Consultancy recommends Vale 15 candidates for CEO position

A consulting firm hired by Brazilian mining company Vale to help with its chief executive succession process has presented its board of directors with 15 potential candidates, local newspaper O Globo reported on Tuesday.

Among those suggested by the Russell Reynolds consultancy for Vale’s top job are the heads of large Brazilian firms, including Embraer’s Francisco Gomes Neto, Gerdau’s Gustavo Werneck and Klabin’s Cristiano Teixeira.

Vale, one of the world’s largest iron ore miners, expects to announce by early December its new chief executive to replace Eduardo Bartolomeo, whose term ends this year.

In a securities filing on Tuesday evening, Vale said Russell Reynolds’ advice regarding its chief executive succession plans are ongoing. The filing added the miner’s board of directors has not yet decided on a list of candidates for the role.

Russell Reynolds’ list also includes Pedro Parente, according to the O Globo report. Parente led Brazil’s state-run oil giant Petrobras from 2016 to 2018 and served as former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s chief of staff.

Other names listed in the newspaper report were Volkswagen America head Pablo Di Si, Anglo American’s Ruben Fernandes, Equatorial’s Carlos Piani and Engie Brasil’s Mauricio Bahr.

Last week, Vale pledged to “proceed swiftly” to replace two independent board members who resigned in the last few months, one of them citing allegations of political influence in the CEO succession plan.

(By Luana Maria Benedito and Andre Romani; Editing by Gabriel Araujo, Josie Kao and Chris Reese)