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Rio Tinto Appoints New Chairman
01/15/2009 - Rio Tinto announces the appointment of Jim Leng as Chairman of the Boards, effective with the conclusion of the company’s Annual General Meeting this April.
Rio Tinto announced the appointment of Jim Leng as Chairman of the Boards with effect from the conclusion of Rio Tinto Limited’s Annual General Meeting on April 20, 2009. In the interim, he will join the Boards as Chairman Designate and a non-executive director, effective immediately.
Leng currently serves as Deputy Chairman of Tata Steel Ltd in India, a position he has held since Corus Group was acquired by Tata Steel in 2007. He is also Chairman of Tata Steel Europe, a position he has held since 2003. When he takes his new position as Chairman of the Boards, Leng will replace Rio Tinto’s current Chairman, Paul Skinner, who has announced his preference to retire at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting.
“As indicated last October, the Rio Tinto Boards, through the Nominations Committee, have undertaken a thorough process to identify a successor to Paul Skinner,” commented Andrew Gould, Senior Independent Director, Rio Tinto. “Jim Leng brings to Rio Tinto extensive industrial company experience and is a seasoned Board room operator. He is ably qualified to lead Rio Tinto into the next phase of its development.
“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Paul Skinner for his excellent leadership of the Boards for the last five years and significant contribution during his tenure,” concluded Gould.
“After the termination of the BHP Billiton pre-conditional Offers for the Group, and the identification of a well-qualified successor, now is a good time for me to announce my decision to stand down at the AGMs this year,” commented Paul Skinner, Chairman of Rio Tinto. “Rio Tinto is an exciting and challenging company to lead, and I am very pleased that we have found someone of Jim’s caliber to take over from me as Chairman.”
Jim Leng, Chairman of Tata Steel Europe Limited and Deputy Chairman of Tata Steel of India, is also chairman of Doncasters Group Ltd, an international specialist engineering company. As non-executive director of Alstom SA, he chairs the Nominations and Remuneration committees, is a Senior Adviser of HSBC and a member of their European Advisory Council and chairman of the European Advisory Board of AEA, a New York-based Private Equity Partnership.
Leng’s past directorships include Hanson PLC, where he was the senior independent director, Pilkington plc and IMI plc. He previously served as CEO of Laporte plc, an international specialty chemical company (1995 to June 2001) and as CEO of Low & Bonar plc. His early business years were spent at John Waddington where he ran a number of their subsidiary companies.
Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the UK, combining Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited. Rio Tinto's business is finding, mining, and processing mineral resources. Activities span the world but are strongly represented in Australia and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa.
