AMMA President

Eve Howell
Executive Vice President, Northwest Shelf, Woodside Energy Ltd

Prior to joining Woodside in 2006, Eve was Managing Director of Apache Energy, the Australian subsidiary of Apache Corporation. Eve began her industry career in England with Amoco Europe and Exploration Consultants Ltd. She moved to Australia in 1981 and has held senior positions with Occidental Petroleum, Bond Petroleum, Hadson Energy and Apache. Eve has a bachelor's degree with honours in geology and mathematics from Kings College, University of London, and a masters in business administration from Heriot Watt University at the Edinburgh Business School. At Woodside as Executive Vice President, North West Shelf she has responsibility for leading the development and operations of the North West Shelf Venture to maximize production and revenue generation and also identify long-term opportunities for adding value to the reserves and assets associated with the North West Shelf hub.

AMMA Vice-Presidents

Ian Smith
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Newcrest Mining Limited

Prior to joining Newcrest, Ian was Global Head of Operational and Technical Excellence of Rio Tinto plc, based in London and previous to that was Managing Director – Aluminium Smelting within the Rio Tinto Group. Altogether he has over 30 years experience in the global mining industry with CRA Limited, Pasminco Limited, WMC Resources Limited and Rio Tinto.

Ian is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Chairman of the Minerals Council of Australia.

Peter Johnston
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Minara Resources Limited

Peter Johnston joined Minara Resources Limited in December 2001 as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Founded in 1994, Minara Resources owns and operates the Murrin Murrin nickel cobalt joint venture project near Leonora in Western Australia’s historic northern goldfields region. Prior to his current role, Peter held senior executive positions with WMC Resources Ltd and Alcoa of Australia Limited. Peter is a graduate from the University of Western Australia. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Peter is currently the Chairman of the Nickel Institute and is on the Board of Directors of the Minerals Council of Australia. He is on the Executive Council of The Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA. He is also on the Board of Directors of Emeco Holdings Ltd and Silver Lake Resources Limited.

Directors

Ian Ashby
President Iron Ore, BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pty Limited

Ian Ashby was appointed as President Iron Ore in December 2006 and has global responsibility for the Iron Ore CSG. Ian started his career with BHP in 1987 working for the BHP Gold division in Kalgoorlie before moving to BHP Iron Ore’s Newman operations in 1991. In 1994 Ian transferred to Chile where he worked until 1999 developing and operating the Escondida Oxide Project. From 2000, until the merger between BHP and Billiton, he held responsibility for BHP Minerals’ development projects based in Melbourne. Post merger, between 2001 and 2004, Ian spent time in both Chile and Houston working for the Base Metals Group where he held the positions of Project Director – Phase 4 Expansion Project, Vice President Joint Ventures and Chief Operating Officer.  He was appointed to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer – Western Australia Iron Ore in December 2004. Ian has a Bachelor Mining Engineering from Melbourne University, is a Vice President of the Chamber of Minerals & Energy of Western Australia and a Member of AusIMM. 

Steve Hodgson
President and CEO Bauxite and Alumina, Rio Tinto Alcan Limited

Steve Hodgson is the president and chief executive officer of Rio Tinto Alcan’s Bauxite & Alumina business unit based in Brisbane. Rio Tinto Alcan’s Bauxite and Alumina business unit operates and/or owns five bauxite mines and six smelter grade alumina refineries in Australia, Canada, France, Brazil, Guinea and Ghana. The business also produces speciality alumina from a number of facilities for a variety of industrial and consumer product applications. An engineer by profession, Steve joined Rio Tinto in 1988 as a developmental engineer at New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS). Steve’s initial career with Rio Tinto was predominantly in the aluminium business with management roles in Metal Products and International Sales and Marketing. In 2002 Steve joined RUSAL in Moscow where he progressed from managing director of Sales and Marketing to managing director of the Alumina Business Unit, before returning to Rio Tinto in 2006 to be managing director Rio Tinto Diamonds in Belgium. Steve has a Bachelor of Engineering, First Class Honours, Chemical Engineering from the University of Auckland. Steve is also a director of Rio Tinto Alcan and President of the Australian Aluminium Council.

Neil Barrett
Chief Executive Officer, Australia and New Zealand, Sodexo Australia Pty Ltd

 Neil Barrett was appointed Chief Executive Officer for Sodexo Australia and New Zealand in January 2003.

