Gold Fields hires Amplat-fame Cris Griffith as CEO
JOHANNESBURG – Gold Fields named former Anglo American Platinum Ltd. boss Chris Griffith as its new chief executive officer with effect from 1 April 2021.
Mr Griffith will succeed Mr Nick Holland, who will retire on 31 March 2021, after 13 years as CEO of the Company. Mr. Holland has agreed to retire six months earlier than required to facilitate the leadership transition.
Mr. Griffith served as the Chief Executive Officer of Anglo American Platinum between September 2012 and April 2020. He was previously CEO of Kumba Iron Ore from 2008 to 2012, and prior to that he served as Anglo American Platinum’s head of operations for joint ventures.
He has a B.Eng (Mining) Honours from the University of Pretoria and has completed various leadership development programmes at the University of South Africa and through Anglo American.
Gold Fields’ Chair, Cheryl Carolus, welcomed Mr. Griffith on behalf of the Board: “We are delighted that an experienced executive of Chris’s calibre will join Gold Fields. He has deep-rooted operational mining experience and an impressive track record of delivering safe operational performance and leading effective change.”
The Board paid tribute to Mr. Holland’s leadership at Gold Fields, which he joined as CFO at the formation of the Company in 1998 and led as CEO ten years later.
“Nick has defined Gold Fields as it is today: a global, highly profitable and sustainable company, which is widely considered a leader in its field.
In 2008, two-thirds of our production came from South Africa; in 2020approximately 90% emanated from outside of South Africa with all our mines highly mechanised and increasingly automated,” Ms Carolus said.
