South32 chair Karen Wood retires with former Fortescue chief financial officer Stephen Pearce to take her job

South32’s long-serving chair Karen Wood will step down amid the miner’s leadership refresh, with Fortescue’s former chief financial officer Stephen Pearce set to take her seat on the board. Ms Wood, who has been S32’s chair for more than six years, is set to finish up in the role at the end of February next year. Her future replacement was most notably Fortescue’s top beancounter between 2010 and 2017. Mr Pearce joined S32 as a non-executive director in February and currently holds other board roles with petrol giant Ampol and the UK-based BAE Systems — Europe’s largest defence contractor. The chair succession comes as S32 also replaces its inaugural CEO — Graham Kerr. S32 in May announced that Mr Kerr will depart by the end of 2026. Anglo American technical and operational director Matthew Daley will join the Perth-based mixed metals miner on February 2 next year as its deputy chief executive and then ease into the top job. Mr Daley was Anglo’s group head of mining while Mr Pearce was the finance director of Anglo. Ms Wood told The West Australian that S32 took considerable time planning its leadership succession given how “very complex” the business is. “We have operations that span from underground mining to refining and smelting right around the world with a very diverse commodity set,” she said. “And so there’s a lot for somebody who’s going to take over a complex company of this kind to get his head around . . . and there’s some pretty critical stakeholder relationships, particularly at the government level, to manage.” Ms Wood joined the S32 board in late 2017 as a non-executive director before she ascended to the chair position in April 2019. She has a legal background and made her bones in the mining industry after joining BHP as its company secretary in 2001. Over the next 14 years at the Big Australian, Ms Wood held multiple senior roles, including chief governance officer, chief people officer and being a special adviser to the company’s board and chief executive. She has been a member of the Takeovers Panel and held roles with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. In June this year, Ms Wood was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for significant services to the mining sector and community more broadly. Ms Wood was asked if she was eyeing other board roles in the future. “When people ask me that question I say I turn 70 next February, so that probably gives you the answer.” Mr Pearce said he was “tremendously honoured” to start his first chairmanship of an ASX-listed company soon and told S32 investors he does not intend to rock the boat. “Don’t look for any big surprises on the strategy front,” he said. “It’s really about delivering safely from our existing portfolio of assets.”