Board of Directors

Bringing breadth and depth of collective professional experience to deliver the Foundation's purpose in line with the values and ambitions articulated in 'Our Commitment'.

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Vandita Pant

Chair

Vandita Pant was appointed as a Director of the BHP Foundation in April 2022 and Chair in December 2023. Vandita joined BHP in 2016 and is currently Chief Financial Officer of BHP, and is a member of the Executive Leadership Team based in Melbourne. Vandita was formerly Chief Commercial Officer, based in Singapore, with global accountability for Sales and Marketing, Procurement, Maritime, Global Business Services and for developing the Company’s view on global commodities markets and macro trends. Over Vandita’s career, she had garnered international experience having worked in a variety of executive roles in banking in India, Singapore, Japan and the United Kingdom. She is currently an executive Committee member for the Australian Japan Business Co-operation Committee and has joined the Resource and environmental sustainability cluster of The Future Economy Council (FEC) which drives the growth and transformation of Singapore’s economy for the future.

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Geraldine Slattery

Director

Geraldine Slattery was appointed as a Director of the BHP Foundation in September 2019. Geraldine joined BHP in 1994 and currently leads BHP’s Australian operations as President Australia and is a member of the Executive Leadership Team. Prior to this, Geraldine was President Petroleum from March 2019 and led BHP’s business which included oil and gas interests and development and exploration programs in the Americas, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Algeria, Mexico and Canada. Geraldine has 28 years of operational and global leadership experience gained in the UK, Australia and the Americas. She was Asset President for global production operations and has also fulfilled key leadership roles in the Onshore Americas business as General Manager Gas Assets, as Vice President of Supply through a period of significant capital expansion, and a variety of technical, safety and operational roles in BHP’s assets in the UK and in Australia.

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Carlos Avila

Director

Carlos Avila was appointed as a Director of the BHP Foundation in August 2022. Carlos has worked for 30 years in the mining industry; the first half of them at the Chilean Copper Corporation (CODELCO), playing different leadership roles in operations, planning, projects, and technological development; and then, since 2007, with BHP in different executive roles. After serving as Vice President Planning and Vice President Mining at Minera Escondida, he was appointed Vice President of Mining Projects for BHP's Central Technical Team in Australia. In 2016, Carlos was appointed Vice President of Planning and Technical Services for BHP Minerals Americas. Since January 2021, he has served as President of Non-Operated Assets which includes the management of BHP's interests in Peru, Brazil, Colombia and the US.

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James Agar

Director

James Agar was appointed as a Director of the BHP Foundation in November 2023. James joined BHP in 2002 and is currently the Group Procurement Officer, responsible for global procurement activities across the enterprise and developing strategic procurement plans and supplier partnerships to create value through productivity, innovation, social value and decarbonization. James was previously Vice President, Communications and prior to this, James was Vice President Investor Relations for Australasia and the Americas, based in Melbourne and New York. James has over 20 years’ experience in executive roles across Finance, Commercial, Investor Relations, Communications and External Affairs including spending time in various marketing roles in The Hague and in Singapore. James holds a Bachelor of Commerce and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia.

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Heather Brown

Director

Heather Brown was appointed as a Director of the BHP Foundation in December 2023 and is currently Vice President Human Resources based in Melbourne. Heather was formerly Vice President Global Ethics & Investigations supporting BHP’s commitment to work with integrity. Heather joined BHP in 2018 as Vice President, Functional Audit and Advisory and was accountable for internal audit work delivered across the global Functions. Prior to joining BHP, Heather held several Executive roles in Banking and Finance including Chief Compliance Officer at GE Capital A&NZ. She also held leadership roles at National Australia Bank after commencing her career at Deloitte. She has extensive experience in both consulting and corporates in governance, risk and compliance in addition to culture and projects. Heather has spent over 10 years overseas in Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong.