Sam Walsh (businessman)
Sam Walsh AO (born 27 December 1949) is an Australian businessman who was elected to the Mitsui & Co board as a non-executive Director on 21 June 2017. Prior to this he was chief executive officer (CEO) of London-based mining company Rio Tinto Group, from 2013 to 2016. Prior to becoming CEO of Rio Tinto, Walsh served as Rio Tinto chief of the Iron Ore group, and of Rio Tinto Australia. Based in the Australian city of Perth, he oversaw company's mining operations and expansions in Pilbara, Western Australia. Early life Sam Walsh was born 1949 and he grew up in the Melbourne seaside suburb of Brighton. He was one of five children. As a boy he actively engaged in weekly church going, scouting, and learning to play the piano and the trumpet. When Walsh was 15, his father was ill and after a series of operations his father died suddenly of a heart attack. Walsh described the death of his father as a time when everything changed. "My mother had never even written a cheque, she had never looked after the bills and that was a role I stepped into. I was managing the home finances and being the leader of the family, which continued on. You lose a lot. You lose the father figure, the advice and counsel. There's something lost that you don't get back. But if I look back, it did throw me in the deep end early and I swam and swam well." Walsh attended Brighton Grammar School and Taylor's College in Melbourne. He graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Melbourne University, and he completed a Fellowship Program at Kettering University in Michigan. He became a Fellow of Australian Institute of Management, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management, Australian Institute of Company Directors, The Institute of Directors (UK) and Australian Academy of Technical Sciences and Engineering. After graduating in commerce from Melbourne University, Walsh began his career as a trainee buyer at General Motors. During the next 20 years in the automotive industry, he was promoted to and held senior positions at General Motors and at Nissan Australia. Mining Walsh joined Rio Tinto in 1991. He subsequently held a number of management positions within Rio Tinto, including chief executive of the Aluminium group 2001-2004, and chief executive of the Iron Ore group 2004-2013. His responsibilities covered operations and projects in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Guinea and India, as well as Dampier Salt and Rio Tinto Marine. During 2004-2009, he oversaw the rapid expansion of the Iron Ore group. More than US$20 billion was spent on mine expansions and major infrastructure developments with net earnings exceeding US$9 billion. Meanwhile, in 2005 Walsh was appointed a director of the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and he was appointed a director of Seven West Media in 2008. The following year he was appointed a director of Rio Tinto. Residing in Perth, Walsh actively supported the arts in Western Australia.