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https://thewest.com.au/business/min...nt-positions-after-mass-exodus-ng-b882006903z
Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group scrambles to fill key management positions after mass exodus

Stuart McKinnonThe West Australian
Thu, 16 September 2021 2:00PM
Stuart McKinnon


Fortescue Metals chairman Andrew Forrest, with CEO Elizabeth Gaines, right, and deputy CEO Julie Shuttleworth.Credit: Nic Ellis/The West Australian

Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group is scrambling to fill a raft of key management positions after a mass exodus of senior staff.

The iron ore giant’s chief executive Elizabeth Gaines revealed in an internal memo obtained by The West Australian that Pilbara operations director Fernando Pereira had resigned to pursue other opportunities.

His departure follows the recent resignation of health and safety director Rob Watson after 10 years.
Ms Gaines — in a statement after The West contacted the company about the departures — thanked both men for their “outstanding contributions to Fortescue”.
“They leave with our best wishes for the future, and the search process for replacement of their roles is progressing,” she said.

The two high-profile exits follow last month’s resignation of Tim Langmead, Fortescue’s community, environment and government director.

The company also had three key staff depart in February — chief operating officer Greg Lilleyman as well as project directors Don Hyma and Manie McDonald — following a $US400 million ($516 million) cost blowout on its Iron Bridge magnetite project.

The resignations of Mr Pereira and Mr Watson come after Fortescue last month unveiled a 117 per cent jump in annual profit to a record $US10.3 billion.


Fortescue Metals Group CEO Elizabeth Gaines. Credit: Jackson Flindell/The West Australian

The stunning results included a record $2.11-a-share final dividend, which will deliver the company’s billionaire founder and chairman Mr Forrest a payout of $2.35 billion later this month.

Having posted the windfall profit, Fortescue’s board intervened to ensure senior executives didn’t bank “excessive” bonuses because of the iron ore miner’s recent share price surge.

The company disclosed in its annual report last month it had capped share rewards flowing from a 2019 executive bonus scheme to balance “rewarding management effort and the tailwinds driving up iron ore prices”.

The performance-linked scheme would have allowed about 30 eligible executives pocket millions of dollars in profit on the vesting of shares that were issued at just $4.35 in 2019 but were worth more than $23 when the bonus plan matured at the end of the financial year.
Instead, just 28 per cent of the shares will vest with the executives after Fortescue capped the scheme by ruling they could benefit from only half of the price rise to prevent them receiving “a windfall gain as a result of unprecedented growth in Fortescue’s share price”.

Sources told The West Australian yesterday the board’s decision had embittered some mid-level executives, who had been expecting to be rewarded more handsomely after the record year.

The head of the company’s remuneration committee, Jen Morris, said in the annual report the board was “cognisant of the company and shareholder views on executive pay and the circumstances where executives may benefit from windfall gains in vesting”.

“The intent of the long-term incentive plan is to ensure no windfall gains or undue penalty,” she said.
“In reviewing these exceptional outcomes under the financial year LTIP, the board determined that strong share price growth has been driven, in part, by strong iron ore prices which are outside the control of management.”