Rio Tinto gains three women directors after negative remarks over gender gap

Rio Tinto has hired three female directors, after being mocked for having more board members named Simon than women, writes Ed Clowes.

The mining titan appointed Hinda Gharbi, an executive vice president of oil services giant Schlumberger, and Jennifer Nason, a global chairman at JP Morgan, who will both join next month as non-executive directors.

Ngaire Woods, a professor of global economic governance at Oxford University, will start as a nonexecutive on Sept 1. It brings the total number of women on the mining titan’s board to four – compared with three Simons, including chairman Simon Thompson. The trio will join Megan Clark, the former Australian Space Agency head, who was the only woman left after former Royal Mail boss Moya Greene departed last year.

Mr Thompson said: “I am delighted to welcome Hinda, Jennifer and Ngaire and look forward to benefiting from their insights and expertise in natural resources, finance, technology, governance and public policy.”