Australia's South32 on Thursday announced the appointment of Stephen Pearce as the successor to Chair Karen Wood, who will retire from the board in February 2026.

Pearce has been serving as an independent non-executive director on the board since February 2025, and will work with CEO Graham Kerr until he steps down next year.

Wood had joined the board in 2017 as an independent non-executive director and provided strategic oversight of South32's portfolio transformation and approach to sustainability, the company said.

(Reporting by Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)