BHP shakes up leadership ahead of new era

According to Mining News Pro - BHP chief transformation officer Jonathan Price, who media reports said was a top contender for the chief executive position, will step down after 14 years with the company.

Price will oversee the transition of BHP’s transformation programs over the first half of 2020 before moving back to the United Kingdom with his family.

BHP chief technology officer Diane Jurgens is also set to leave the company in early 2020 for family reasons.

The miner has appointed vice president technology global transformation Rag Udd as acting chief technology officer, effective last week.

Mike Henry will take over from Andrew Mackenzie as chief executive officer of BHP on January 1.

BHP intends to transition its transformation office into individual assets and functions, which was aimed to accelerate change across the company.

Mackenzie said BHP was now able to transition the transformation work into its “permanent” home with the functions and assets.

“Transformation will now become a core accountability of every leader within BHP and will be accelerated through their delivery plans to realise the full value of this opportunity,” Mackenzie said.

Over the past 18 months, the transformation office has laid the foundations for BHP to accelerate performance through better safety, lower costs, greater reliability and higher returns.

Its key initiatives include the BHP operating system, value chain automation, centres of excellence.

“Jonathan’s departure will be a loss for BHP, but we respect his decision and wish him and his family every success for the future,” Mackenzie said.