O’Neill newest BCA board member

Business Council of Australia has announced Woodside Energy chief executive Meg O'Neill as the newest addition to its board, joining Wesfarmers managing director and chief Rob Scott.

Ms O'Neill started at Woodside in May 2018 as chief operations officer before elevating through several executive positions to eventually be appointed as chief executive and managing director in August 2021.

BCA president Geoff Culbert said Ms O'Neill's experience leading one of Australia’s largest energy companies would be highly valuable on the board.

“Meg O'Neill is a thought leader and a strong advocate for Australia’s long-term economic growth and energy security,” Mr Culbert said.

“She will make an important contribution to our Board as the BCA continues its engagement with community, businesses and policymakers to support our country’s future prosperity.”

Ms O'Neill said she was pleased to join BCA, which she described as “Australia’s pre-eminent business advocacy organisation”.

“I look forward to working with such a distinguished group of executives to help shape the national conversation about what is required to enable Australian businesses to thrive,” she said.

Other BCA board members include Rio Tinto Australia chief executive Kellie Parker, Dow Australia & New Zealand managing director Karen Dobson, Google Australia & New Zealand managing director Melanie Silva, Gilbert & Tobin co-founder and chairman Danny Gilbert, Commonwealth Bank chief executive and managing director Matt Comyn, BCA chief executive Bran Black and president Mr Culbert.

Before joining Woodside, Ms O'Neill was vice president of Africa with ExxonMobil Development, vice president of Asia Pacific for ExxonMobil Production, managing director of ExxonMobil and Esso in Norway, and president of ExxonMobil Canada.

Last month, Woodside inked an early-stage deal to supply liquid hydrogen from its proposed facilities, including H2Perth, to a Singaporean company to power its data centres.

This came after Ms O'Neill said offtake interest in its planned hydrogen projects had been slower than expected across the board, speaking earlier this year.