Vale names CFO Gustavo Pimenta as next CEO

Vale (NYSE: VALE) has chosen finance chief Gustavo Pimenta to replace Eduardo Bartolomeo as chief executive officer, concluding a tumultuous succession process marked by the departure of board members amid accusations of political intrigue.

CFO Pimenta, 46, will assume his new post Jan. 1. He was unanimously elected by the board, Vale said in a securities filing, adding that the transition will follow a schedule the firm had previously released.

In May, Vale announced it would unveil its next CEO by Dec. 3, following the board’s approval of a candidate list to be presented by the Russell Reynolds consultancy firm by the end of September. Bartolomeo would then support the transition to his successor by February 2025, according to the previously announced timeline.

The turmoil included attempted government interference, information leaks, and the departure of two independent board members.

One of them, Jose Luciano Duarte Penido, left the board in March and said in his resignation letter, reviewed by Reuters at the time, that the firm’s succession process was being conducted in a “manipulated manner.”

Pimenta said the company will be “focusing on creating and sharing value, taking Vale to even higher levels.”

Born in 1978, Pimenta has 20 years of experience in the financial, energy, and mining sectors. He joined Vale as chief financial officer in 2021. Before joining the firm, he spent more than a decade at the U.S. power company AES Corp. and previously served as vice president of strategy and mergers and acquisitions at Citibank in New York.

As Vale’s finance head, Pimenta oversaw the miner’s productivity agenda with a focus on capital allocation, cost efficiency, and defining a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a third by 2030.

He has also been at the forefront of ongoing negotiations with the Brazilian government, including a final settlement for the 2015 Mariana disaster, and a dispute over the Carajas railway concession renewal.