Jakob Stausholm is the former Chief Executive Officer of Rio Tinto. As Chief Executive, Jakob used his strategic, commercial and governance expertise to oversee the implementation of Rio Tinto’s strategy. He was committed to building trust with communities, governments and other stakeholders, improving operational performance, and decarbonisation.

Jakob 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 also 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 was married with three children and split 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 was through an early morning bike ride.