Wood to chair South32

South32 has elected Karen Wood as the next chair of its board of directors, replacing current chairman David Crawford, who will retire on April 12.

Ms Wood joined the South32 board as a non-executive director in November 2017.

Prior to this appointment she had served in several roles on BHP Group's executive team from 2001 to 2014, including as president of people and public affairs.

Ms Wood also currently serves as a non-executive director of Djerriwarrh Investments and the Robert Salzer Foundation.

She graduated from Monash University with a bachelor of laws (hons).

Mr Crawford has been chairman of South32 since it was spun-off from BHP in 2015.

He said he was delighted that Ms Wood was elected as his successor.

“Karen has a wealth of industry knowledge, a deep understanding of the business and is an excellent choice for the role,” Mr Crawford said.

Last month, South32 announced corporate affairs and investor relations executive Katie Tovich would replace Brendan Harris as chief financial officer, who would take over the chief marketing officer role from Peter Finnimore.