By James Atkinson
Jan du Plessis, chairman of resources giant Rio Tinto, has been appointed to the board of SABMiller, while the brewer’s local operation CUB has announced that chief marketing officer Peter (Pod) McLoughlin will step down from the role due to illness.
In a move that surprised analysts considering his existing workload, the SABMiller board announced Du Plessis would join as an independent non-executive director next month, eventually succeeding current chair John Manser in July 2015.
Aged 60, du Plessis became chairman of Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited in 2009, following his appointment as a director in 2008. He has been a non-executive director of Marks and Spencer Group plc since 2008 and senior independent director since March 2012.
He will stand down from the board of Marks and Spencer during the first half of 2015, before being appointed as Chairman of SABMiller.
Meanwhile, CUB has announced that chief marketing officer Peter (Pod) McLoughlin will depart the company next month due to health and personal reasons.
McLoughlin has been a long standing executive within the broader SABMiller business and has worked in several markets spanning South Africa, Latin America and obviously Australia.
“We of course support Pod’s decision and wish he and his family well and hope he has a speedy recovery,” said CUB chief operations officer Mike Walsh.
Richard Oppy will step into the day-to-day management of the marketing team, while the recruitment process for the chief marketing officer role is conducted.