Rio Tinto has appointed the former boss of Centrica and Shell’s financial head to its board
Rio Tinto today announced a series of major board appointments – including the former boss of Centrica Sam Laidlaw.
Laidlaw will join the global miner's board as a non-executive director with immediate effect along with former Sasol chief executive David Constable. Shell's chief financial officer Simon Henry will join the board from July.
Two Rio non-executive directors, Robert Brown and Anne Lauvergeon, will step down from the board in May.
Rio said the new directors will bring "considerable expertise in the resource sector and an international perspective", having had long careers in executive roles with multinational businesses.
Laidlaw, who was chief executive of Centrica for eight years until 2014, is chairman of oil and gas venture Neptune and a non-executive director of HSBC – although he previously said he will step down. Constable spent five years as president and chief executive of Sasol from 2011 and is a non-executive director of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and ABB.
Henry, who in December said he'd leave Shell, has worked as the Anglo-Dutch oil major's chief financial officer since 2009, but originally joined the company in 1982. He is also a non-executive director of Lloyds Banking.
Earlier this week, Rio Tinto announced a $500m (£400m) share buyback programme after full-year profits rose.
Rio's shares were up 2.26 per cent at 3,458.5p in morning trading.