The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price is under the spotlight today after announcing a new CEO, Brandon Craig.
BHP is one of the world’s largest miners with its iron ore, copper and coal operations. It is also developing a potash (fertiliser) project in Canada called Jansen.
BHP appoints new CEO
The ASX mining share announced today that Brandon Craig will become CEO of BHP, as well as a director, on 1 July 2026. He replaces Mike Henry, who has been the CEO for six and a half years.
Brandon Craig has been at BHP for more than 25 years – he’s currently the BHP President Americas, leading the company’s growth strategy in ‘future facing commodities’ in Canada, the US and South America.
During his time in that role, BHP became the world’s largest copper producer and advanced high-quality growth options in copper and potash.
Before the Americas role, he led the Western Australian Iron Ore (WAIO) business, helping improve operational performance and increasing BHP’s lead as the “lowest cost, highest margin major iron ore producer in the world”.
BHP noted that during Mike Henry’s leadership, it delivered sector-leading operational excellence, a gender-balanced workforce, a 30% reduction in operational greenhouse gas emissions and stronger partnerships with Indigenous people. The average total shareholder return (TSR) has been around 17% per year.
Management comments
The new BHP CEO Brandon Craig said:
It is an honour and privilege to succeed Mike Henry as CEO of BHP. Thanks to his leadership, BHP is well positioned for the future. Mike will be remembered for his strategic decision-making, portfolio transformation, operational excellence and focus on safety and high-performance culture.
As incoming CEO, I am committed to leading the talented and hard-working people who make BHP a great company and continuing to generate long-term value for all our shareholders. I will work tirelessly with the board and management to achieve this. I look forward to continuing to take this great company forward.
The BHP Chair Ross McEwan said:
We are very pleased an executive of Brandon Craig’s calibre and extensive experience has been appointed as our new CEO to lead the execution of our strategy. I am confident that his discipline and focus will continue to drive BHP’s high-performance culture and advance the company’s unrivalled pipeline of growth options to maximise shareholder returns.
We would like to recognise the outstanding contribution of Mike Henry to BHP as CEO. Under his leadership, BHP has transformed into a safer and more production company, financially strong and sharply focused on shareholder value and social value.
Final thoughts on the BHP share price
I think BHP is one of the best miners in the world and I’m glad to see its copper earnings are steadily increasing. However, I’m not sure that now is the right time to invest after rising by more than 20% in the last year. Resource prices are unlikely to keep rising month after month forever, in my view, they are usually cyclical.
I’d be happy to hold as a long-term shareholder, but I’d look at other ASX dividend shares as opportunities.
