De Beers Joint-CEO Brown Resigns
June 12, 11Brown was one of the company’s executives interested in the CEO appointment after Gareth Penny’s resignation last year.
Brown will stay on until July 31, during which time he will help Philippe Mellier settle into his new role as CEO.
Nicky Oppenheimer, Chairman of De Beers, said that over the past several years “Stuart has played a central role in reshaping De Beers and positioning it for the future. During the past three years in particular, Stuart has led a comprehensive restructure and a successful refinancing of the Group all while seeing the company through the most challenging financial crisis since WWII and helping it to post the best financial results we’ve seen in more than a decade.“
According to Brown, “I leave De Beers with fond memories and confidence that we have put the company on a trajectory for strong and sustained growth. After nearly 20 years with De Beers, and the last five as CFO, this is the right time for me to move on and find new challenges.”
Brown joined De Beers in 1992 at Premier (now Cullinan) mine as the Internal Auditor. Since then, he progressed through a series of positions in accounting, mining, diamond manufacturing, exploration and group finance in Johannesburg.
In 2004, Brown was appointed as CFO for DBCM, a position he held until his appointment as the Group CFO in 2006. In 2010, Brown was appointed acting joint CEO.