Former Westpac chief Kelly a surprise contender for BHP chair
Former Westpac MD Gail Kelly is a contender to take control of the BHP Billiton board.
Former Westpac managing director Gail Kelly has emerged as a surprise external contender to take control of the BHP Billiton board when chairman Jac Nasser steps down in coming months.
The South African-born Mrs Kelly, who retired from Westpac in early 2015, is a frontrunner with BHP board member Carolyn Hewson to replace Mr Nasser, London’s The Times newspaper reported, without citing sources.
Mr Nasser has said he will step down before BHP’s London board meeting, in October, meaning a successor is expected to be announced within the next few months. With Mrs Kelly in contention, the chances are growing that the world’s biggest mining company will be chaired by a woman for the first time.
The 60-year-old Mrs Kelly, who moved to Australia in 1997 and is an Australian citizen, was the first woman to lead an Australian bank when she got the top job at St George.
She sits on the board of South African retailer Woolworths Holdings, owner of David Jones and Country Road, and was last year appointed an adviser to UBS.
Mrs Kelly was unavailable for comment yesterday. BHP was tight-lipped on the chairman selection process.
“The succession process is ongoing,” a BHP Billiton spokeswoman said yesterday.
Even so, breaking male domination at the highest board level of the mining industry would be a strong signal from BHP, after it last year said it wanted half its 65,000 strong workforce to be female by 2025.
But it may be too early to rule out Lindsay Maxsted, who is on the BHP board and was Mrs Kelly’s chairman during her final years at Westpac.
Mr Maxsted last year declared he would not serve out his current term as Transurban chairman.
But chairing both BHP and one of the big banks at the same time is seen as unlikely, and it is questionable whether he would let go of his Westpac chairmanship this year, as the bank celebrates its 200th birthday.
London-based independent director Shriti Vadera is leading the selection process with the help of recruiter Heidrick & Struggles.
The job is considered one of the toughest in the industry. Mr Nasser’s replacement will have to handle the fallout from a Brazilian mine disaster that killed 19 people and devastated the surrounding area. A dam operated by Samarco, a company owned by BHP and its Brazilian rival Vale, unleashed a torrent of toxic waste when it failed in 2015.
The companies are facing civil claims and are trying to strike a settlement by the end of June.
When announcing his planned retirement last October, Mr Nasser said he had been planning to leave earlier but postponed his departure because of the disaster.
If Mrs Kelly is in contention, it will mean the three lead candidates to run the world’s biggest miner come from the banking and finance sector, as did BHP Billiton’s inaugural chairman (following the merger between BHP and South Africa’s Billiton), Mr Nasser’s predecessor Don Argus.
Still, Mrs Kelly’s limited mining or engineering experience is likely to come under scrutiny among investors.
However her strong dealings with Canberra, South African connections as well as experience with global investors would count in her favour.
Mrs Kelly was a Latin and history teacher before embarking on a career in finance. She started as a bank teller in her native South Africa.
She had her first child in 1986 and gave birth to triplets three years later, before emigrating in 1997 and becoming an Australian citizen. She ran Westpac from 2008 to 2015.
Ms Hewson, 61, worked in the finance industry for more than three decades, including stints at Schroders’ Australian arm and as a director of Westpac.
An internal contender with longer odds than Mr Maxsted is Orica chairman Malcolm Broomhead, a former chief of Orica and miner North Ltd.
The BHP search coincides with rival Rio Tinto also on the hunt for a new chairman after Jan du Plessis this month announced his intention to leave the mining giant. While there is no firm exit date for Mr du Plessis, there is no clear-cut contender for his replacement.
Rio’s senior independent director John Varley is leading the process to select a new chairman.
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