As part of its plan of board succession and strategic oversight, Sims Metal Management Limited has announced the following board initiatives.
Deputy Chairperson
Mr Geoff Brunsdon has been appointed deputy chairperson of the company effective September 1st 2011. Mr Brunsdon has served as a non executive director of the Company since November 2009 and was a member of the predecessor Board of Sims Group Limited from 1999 to 2007. He has a finance background and was formerly, until June 2009, Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking of Merrill Lynch International (Australia) Limited.
Director appointments
Ms Heather Ridout and Mr John T DiLacqua have agreed to join the Board of the Company as independent non executive directors effective September 1st 2011.
Ms Ridout is currently the CEO of Australian Industry Group, an employer group which along with its affiliates represents some 60,000 businesses across Australia who employ more than one million staff in a range of industries, including manufacturing, construction and engineering. Ms Ridout has been with the Ai Group for over 30 years, rising through the ranks of its predecessor, the Metal Trades Industry Association, to eventually become CEO in 2004. Sims Metal Management is a longstanding member and supporter of the Ai Group.
Ms Ridout has a number of appointments including Director of the AustralianSuper Trustee Board, the largest industry fund in Australia. She also serves on the Boards of Skills Australia, a Federal Government body established to shape Australia's strategy on skills development, and Infrastructure Australia, established by the Federal Government some four years ago to advise on Australia's infrastructure spending. She has an economics degree honors and resides in Sydney. Ms Ridout will also serve as a member of the company's Safety, Health, Environment & Community Committee.
Mr DiLacqua was formerly a director of Metal Management, Inc (since June 2001), and was a director of Sims Metal Management Limited from March to November 2008.
Mr DiLacqua was the Executive Chairman of Envirosource, Inc., a steel mill related services company, from May 2004 to December 2004 and had served as its President and Chief Executive Officer from January 1999 to May 2004. From October 1997 to December 1998, he served as President of the U.S. Ferrous Operations of Philip Metals, Inc., a scrap metal recycling division of a diversified public company and, prior to that, from May 1994, as the President of Luria Brothers, a large regional scrap processor and national scrap broker in the USA. He is a graduate of Temple University and received an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a certified public accountant, and resides in Florida. Mr DiLacqua will also serve as a member of the Company's Risk, Audit & Compliance Committee and Finance & Investment Committee.
Mr Paul Varello chairperson of Sims Metal Management Limited said that "I am very pleased that Mr Geoff Brunsdon has accepted his appointment as deputy chairperson of our company. Through his service on the Board he has earned the respect and support of his fellow directors. I am also delighted that two outstanding individuals have joined our Board. Ms Ridout, having dedicated most of her working life to the Ai Group, brings broad industry knowledge and important perspectives to our Board. Mr DiLacqua has substantial industry experience and his financial credentials will be very valuable to our Board. I am confident that both Heather and John will be outstanding directors. These appointments fulfill an important part of the Company's Board succession plans, with current non executive director Mr Bob Lewon retiring from the Board at the conclusion of the Company's 2011 Annual General Meeting in November."
