PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Mining giant Rio Tinto has appointed Chris Lynch as CFO to succeed Guy Elliott, who announced his intention to retire in July last year.
Lynch, who will become CFO in April, joined the Rio Tinto boards as a nonexecutive director in September 2011. He will remain on the boards and will become an executive director and member of the executive committee as CFO-elect on March 1.
Elliott, in turn, will remain on the boards until the end of 2013.
“Lynch is an extremely high-calibre addition to our executive team with a strong pedigree of board, mining and financial experience, including at BHP Billiton where he was chief financial officer and ran the Carbon Steel Materials division, and 20 years at Alcoa. We are fortunate to have appointed someone so well qualified to take over from Elliott, and I am grateful to Elliott for remaining on the boards until the end of the year,” said newly appointed CEO Sam Walsh.
Walsh also said that he was streamlining his executive committee by reducing the number of positions reporting to him from 11 to 9. The vacant group executive strategy position will not be filled, and strategy will continue to be part of the CFO portfolio.
Bret Clayton’s role as group executive, business support & operations will be restructured and its responsibilities would transfer to other executive committee members from March.
Clayton has agreed to stay with the group to assist with a range of activities, including continuing to oversee Pacific Aluminium as it is prepared for divestment.