Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA president and Woodside operations executive vice president Fiona Hick.Credit:Peter de Kruijff
The appointment of Hick after a year-long global search to one of the biggest roles in corporate Australia comes after some high-profile executive departures within Forrest’s business empire. Former Reserve Bank deputy governor Guy Debelle last week stepped down as chief financial officer of Fortescue Future Industries,the company’s green hydrogen offshoot. Meanwhile,former NAB executive Andrew Haggerrecently departed as CEO of Forrest’s philanthropy arm Minderoo and private investment vehicle Tattarang.
The recent executive turnoverhas raised eyebrows within the investment community. But Forrest said he was proud of the culture within Fortescue.
“We have a really,really strong leadership team and have the lowest turnover across all the majors. I really pride myself on running the organisation through values and not command and control,” Forrest said.
“We are entering into a massive transition (so) we are going to get a whole heap of people who were thinking about retiring in the next one to five years,thinking this transition is now hectic and it’s a good time to step away - and they do so”.
“You cannot run at the pace we do without very serious empowerment,without very serious trust.
I will admit to you one of 20 let you down. 19 out of 20 love the trust - they love the empowerment”.
Over two decades,Hick served in a range of senior roles at Woodside,most recently as its executive vice-president for operations. She has also served as president of WA’s Chamber of Minerals and Energy. Hick described the appointment as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.