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[October 2007]
Industrial Minerals Veteran Named As Rio Tinto Minerals CCO
Rio Tinto Minerals (Denver, CO, USA) – a world leader in industrial minerals supply and science – has announced the appointment of Bob Katsiouleris as Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for marketing, sales, research & development for this US$1.2 billion subsidiary of the Rio Tinto Group, the $21 billion Anglo-Australian mining company.
In this role, Mr Katsiouleris will set strategy to differentiate and grow Rio Tinto Minerals in the global borate and talc markets, as well as the Asia Pacific salt market. He will also oversee the commercialisation of new products and technologies designed to meet and anticipate the needs of the building products, coatings, polymers, automotive, consumer goods and agriculture industries which form the organisation’s customer base.
Rio Tinto Minerals currently serves 2,500 direct customers in more than 100 countries and is considered an industrial minerals market leader by virtue of its asset base – including 19 mines, 29 processing facilities and two research laboratories – as well as its track record of originating the majority of processing advances and new product development for these white minerals.
“Rio Tinto Minerals’ major product brands – 20 Mule Team Borax and Luzenac talc – have been synonymous with supply reliability, product quality and innovation for more than a century,” said Mr Katsiouleris. “The challenge today is to continue to get these fundamentals right, while we become faster and more flexible in meeting the needs of our customers, and the consumers they serve.”
Bob Katsiouleris brings nearly 18 years of industrial minerals experience in research, engineering, operations, and sales and marketing to his new role. He most recently served as Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium’s Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, where he was responsible for US$1.3 billion annual sales of titanium dioxide feedstocks, iron and steel products, and rutile and zircon produced at mining operations in Canada and South Africa. Prior to that, he held a variety of operational roles with World Minerals Inc, a subsidiary of the Imerys Group.
ENDS