Former NAB boss Ross McEwan takes reins as BHP chairman, focus switches to CEO succession

After locking in former NAB boss Ross McEwan as its next chairman, the mining giant will turn its attention to finding a suitable successor for chief executive Mike Henry.

BHP has announced Ross McEwan, left, as its new chairman to succeed Ken MacKenzie, right, who will step down at the end of March. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

BHP’s leadership focus is expected to shift to finding a suitable successor for chief executive Mike Henry after the mining giant locked in former National Australia Bank chief executive Ross McEwan as its next chairman.

Mr Henry is into his sixth year as chief executive and one of the McEwan-led board’s major tasks will be to select his replacement.

BHP president Australia Geraldine Slattery, who has butted heads with the Albanese government on industrial relations changes and other policy issues, is considered a contender for the top job if the board opts for an internal candidate.

Chief commercial officer Ragnar Udd is another of the frontrunners and in his former role of president Americas led the copper and potash businesses that are now BHP main focus for growth.

Speaking after BHP’s annual general meeting in Brisbane last October, incumbent chairman Ken MacKenzie said the company was “developing internal candidates for both the chair role and the chief executive role”.

BHP has traditionally appointed chief executives from within its ranks but regularly benchmarks its leadership team against executives at rival companies and their capability and experience.

BHP CEO Mike Henry. Picture: Thomas Graham

Mr McEwan is due to take over the reins as chairman of the world’s biggest miner on March 31, less than 12 months after departing the banking sector.

His appointment was announced on the same day Fortescue revealed former HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn was joining its board as an independent director. Mr McEwan said he was committed to “generating long-term value for all our shareholders” and taking over from Mr MacKenzie with BHP in good shape.

“Under his leadership, the company is simpler, more agile and well positioned for the future,” he said.

“Ken will be remembered for his strategic decision-making, active institutional and retail shareholder engagement and outstanding capacity to see value, whether that’s in strategy, portfolio, operational excellence or capital allocation.”

Mr MacKenzie said he was bowing out after eight years as chairman and was proud of what had been achieved and that BHP was now “a simpler, more productive and more resilient company”.

Aside from the task of appointing Mr Henry’s successor, Mr McEwan will need to weigh up BHP’s growth options post last year’s complicated and unsuccessful $75bn takeover bid for Anglo American that has motivated by a hunger for more copper assets.

Analysts at Barclays have rated BHP the worst of seven major diversified miners in terms of growth prospects to the end of the decade, assuming it does not return with a takeover offer for Anglo.

Mr McEwan has been a member of the BHP for less than a year in keeping with a pattern at BHP. Mr MacKenzie was on the board for just nine months before being elected to replace Jac Nasser as chairman in 2017.

Mr McEwan was credited with helping restore NAB reputation in the wake following of the financial services royal commission and led the bank through the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Zealand-born McEwan began his career as an accountant at insurance company National Mutual and went on to run its successor AXA in New Zealand, before joining the Commonwealth Bank as group executive in charge of retail banking.

He was passed over for the top job at the CBA in 2011 in favour of fellow New Zealander Ian Narev before heading to Britain in the wake of the global financial crisis where he took on a massive job of cleaning up the Royal Bank of Scotland, which had to be bailed out by the government.

On the Fortescue front, Mr Quinn adds high finance firepower as the company weighs up big investments in green energy projects and decarbonising its iron ore mines.

Mr Quinn retired from HSBC last year after five years in the top job at one of the world’s biggest banks.

Outside executive chairman Andrew Forrest and Elizabeth Gaines, no other Fortescue director has experience leading a major company. The board has been perceived by critics as light on for finance expertise and independence. Mr Quinn was awarded a knighthood in the New Years Honours List for his services to financial services and reducing carbon emissions.

Originally published as Former NAB boss Ross McEwan takes reins as BHP chairman, focus switches to CEO succession