Sir John Parker appointed as

RNS Number : 4451V

Anglo American PLC

10 July 2009

 



News Release

10 July 2009

Anglo American plc appoints Sir John Parker as Chairman

Anglo American plc is pleased to announce the appointment of Sir John Parker as Chairman. Sir John will join the Board of Anglo American plc as a non-executive director with immediate effect and will become Chairman on 1 August, succeeding Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, who will be retiring from the Board after seven years as Chairman.

Sir John is Chairman of National Grid plc and is also Joint Chairman of the Mondi Group with Cyril Ramaphosa. As he takes up his position at Anglo American, Sir John will step down from several of his board and other commitments, having recently stepped down as Chair of the Court of the Bank of England.

Anglo American's Board appointed a search committee of independent directors chaired by Peter Woicke, former CEO of the International Finance Corporation, with members Dr Mamphela Ramphele, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town and former Managing Director of the World Bank, Sir C K Chow, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong MTR, and the late Karel van Miert, former European Commissioner and Member of the European Parliament. After a global search of several months, the committee made a unanimous recommendation to the board, which in turn unanimously agreed to appoint Sir John Parker.

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman of Anglo American plc, said: "I am very pleased to welcome Sir John Parker to Anglo American following the Board's unanimous decision to appoint him as Chairman.  Sir John is recognised as a highly experienced and independent chairman, has chaired four FTSE 100 companies and brings a wealth of leadership experience across a range of industries in many countries, including in South Africa. The Group is now well positioned to capitalise on its considerable growth prospects as a focused and responsible global mining company and to deliver on its cost saving and efficiency commitments."

Sir John Parker said: "Anglo American has many great strengths, including a portfolio of high quality mining assets, an impressive growth profile, substantial and well advanced efficiency programmes and a unique position in precious commodities. With deep roots in South Africa, a country I know very well through my years at Babcock International and my more recent role at Mondi working jointly with Cyril Ramaphosa, this global company has an opportunity to deliver considerable further growth and value in the coming years. I look forward to working with the board and the excellent management team led by Cynthia Carroll to deliver those prospects to shareholders. Anglo has undergone a major transformation in recent years and I look forward to my new role, leading the Board through the next stage of the company's development."

Cynthia Carroll, Chief Executive of Anglo American plc, said: "I welcome Sir John as our new Chairman and look forward to working with him. He will bring significant insight and experience to the Board as we deliver value for all our stakeholders through the Group's growth and efficiency strategies embedded across our portfolio of world class mining assets.  Sir Mark Moody-Stuart has led the Group through a period of significant change, introducing a strong stakeholder focus and reinforcing our position as a modern and responsible mining company. On behalf of the Board and all our employees around the world, I would like to thank Sir Mark for his invaluable leadership and tireless contribution over the past seven years and we wish him well."

For further information, please contact:

Anglo American

Nick Von Schirnding, Head of Investor and Corporate Affairs

Tel: [phone]

James Wyatt-Tilby, Media Relations

Tel: [phone]

Pranill Ramchander, Media Relations

Tel: [phone]

Caroline Metcalfe, Investor Relations

Tel: [phone]

Anna Poulter, Investor Relations

Tel: [phone]

Financial Dynamics
Jon Simmons

Tel: [phone]

Brunswick
Rob Pinker
Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

Sir John Parker FREng DSc (Eng), ScD (Hon), DSc (Hon), D.Univ (Hon), Hon Fellow IMAREST, FRINA

Current Appointments

Sir John Parker is Chairman of National Grid plc (October 2002), Vice Chairman of DP World (Dubai) (2006) and Joint Chairman of Mondi plc (May 2007).  

He has recently stepped down (June 09) as Senior Non-executive Director (Chair) of the Court of the Bank of England (June 2004), is a Member of the Prime Minister's Business Council for Britain (June 2007) and a Non-executive Director of Carnival Corporation (2003) and EADS Airbus (October 2007). He is Non-executive Chairman of the BVT Joint Venture, Vice President of The Royal Navy and Marines Charity and Chancellor of the University of Southampton (August 2006).

Background

Sir John Parker studied Naval Architecture and Mechanical Engineering at the College of Technology and Queens University, Belfast and joined the ship design team at Harland & Wolff in 1964. After extensive ship design and research experience he held a number of senior management positions in technical, production and ship sales.

He was appointed Managing Director of Austin & Pickersgill (Shipbuilders) Sunderland in 1974. Following nationalisation of the shipbuilding industry, he was appointed to the Board of the British Shipbuilders Corporation in 1978, later becoming Deputy Chief Executive. He returned to Harland & Wolff (1983-93) as Chairman and Chief Executive.

Sir John joined Babcock International plc as CEO in 1993, becoming Chairman and CEO in 1994. In 1997, he became a Non-executive Director of British Gas, which led to his becoming Chairman of the Lattice Group on its demerger from BG Group in 2000. Lattice merged with National Grid in 2002, with Sir John becoming Chairman of the combined company, National Grid Transco.  

Sir John has also been Non-executive Director of the Industrial Development Board of Northern Ireland (1983-1986), British Coal Corporation (1986-1993), GKN plc (1993-2002), BG plc (1997-2000) and Brambles Industries plc (2001-2003). He was Chairman of Firth Rixson plc (1999-2003) and Non-executive Director and subsequently Deputy Chairman of P&O Princess Cruises plc (2000-2003). He was Chairman RMC Group from 2002 and led the Group's transformation and agreed sale to Cemex of Mexico in 2005. He was appointed Deputy Chairman of P&O in February 2005 and Chairman May 2005. He led the Group's agreed sale to DP World (Dubai) in early 2006.

Sir John is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Younger Brother of Trinity House and a Visiting Fellow of University of Oxford. He is a recipient of honorary doctorates from a number of universities in the UK and Ireland. He was President of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (1996-1999) and Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights (2000-2001) and an Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Fuellers. He is a governor of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Deputy Chairman of the White Ensign Association and a member of the General Committee of Lloyds Register of Shipping. He leads 'Young Offenders into Work' program, serves on the Defence Academy Advisory Board, was a Member of the Government's Asia Task Force and is a member of the International Advisory Board of Citi Group. He was knighted in 2001 for Services to the Defence and Shipbuilding Industries. Sir John's recreational pursuits include sailing, reading and music.

He and his wife Emma have two children and two grandsons.

Anglo American plc is one of the world's largest mining groups. With its subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates, it is a global leader in platinum group metals and diamonds, with significant interests in coal, base and ferrous metals, as well as an industrial minerals business. The Group is geographically diverse, with operations in Africa, Europe, South and North America, Australia and Asia.

(www.angloamerican.co.uk)

 

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