Consultancy recommends Vale 15 candidates for CEO position, newspaper says

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – A consulting firm hired by Vale to help it with its CEO succession process has presented the Brazilian miner’s board of directors with 15 potential candidates, local newspaper O Globo reported on Tuesday.

Among those suggested by Russell Reynolds for Vale’s top job are the heads of big Brazilian firms, the report said, naming 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 in replacement of Eduardo Bartolomeo, whose term ends this year. He will support the transition until February 2025.

Russell Reynolds’ list, O Globo said, also included Pedro Parente, who 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 were those of Volkswagen (ETR:) America head Pablo Di Si, Anglo American (JO:)’s Ruben Fernandes, Equatorial’s Carlos Piani and Engie Brasil’s Mauricio Bahr, the report added.

Vale did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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.