Boardroom chairs are being shifted at two large diversified mining companies, Vancouver-based Teck Resources and Brazilian powerhouse Vale SA, the world’s second largest miner.
Teck announced yesterday that Marcia Smith, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, will replace Doug Horswell as Senior Vice President, Sustainability and External Affairs. Horswell, staging into retirement, will work half-time in the company’s Zinc and Health program.
Mike Agg, a 32-year Teck veteran who is currently Vice President, Zinc, will retire next summer, to be replaced by Rob Scott, the current Vice President, Operational Excellence. Jim Utley, Vice President, Human Resources, steps down Dec. 1st after 20 years with the company. Utley will be replaced by Graham Foyle-Twining, who will join Teck from Walter Energy, where he was Global Head of Human Resources and Organizational Development. Ray Reipas, currently Vice President, Energy will become Senior Vice President, Energy.
Meanwhile, Vale announced that coming this Thursday, CEO Murilo Ferreira will submit to the Board of Directors a proposal for a new structure of the company’s Executive Board. Among the changes, the most high-profile is the replacement of CFO Guilherme Cavalcanti with Tito Martins, who currently runs Vale’s base metals division.
The composition of the new Executive Board, once approved by the Board of Directors, will be as follows:
Fertilizers and Coal – Eduardo Bartolomeo
Iron Ore and Strategy – José Carlos Martins
Logistics and Exploration – Humberto Freitas
Base Metals and IT – Peter Poppinga
Capital Projects Implementation – Galib Chaim
Finance – Tito Martins
HR, Health & Safety, Sustainability and Energy – Vania Somavilla
Read the full Vale press release below:
On November, 24, Vale’s CEO Murilo Ferreira will submit to the Board of Directors a proposal for a new structure of the company’s Executive Board. This restructuring seeks to establish an operational model with clearly defined roles and responsibilities for each business unit. Under this new model, each executive director will be responsible for Planning, New Business Development, Operations and Marketing & Sales. This model will help us reach our growth goals and consolidate our business, with the aim of further strengthening the company.
The composition of the new Executive Board, once approved by the Board of Directors, will be as follows:
Fertilizers and Coal – Eduardo Bartolomeo
Iron Ore and Strategy – José Carlos Martins
Logistics and Exploration – Humberto Freitas
Base Metals and IT – Peter Poppinga
Capital Projects Implementation – Galib Chaim
Finance – Tito Martins
HR, Health & Safety, Sustainability and Energy – Vania SomavillaAccording to the proposal, the following professionals are leaving the Executive Board:
Mario Barbosa – Joined Vale as executive director for Fertilizers in June 2010, right after the acquisition of Fosfértil and of Bunge’s fertilizer assets. Among other things, his contribution to Vale’s entry in the fertilizer business in Brazil and abroad deserve particular relevance.
Eduardo Ledsham – Has worked in Exploration for Vale since 1998 and was named executive director for Exploration, Energy and Projects in June 2010. Some of his major contributions to the company include his leadership of iron ore, coal and copper exploration in Africa; copper and nickel exploration in Indonesia, and his role in the increase in value of Vale Inco’s assets. In iron ore, he participated in several acquisitions in Brazil.
Guilherme Cavalcanti – Joined Vale in September 2005 as the Corporate Finance director. In September 2010 he assumed the position of executive director for Finance and Investor Relations. Some of his major contributions include the raising of capital for the Inco acquisition, as well as the maintenance of cash-flow at an optimized and competitive capital cost.The new proposed executive directors are:
Humberto Freitas – B.Sc. Metallurgical Engineering, with strong knowledge of and experience in Logistics. Humberto was CEO of Sepetiba Tecon from 1998 to 2003, CEO of Valesul from 2003 to 2007, director for Ports and Navigation at Vale between 2007 and 2009 and then Logistics Operations director also at Vale. Humberto has actively worked on the navigation implementation strategy and also coordinated the efforts to establish Vale’s own shipping fleet.Galib Chaim – Graduated in Mining Engineering with a MBA in Business Management. Galib held the position of Alunorte Industrial director between 1994 and 2005. After that, he took the position of Coal Projects Departament director, in which he led projects in Mozambique, Australia, Indonesia and Zambia. Among his several contributions to the company, we highlight the excellence in the implementation of the Moatize Coal Project, from the feasibility studies to the start-up in August 2011.
Peter Poppinga – Graduated in Geology and Mining Engineering, with specialization in Geo-statistics. Before entering Vale, Peter worked for Samitri. In 2000, Peter joined our company as Iron Ore commercial director. He has worked in the USA, Belgium and Switzerland, where he took the position of Vale International CEO. Since 2007, Poppinga has contributed to several areas in the Nickel Business such as Strategy, HR, Sustainability, New Business Development and Mineral Technology. Since 2009, Poppinga has been the VP for Base Metals Operations in Asia Pacific.
