From Times OnlineJune 6, 2007BHP exec retires after missing top...

From Times OnlineJune 6, 2007

BHP exec retires after missing top job

A senior executive is leaving, days after the mining group chose a colleague to head the company.

One of Chip Goodyear's chief lieutenants at BHP Billiton is to retire from the mining group, only days after the Anglo-Australian group appointed a new chief executive above his head.

Chris Lynch, the head of BHP's carbon steel materials division, had been tipped as a possible successor to Mr Goodyear, who announced this year that he would step down at the end of September.

However, Mr Lynch was pipped to the post by Marius Kloppers, the BHP executive in charge of its non-ferrous metals business.

Mr Lynch, who joined the board in January 2006, was one of a band of senior executives in line for the top job, including Alex Vanselow, the chief financial officer, and Michael Yeager, the head of the group's energy business.

"My time with BHP and then BHP Billiton has been both professionally and personally rewarding and I am looking forward to new challenges. I wish the company great success in the years ahead," Mr Lynch said.

Don Argus, the chairman of BHP, said that Mr Lynch was a "world-class executive" and thanked him for his contribution.