BHP chief Andrew Mackenzie in game for long haul
BHP chief Andrew Mackenzie has played down talk of his leaving, saying he still has ‘unfinished business’ at the mining giant.
Andrew Mackenzie’s tenure in the top BHP job looks set to run a while longer, if the company’s annual shareholder meeting is any guide.
If last month’s investor survey by UBS — showing succession planning as the second-top investor concern, after the iron ore price — is accurate, there was little sign of it at the AGM, with the issue rating nary a mention in the three hour, 50 minute marathon.
And BHP chairman Ken MacKenzie hardly seemed to be feeling the pinch on the issue either, cheerfully telling a reporter “I hope so” when asked whether he expected to be sitting next to the other Mr Mackenzie at BHP’s 2020 AGM.
Reporters were again assured that the BHP board knew its most important job was planning for the succession of the CEO, and it has been an ongoing process since Mr MacKenzie took on the BHP chairmanship two years ago.
And as for Mr Mackenzie? After initially waving off the same question as a matter for the board, the BHP chief executive admitted he believed he still had unfinished business at the global mining giant.
“The company is going well at the moment, and we (are) just working through a lot of issues to do with our transformation. And that was initially something that I took strong charge of and I think it’s got a lot to give, so there’s a lot for me still to do,” he said.
Still, there remains a strong sense that something is going on within the top ranks of BHP’s management.
Mr MacKenzie told reporters at the company’s London AGM the board had identified the profile of the person they would like to replace Mr Mackenzie, and were “benchmarking all the internal candidates against that profile, identifying gaps, putting in place development programs, and then working with our internals around closing the gaps”.
Over the past few months the company has been at pains to send out a suite of its rising executive stars into the public gaze, giving a more public profile to senior staff such as group procurement manager Sundeep Singh, coal boss James Palmer and, most recently, chief transformation officer Jonathan Price, who starred for BHP under difficult circumstances at last week’s protest-marred IMARC conference in Melbourne.
That usually begins if an executive shake-up is looming — but it could also be a part of that board-led effort to benchmark the media and public speaking skills of next generation of leadership candidates — or polish up those skills in a live environment.