PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Iron-ore major Fortescue Metals on Wednesday announced a swathe of changes to its leadership structure, which will see founder Dr Andrew Forrest retake leadership once current CEO Elizabeth Gaines steps aside in August.

Forrest will specifically be overseeing Fortescue’s iron-ore business, in his role as executive chairperson for the Fortescue Group, and will drive the company’s mission to become ‘green’ by 2030, ensuring the first-mover advantage created over the past several years is fully realised.

Additionally, Fortescue has announced the appointment of former president and CEO of General Electric in Europe, Dr Mark Hutchinson, to the Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) team in early July.

Hutchinson will initially be appointed to the role of director of projects, before assuming the role of CEO of FFI by the end of 2022.

Hutchinson said joining FFI was the opportunity of his lifetime, both to make a difference for humanity, while also bringing great value to Fortescue shareholders.

“We must urgently reduce emissions now and at scale. No longer should the world be dependent on heavily polluting fossil fuels. The green industrial revolution is well underway globally and Fortescue is leading it. As a result of this revolution, we will see an explosion in manufacturing and green energy jobs worldwide with great benefits for local communities.

“Delivering FFI’s global portfolio of green projects to meet our customer demands will be my primary focus, whilst leading this incredible global team of talented people driving forward change through hard work and determination.”

FFI current CEO Julie Shuttleworth will continue in her role during the transition process and will then move to a senior executive leadership role at FFI.

“It is exciting that we have built such an incredible company from the ground up, to enable someone of Mark’s calibre to join the team to lead FFI in the next stage of its growth,” Shuttleworth said.

“The whole team at FFI are doing amazing work and I am proud of all we are achieving. Together we are deeply and personally committed to FFI and the changes we are bringing to the industry.”

Andrew Vesey, former CEO of AGL Energy, will also be appointed to FFI as head of energy transition projects. He was previously president and CEO of Pacific Gas and Electric, and was co-founder and senior adviser of Earthrise, and CEO and MD of AGL Energy, as well as CEO and executive VP of AES Corporation.

Dr Jalal Bagherli will be appointed as co-chairperson of Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE), along with Mark Barnaba, the deputy chairperson of Fortescue. Fortescue acquired WAE in March this year, and the company is expected to play a critical role in decarbonising Fortescue’s iron-ore operations.

Bagherli was formerly CEO of Dialog Semiconductor, a specialist chip company in mixed signal connectivity and power management products, and was also previously CEO of start-up Alphamosaic. He spent six years with Sony Europe, and was VP in change of the semi-conductor products operations in Europe.

Furthermore, Christiaan Heyning has been appointed as head of decarbonisation, and joins FFI from McKinsey, where he was the founding partner of the Perth business.

Fortescue in March announced the appointment of Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor Dr Guy Debelle as CFO of FFI, starting in June this year

Meanwhile, Fortescue also announced the appointment of Li Yifei to the company’s board of directors. She is currently on the board of BlackRock China and is a global trustee of the Rockerfeller Foundation. She was also country chair for hedge fund manager Man Group in China.

Forrest on Wednesday told shareholders that the appointments were a further progression of Fortescue’s transition to a global, green renewable and resource company.

“This growth and value to shareholders is already evident with our shareholder base doubling since FFI was launched, our investors ranging from top tier institutional banks to grassroots investors, all wanting to be part of this mission, as we continue to strongly outperform our peers in the iron-ore sector.

“We are doing the hard work to genuinely decarbonise Fortescue, avoiding the temptation we see all around us to greenwash. I want to specifically congratulate Rio Tinto and BHP for their efforts in their own inevitable decarbonisation journey. For those remaining in the private and public mining and energy sector who ignore the world’s need to change, you do so at your ignorance and peril.”