Rio beefs up board with McKeon appointment
Global miner Rio Tinto has beefed up its board with the appointment of Simon McKeon.
Global miner Rio Tinto has topped up its Australian board contingent, with Simon McKeon appointed as a director two years after stepping down as chairman of troubled financial services giant AMP.
Mr McKeon will become the third Australian director on the board — alongside Megan Clark and Michael L’Estrange — after chief financial officer Chris Lynch retired in September.
The two Australian directors on the board prior to Mr McKeon’s election was the lightest domestic representation since 2009 when Rio realised it needed to strengthen its Australian credentials.
Rio has three female directors — Ms Clark, Ann Godbehere and Moya Greene — among its newly enlarged 12-member board.
Mr McKeon, who had a 30-year stint at Macquarie, was the first president of the Australian Takeovers Panel and now works as Monash University’s chancellor and as a director at Spotless Group.
Mr McKeon quit as AMP’s chairman in mid-2016, citing an unexplained change in his circumstances. Reports later emerged that Mr McKeon had fallen foul of a board review headed by Catherine Brenner, who subsequently succeeded him as chairman.
“I am delighted Simon has agreed to join the board and look forward to the strong contribution he will make in relation to a wide range of relevant topics,” Rio chairman Simon Thompson said.
“His extensive experience of the Australian business and political environment as well as civil society, will bring invaluable insight in relation to Australia, home to some of Rio Tinto’s key assets.”
Rio warned this week that climate change is the biggest threat to its business and says the sale of its coal operations has given the miner a point of difference with rivals.
After BHP chief Andrew Mackenzie earlier this month identified global warming as one of the top challenges facing the world — along with clean drinking water — Mr Thompson said climate warming posed a major challenge for the miner.
perry williams