Wesfarmers has undergone a restructure of its industrial division, with David Baxby to step down as managing director.
Wesfarmers has undergone a restructure of its industrial division, with David Baxby to step down as managing director.
The industrial division includes the chemicals energy and fertilisers business and the industrial and safety section.
Mr Baxby has worked as industrials managing director since August 2017.
Due to Mr Baxby’s departure, Wesfarmers has restructured the division so that Wesfarmers chemicals energy and fertilisers chief executive Ian Hansen will report directly to Wesfarmers managing director Rob Scott.
Wesfarmers director of associate business and corporate projects Tim Bult has been appointed as managing director of industrial and safety.
Mr Bult has worked at Wesfarmers since 1999 and has held senior leadership roles including energy managing director and business development executive general manager.
He most recently led the demerger of Coles.
In a statement, Wesfarmers said the changes reflected the scale and opportunities of the chemicals energy and fertilisers division.
Mr Scott said Mr Baxby had made a significant contribution to the group.
“Over the last two and a half years, David has played a vital role in our industrial businesses, leading a diverse group of businesses,” he said.
“In addition to his leadership of the industrials division, David has also made a significant contribution to assessing adjacent investment opportunities to our industrial businesses as well as the development of the group’s digital capabilities.”
Mr Baxby said the past couple of years had been immensely challenging and enjoyable.
“I’m leaving Wesfarmers proud of our progress across WesCEF, Industrial and Safety and a number of digital and data initiatives,” he said.
“I would like to thank the dedicated and talented teams in each of the businesses that I have worked with over my time at Wesfarmers.”
The leadership changes are effective April 2020.
