Elizabeth Gaines will stand down as the head of Australia's third largest iron ore miner, Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), as the company moves to reinvent itself as a vertically integrated green energy and resources group.
Ms Gaines took over as chief executive officer in 2018.
She'll remain with the company as a non-executive director on the FMG board and as Fortescue's global green hydrogen ambassador.
"I am delighted that the chairman, Andrew Forrest AO, has invited me to remain on the board," Ms Gaines said.
"The opportunity to continue to contribute to Fortescue and serve our shareholders is a unique privilege and I look forward to building on my nine years with Fortescue which, since 2013, has seen me serve as a non-executive director, chief financial officer and CEO."
Mr Forrest paid tribute to Ms Gaines when announcing the company's transition.
"We are grateful that she has accepted the critical role of ensuring the world understands that green hydrogen, green ammonia, green energy and all its products, are combined, the only practical implementable solution to global warming that can be delivered on a commercial, highly sustainable basis," he said.
"Elizabeth's depth of character, leadership, global integrity and respect is appreciated by Fortescue's executives and fellow directors," Mr Forrest added.
New green era
FMG is moving away from being a pure play iron ore miner, to being a green energy provider.
Its Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) business has seen Mr Forrest and FFI chief executive Julie Shuttleworth travel the world and Australia promoting its plans to help move the world to green hydrogen power.
"FFI is making enormous progress and will support the decarbonisation of Fortescue through the innovation and technological development of a green fleet and the supply of green energy," Mr Forrest said.
FMG is committed to achieving carbon neutrality on its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.
It wants its scope 3 emissions, those of its customers, to reach net zero by 2040.
It plans to help them get there by developing technologies through FFI.
Trailblazer female CEO
Ms Gaines recently joined the board of the West Coast Eagles — which fuelled speculation about her departure from FMG.
She originally joined FMG as a board member in 2013, before taking on the chief financial officer role in 2017 and became chief executive officer in 2018.
Prior to joining FMG, Ms Gaines was the chief executive officer of Helloworld and before that, chief executive of prominent Perth family business Heytesbury, established by Robert Holmes à Court, Australia's first billionaire.
She's built her career on "saying yes more than saying no".
A global search for a new chief executive officer for FMG is now underway.
