The CEO of mining giant Rio Tinto is forced out following the destruction of an ancient archeological site – By Thomas Biesheuvel, David Stringer and Bloomberg (Fortune) Sept 11 2020
Rio Tinto Group Chief Executive Officer Jean-Sebastien Jacques will step down amid an investor backlash over the destruction of ancient Aboriginal heritage sites in Australia.
The change comes only weeks after Chairman Simon Thompson said Jacques had the board’s backing to handle the fallout from the company’s destruction of the ancient sites. Chris Salisbury, iron ore unit CEO, and Simone Niven, group executive of corporate relations, will also exit. Jacques will remain in his role until the end of March next year, or a successor is appointed, Rio said Friday in a statement.
Talks with about 75 investors and Indigenous community leaders in the past few weeks made clear that many were unsatisfied with penalties delivered by a board-led inquiry that found no single individual was at fault for the blasts and reprimanded the three senior executives by trimming bonus payments, Thompson said in a phone interview.
“It became clear that this issue of individual accountability was just an obstacle to rebuilding trust,” Thompson said. “If these three individuals do not have the confidence of critical stakeholders to lead the required changes then we have got to move on.”
Continue to article: https://fortune.com/2020/09/11/rio-tinto-ceo-ouster-australia-aboriginal-heritage/
