Barbara Jeremiah is to succeed Charles Berry as chair of the Weir Group plc next year.
Berry will retire as chairman following the 2022 Annual General Meeting (AGM), currently scheduled for next April, having completed his full nine-year term with the Weir board.
Jeremiah, who is now chair-designate, will be the first woman to chair the engineering group in its 150-year history. She has been Weir’s senior independent director since 2020, having joined the board in 2017. A qualified lawyer, Jeremiah spent more than 30 years with global aluminium producer Alcoa Inc, where she was executive vice president, corporate development and chairman’s counsel.
“Charles has been an outstanding chairman, providing constructive challenge and incredible support during a period of significant change for the business,” said Jon Stanton, Weir chief executive. “I am also delighted with the appointment of Barbara Jeremiah as chair-designate and I look forward to working with her and the rest of the board as we pursue the multi-decade growth opportunities ahead of us.”
“It is an incredible privilege to serve as chairman of Weir, a business where my father spent much of his career and a Group that I have had a life-long affection for,” said Berry. “I am also delighted that Barbara will be succeeding me. She is an excellent choice for chair, and personally, having served on the Hampton-Alexander Review, it is also great to be handing the baton on to the first woman to chair Weir in the group’s 150-year history.”
