius will retire from the
Group on 1 October 2013.
Andrew, 56, is BHP Billiton’s Chief Executive Non-Ferrous. He has over thirty years
experience in oil and gas, petrochemicals and minerals. He joined BHP Billiton in
November 2008. Andrew has a doctorate in Chemistry and a first-class degree in
Geology.
In making the announcement BHP Billiton Chairman Jac Nasser acknowledged the
outstanding contribution Marius Kloppers has made to the growth of BHP Billiton:
“Marius was appointed Chief Executive just prior to the global financial crisis. Despite an
exceptionally difficult economic environment during his tenure, Marius and his team
have delivered for shareholders, significantly outperforming our peers in terms of total
shareholder returns. He drove new investments into next generation opportunities
including US onshore gas and liquids and created one of the most valuable companies
in the world.
“He leaves BHP Billiton a safer and stronger company.
“In succeeding Marius, Andrew brings a unique combination of deep industry knowledge
and global management experience to the CEO role. Andrew held senior positions in
BP and Rio Tinto before joining BHP Billiton in 2008. He has led our Non-Ferrous
division for the last five years working across four continents with responsibility for over
half of our 100,000 people.
“Our succession planning process has served the company well for over a decade.
Today’s announcement is a result of that planned and considered process.
“The Board has decided that Andrew is the right person to lead BHP Billiton in a
changing global environment,” said Mr. Nasser.
Andrew said he was honoured by the appointment.
“When Marius offered me the chance to join BHP Billiton I jumped at the opportunity.
“It is a privilege to be asked to lead one of Australia’s great companies and the world’s
leading diversified natural resources company. I look forward to working closely with
Marius during the transition and building on his legacy including continuing the focus on
our strategy of owning and safely operating large, low cost, long life assets diversified
by commodity, geography and market.
“I am grateful that the Board’s succession process will allow me, together with Marius,
to spend the next two months meeting with and listening to our people, our
shareholders, and the many other stakeholders that contribute to our Company’s
success.”
Mr. Kloppers said his decision to retire was difficult.
“I've been very fortunate to lead one of the world's great resource companies. Deciding
the right time to retire was never going to be easy.
“However after almost twenty years with BHP Billiton, twelve as a senior executive and
nearly six as CEO, I believe now is the right time to pass the leadership baton.
"I am very proud of the achievements of our Company and our people. One of the first
decisions I made when I became CEO was to bring Andrew into BHP Billiton, and I look
forward to working closely with him, the Board and the management team during the
transition,” Mr. Kloppers said.
Andrew will be based at the Group’s headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. He and his
wife Liz will move to Melbourne in the coming months.
BHP Billiton also today reported results for the half year ended 31 December 2012
including Underlying EBIT of US$9.8 billion and Attributable profit excluding exceptional
items of US$5.7 billion and an interim dividend of 57 US cents per share (see separate
press release dated 20 February 2013 for further details).
Details of Andrew’s employment contract, including the remuneration arrangements, will
be announced before he commences in the role. Leaving arrangements for Marius are
governed by the terms approved by shareholders and will be announced at the date of
his retirement as CEO.
Biographical details of Andrew are attached.
Sponsor: Absa Capital (the investment banking division of Absa Bank Limited, affiliated
with Barclays)
Further information on BHP Billiton can be found at: www.bhpbilliton.com.
Media Relations Investor Relations
Australia Australia
Antonios Papaspiropoulos James Agar
Tel: +61 3 9609 3830 Mobile: +61 477 325 803 Tel: +61 3 9609 2222 Mobile: +61 467 807 064
email: Antonios.Papaspiropoulos@bhpbilliton.com email: James.Agar@bhpbilliton.com
Fiona Hadley Andrew Gunn
Tel: +61 3 9609 2211 Mobile: +61 427 777 908 Tel: +61 3 9609 3575 Mobile: +61 439 558 454
email: Fiona.Hadley@bhpbilliton.com email: Andrew.Gunn@bhpbilliton.com
Eleanor Nichols United Kingdom and South Africa
Tel: +61 3 9609 2360 Mobile: +61 407 064 748
email: Eleanor.Nichols@bhpbilliton.com Tara Dines
Tel : +44 20 7802 7113 Mobile : +44 7825 342 232
United Kingdom Email : Tara.Dines@bhpbilliton.com
Ruban Yogarajah Americas
Tel: +44 20 7802 4033 Mobile: +44 7827 082 022
email: Ruban.Yogarajah@bhpbilliton.com Brendan Harris
Tel: +44 20 7802 4131 Mobile: +44 7990 527 726
Jennifer White email: Brendan.Harris@bhpbilliton.com
Tel: +44 20 7802 7462 Mobile: +44 7827 253 764
email: Jennifer.White@bhpbilliton.com Matt Chism
Tel: +1 71 359 96158 Mobile: +1 281 782 2238
email: Matt.E.Chism@bhpbilliton.com
Americas
Jaryl Strong
Tel: +1 713 499 5548 Mobile: +1 281 222 6627
email: Jaryl.Strong@bhpbilliton.com
BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077 BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209
Registered in Australia Registered in England and Wales
Registered Office: 180 Lonsdale Street Registered Office: Neathouse Place
Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia London SW1V 1BH United Kingdom
Tel +61 1300 55 4757 Fax +61 3 9609 3015 Tel +44 20 7802 4000 Fax +44 20 7802 4111
Members of the BHP Billiton Group which is headquartered in Australia
Andrew Mackenzie
BSc (Geology) PhD (Chemistry)
Summary:
As Chief Executive of BHP Billiton Non-Ferrous, Andrew is responsible for overseeing a
large portion of the Company’s portfolio including Escondida in Chile, the world’s largest
single source of copper. Andrew manages over 50,000 people across four continents.
