Anglo American plc Annual General Meeting Address to shareholders by the Chairman and Chief Executive
22 April, 2010
At Anglo American plc's Annual General Meeting for shareholders in London today, Sir John Parker, Chairman, and Cynthia Carroll, Chief Executive, made the following remarks:
Sir John Parker, Chairman, Anglo American plc:
My primary role as your chairman is to manage the Board, while that of our chief executive Cynthia Carroll is to manage the company day by day. I believe it is the Board's job to set the drumbeat for the business by owning the strategy, empowering management to execute it, and holding them accountable for delivery. Thus, the Board needs to be fit for purpose, with the right range of skill sets to be capable of tackling any issue that comes through the boardroom door.
I had planned to introduce all the members of the Board. Unfortunately, the ill wind that has blown out of Iceland during the past week has had the effect of severely depleting the numbers of directors here today. We have no fewer than five absentees who despite their best efforts simply could not get to London: Sir CK Chow, Nicky Oppenheimer, Mamphela Ramphele, Jack Thompson and Peter Woicke.
Let me start by introducing the new faces who are being proposed for election at today’s AGM. Furthest to my right is Ray O'Rourke, who has spent a lifetime of achievement in large-scale, complex construction projects. Ray has just joined the Safety and Sustainable Development and the Audit Committees. Next to him is Sir Philip Hampton, who has a wealth of financial, strategic and boardroom experience. Philip is taking over the chairmanship of the Remuneration Committee from Sir Rob Margetts. The third new person, though absent today, is Jack Thompson, a lifelong successful mining executive. Jack recently joined the Remuneration Committee and is a member of the Safety and Sustainable Development Committee.
Next to Sir Philip is our senior independent director David Challen, who chairs the Audit Committee… followed by Nick Jordan our company secretary.
Moving to my left…. I don’t think Cynthia Carroll our chief executive and René Médori our finance director need any introduction.
We then have Chris Fay, who is stepping down after more than 10 years. Chris has chaired the Safety and Sustainability Committee of the Board throughout that period and has been a member of the Audit Committee for almost nine years. Chris will be succeeded as chairman of the Safety and Sustainable Development Committee by Peter Woicke.
On my far left is Sir Rob Margetts, who has been on the plc Board since its inception, is also stepping down. For the past decade, Rob has been an outstanding chairman of the Remuneration Committee.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Rob, Chris Fay and Fred Phaswana (who resigned in January to take up an appointment as chairman of Standard Bank in South Africa) for the valuable contributions they have made over the years to the success of Anglo American. I also sadly wish to pay tribute to Karel Van Miert, who passed away in June. He is greatly missed by his colleagues.
Finally, I would like to thank my predecessor, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart. He achieved so much in his nearly seven years as chairman to embed sustainability and sound corporate governance, both in our own business and in the global arena.
On behalf of the Board, I wish all of those Board members stepping down a long and active retirement. I also at this stage wish to thank all our employees and pay tribute to their dedication and their loyalty to Anglo American. I have been chairman now for just under nine months, but have already travelled extensively around the Group. I have been impressed not only by the quality of our assets, but also by the professionalism of Anglo American’s people. We have a top-class team, with an unparalleled record of innovation and leadership in exploration, in engineering, and in mining operations.