LONDON: BHP Group Chief Executive Officer Mike Henry announced the appointment of David Lamont as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of BHP, effective 1 December 2020. As CFO, Mr Lamont will also join BHP’s Executive Leadership Team.

Mr Lamont has been the CFO of the ASX-listed global biotech company CSL Limited since January 2016. Prior to joining CSL, Mr Lamont was the CFO and an Executive Director at MMG from 2010. He previously served as CFO for several other multinational public companies across a range of industries, including OZ Minerals Limited, PaperlinX Limited and Incitec Pivot Limited.

Mr Lamont also held senior roles at BHP between 2001 and 2006, including CFO of the company’s Carbon Steel Materials and Energy Coal businesses. He began his career as an accountant at Deloitte.

Peter Beaven will continue as CFO until 30 November 2020 to provide ongoing leadership through to Mr Lamont’s commencement, and will support Mr Lamont with handover into early 2021, after which he will leave BHP.

Mr Henry said: “David has built a strong track record of financial management with publicly traded multinational organisations over many years. He will bring broad global experience across a diverse range of industries, including mining, deep financial knowledge and a clear focus on delivering strong results for the company and shareholders. I welcome David to BHP and look forward to him joining the team.”

“I want to thank Peter Beaven for both the significant contribution he has made to BHP and the support and friendship he has shown me over many years. His leadership, passion for continuous improvement and strategic approach have made BHP safer, more sustainable and more valuable.

“In his current role, Peter has developed and embedded our rigorous approach to capital allocation that instilled a strong culture of value and returns throughout the organisation. During his time as CFO, the company’s financial position significantly strengthened, our project portfolio became more value focused and our functions more efficient while shareholders benefited from record cash returns. Peter also spent ten years in major operational roles, including leading our copper business where he oversaw record throughput at Escondida and completion of several major projects that have set our Chilean operations up for sustained success.

“Having decided to pursue his own personal ambitions, Peter committed last financial year to support BHP through the transition from Andrew Mackenzie to a new CEO. His support has been invaluable to me as I have transitioned into the role. I thank him on behalf of employees across BHP, the leadership team, the Board and our shareholders.”

Mr Lamont said: “I am delighted to rejoin one of the best companies in the world. BHP has strong values and a robust financial position, making this an exciting opportunity to be part of a team that can generate returns to shareholders over the long term and make a positive difference to local communities and global markets. I look forward to working with Mike and the team.”

Mr Lamont holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree, is a qualified Chartered Accountant and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (Australia) and a Director of Financial Executives Institute of Australia.