During his 30-year career in oil and gas, petrochemicals and minerals, Andrew has held
a variety of senior leadership roles. During his 22 years at BP he held positions
including: Head of Capital Markets; Head of Government and Public Affairs worldwide;
Chief Technology Officer; Chief Reservoir Engineer with oversight of oil and gas
reserves and production and Group Vice President Petrochemicals. From 2004 until
Marius Kloppers invited him to join BHP Billiton in November 2007 Andrew was Chief
Executive of Industrial Minerals Division for Rio Tinto and Chief Executive of Diamonds
and Minerals. From 2005 to 2007, he served as the Chairman of the Board of trustees
of the think tank Demos. He has served as a director on the board of the top 30
FTSE100 energy company Centrica Plc. since 2005, serving on its Audit, Remuneration
and Corporate & Social Responsibility committees.
Biography:
Andrew grew up in the industrial town of Kirkintilloch near Glasgow. He lived through
the decline of the coal mines nearby and the Miners' Welfare in the town donated the
science prizes he won at school.
Andrew began his career as a geologist and organic geochemist. His PhD on steroidal
molecular maturity parameters won Best Paper of 1980 and had important implications
for oil and gas exploration. Its findings are still in routine use by academics and oil
explorers today.
As a scientist, he published over 50 research papers and was a research fellow with the
British Geological Society and as a Humboldt Fellow, he worked at the Nuclear
Research Centre in Julich, Germany. In 1986 he received the President’s Award from
the Geological Society and in 2002 the Aberconway Medal by the Geological Society.
His citation for the Aberconway Medal read “he has made extraordinary and long-lasting
contributions to our understanding of petroleum generation, migration and entrapment”
and “his work has become ‘part of the furniture’, enshrined in mathematical models
used everywhere to predict the likely location, composition and sizes of hydrocarbon
accumulations”.
In 1983 Andrew joined BP’s research arm, introducing and refining many of the
techniques he had created within a commercial environment. Putting theory into
practice, he was a key member of the teams that discovered oil and gas fields in
Norway and Indonesia that are still producing today. Fast-tracked to BP Finance,
Andrew wrote the algorithmic software that allowed BP to manage its interest-rate
exposure better than its competitors, then as Head of Capital Markets helped restore
BP’s balance sheet by restructuring its debt book, making asset disposals and a share
repurchase programme.
During his 22-year career with BP, Andrew also ran research at BP Chemicals and was
Chief Reservoir Engineer where he pioneered extraction techniques in the North Sea,
which significantly improved extraction rates and are standard practice today. As Chief
Technology Officer, he founded the renowned BP Institute in Cambridge as well as
institutes in Princeton, Berkeley and Caltech, whose research to this day contributes to
BP’s ability to attract world-class talent.
His final role with BP was in the USA as Group Vice President Petrochemicals where he
oversaw the merger with Amoco’s chemical businesses and returned the combined
plastics and solvents business to profitability.
Andrew moved to Rio Tinto in 2004 as Chief Executive of Industrial Minerals Division.
He built a $5 billion greenfield-site Titanium mine in Madagascar and merged the
borates, talc and salt businesses.
In 2007, Marius Kloppers persuaded Andrew to join BHP Billiton as Chief Executive of
Non Ferrous.
Andrew has been a non-executive Director of Centrica since 2005 and has served on
the Audit, Remuneration and Corporate & Social Responsibility committees. He has
also chaired Demos, one of the UK’s most influential think-tanks.
In his career Andrew has lived in six countries on four continents. He speaks five
languages. He has been married to Liz for 35 years and they have two daughters.
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