Biography
Jakob Stausholm
Chief Executive, Rio Tinto
Jakob joined Rio Tinto in September 2018 as Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer. He became Chief Executive in January 2021. As Chief Executive, Jakob has used his strategic commercial and governance expertise to oversee the implementation of Rio Tinto’s current strategy. He is committed to building trust with communities, governments and other stakeholders, improving operational performance, and decarbonisation.
Jakob has worked globally in senior finance for more than 20 years. From 2012 until 2018, he worked for A.P. Moller-Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company. He was Chief Strategy, Finance and Transformation Officer, first for Maersk Line and later the broader Maersk Group. In 2008, Jakob moved back to his native Denmark as Group CFO of the global facility service provider ISS. Before that, he spent 19 years working for Shell across Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
From 2009 to 2016, Jakob served as a non-executive director of Statoil (now Equinor), the last six years as Chairman of the Audit Committee. He served as a non-executive director of Woodside Petroleum between 2006 and 2008.
Jakob grew up in the city of Nyborg, Denmark, the son of a civil engineer and a teacher, He made his start in business working at Shell’s Danish head office while studying at the University of Copenhagen. Jakob is married with three children and splits his time between homes in Denmark, Mallorca, and London. An avid cyclist, Jakob’s favourite way to get to know a place while on business is through an early morning bike ride.
