Australia's biggest miner, BHP, has named Ken MacKenzie as its next chairman.
Mr MacKenzie, a respected former head of packaging company Amcor, will succeed outgoing chairman Jac Nasser on September 1.
The 53-year-old led Amcor as its chief executive officer and managing director for 10 years. He was with the packaging giant for 23 years and was viewed as highly focussed on capital disciple during his tenure as CEO.
In an announcement from BHP on Friday morning, Mr MacKenzie said it would be "an honour and a privilege to succeed Jac Nasser".
"Under his leadership, BHP has been transformed into a simpler, more productive and more resilient company," he said.
Mr MacKenzie also made clear his intention to meet with BHP "shareholders and other stakeholders" soon, in a move that appears to be a bid to quell criticism of the performance of BHP's board from the likes of activist investors Elliott Management.
Elliott has been outspoken in its attacks on the mining giant, calling for a major overhaul of the company, and this week saying it was "time for a change at BHP".
In a lengthy statement released on Wednesday Elliott said it was time for a board shake-up, blaming long-tenured directors for bad investments and ill-timed share buybacks.
Mr MacKenzie said he was looking "forward to engaging with shareholders and other stakeholders over the coming weeks to understand their perspectives. I am committed to the creation of long-term value for all of our shareholders and will work tirelessly with the board and management to achieve this."
Mr Nasser said he was honoured to have served as BHP's chairman and as a director,and thanked CEO Andrew Mackenzie and his team "for their vision and hard work to help deliver significant change over the past four years,."
Ken MacKenzie, a qualified engineer, joined the BHP board in September 2016, and is on the board's sustainability committee.
 Senior independent director Shriti Vadera, who led the succession process, said the board had chosen Mr MacKenzie as he had a "proven track record of delivering value for shareholders. He has the operational and financial capabilities as well as the rigour necessary to effectively oversee BHP's capital allocation framework."Â
Mr MacKenzie was raised in Canada, has a bachelor of engineering from McGill University, and speaks German and French. He commenced his career as a manufacturing strategy consultant with the consulting firm Accenture.
Challenging time
His appointment comes at a challenging time for the mining giant. In addition to the work of investors like Elliott Management, mining companies are very much under scrutiny from environmentalists and critics.
BHP has faced significant criticism in recent times after a burst dam at Samarco, its joint venture with fellow miner Vale in Chile, killed 19 people in 2015 and caused the country's worst ever environmental disaster.
Despite being the world's biggest miner, BHP has a history of appointing executives from outside the sector as chairs. Since 1984, only two out of six chairmen had mining backgrounds.
with Reuters
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