Neil joined Sodexo in September 1999, twelve months prior to the Sydney Olympic Games, as General Manager gM2000; the company that provided the "best ever" hospitality services to the Corporate Sponsors of the Games. Sodexho Australia was responsible for the provision of all hospitality services at Telstra Stadium with major events such as the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the Rugby World Cup 2003. Prior to joining Sodexo Neil worked with Great Southern Railway, a privately owned company operating Australia’s major interstate passenger rail services. He has also held senior positions in the manufacturing, security, and shipping industries.

Seamus French
Chief Executive Officer, Anglo Coal Australia Pty Ltd

Seamus French joined Anglo Coal Australia (ACA) as the Chief Executive Officer in November 2007. Born and educated in Ireland, Seamus gained a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) before working in Germany for seven years. Since 1993, Seamus has worked in various senior management and operational positions with Western Mining Corporation (WMC) and BHP Billiton. He has extensive mining experience in a range of commodities including: coal, nickel, gold, copper and uranium. Prior to commencing with ACA, Seamus was Vice President Business Excellence of BHP Billiton. He has also held various positions with WMC including: Executive General Manager Copper-Uranium Business Unit, General Manager Operations Nickel Business Unit, General Manager Kwinana Nickel Refinery, General Manager St Ives Gold Mine.

Andrew King
Managing Director, P&O Maritime Services Pty Ltd

Andrew King joined P&O in London in 2001, as part of the Corporate Development team, heading that team in 2003. In mid-2004, Andrew returned to Australia to join the Board of P&O Maritime Services and took over as Managing Director on 1st January 2005 on Ross Brewer’s retirement. Andrew has a law degree from Canterbury University and a postgraduate diploma majoring in Finance from Auckland University. Prior to joining P&O he held several legal and development positions in international blue chip manufacturing companies, Rothmans International PLC and Carter Holt Harvey Ltd and has extensive new market and project development experience in Eastern Europe, North East and Southeast Asia and Australasia.

Kim Horne
Executive Director People, Environment and Corporate Affairs,  Alcoa of Australia Limited

Kim Horne is Executive Director People, Environment and Corporate Affairs for Alcoa of Australia. Kim commenced his career with Alcoa World Alumina Australia in January 1974 when he commenced working at the Jarrahdale Mine in the Survey department. Through the early 1980’s Kim progressed to fill various staff positions in the Production department at Jarrahdale. In 1986-1987, Kim successfully lead the AWU Job Redesign project that created a new Skill Base Pay and Training System for all of Alcoa’s mines. From 1987 to 1993, Kim was the Production/Planning Manager for the Huntly Mine. While in this role, Kim was involved with the successful closure of the Del Park Mine and relocation of people and infrastructure to the larger amalgamated Huntly Mine. From 1993 to 1995 Kim was the Mine Manager of the Willowdale Mine and from 1995 to 1997 he was Mine Manager of the Jarrahdale Mine. From 1997 to 2000 Kim was appointed to the position of Mine Manager of the Huntly Mine. While in this role, Kim also successfully headed the closure of the Jarrahdale Mine. In 2000 Kim was appointed to the position of Manager of Mines for WA Operations and in this capacity looked after the operation of the Huntly and Willowdale mines, the Marrinup nursery and the closure and rehabilitation of the Hedges gold mine.

From May 2005 to mid 2006, Kim was Refinery Manager at Alcoa World Alumina Australia’s Pinjarra Refinery.

Ulysses Yiannis
HR Manager Australia/ New Zealand/ Pacific Islands, Esso Australia Pty Ltd and Mobil Oil Australia Pty Ltd

Ulysses joined Mobil Oil Australia in 1990 as an IR Graduate, before moving

to Mobil's Adelaide Refinery as the Senior HR Advisor later that year. In 1992 he was appointed to the position of Corporate IR Advisor based in Melbourne, and in 1994 he became HR Manager at Mobil's Altona Refinery. In 1998 he was appointed HR Manager of Mobil/BPs Lubricant Joint Venture company in the UK, and in 1998 he became European HR Advisor for the JV. Following the merger of Exxon and Mobil in 1999 he was appointed HR Manager of ExxonMobil's Downstream businesses in Africa and was based in Brussels. In 2002 he was appointed HR Manager of ExxonMobil's businesses in Australia, NZ and the Pacific Islands. In 2005 he commenced  an HR  assignment at ExxonMobil's Corporate HQs in Dallas, returning to Australia in mid-2007 to his current role.