NEWSMAKER-No-nonsense new Anglo chairman brings fresh look
* New Anglo chair John Parker has long merger expertise
* Has sat on 12 boards, chaired eight of them
* Genial presence, believes in tough leadership
By Eric Onstad
LONDON, July 10 (Reuters) - John Parker brings a hard-headed shipbuilding background, gracious style and merger expertise to the chairman's post of mining group Anglo American Plc (AAL.L), under siege by predator Xstrata (XTA.L).
Parker, 67, who has sat on 12 boards of listed companies and chaired eight of them, will take the top job at Anglo on Aug. 1. [ID:nLA342519]
Born in Northern Ireland into a farming family, Parker has a reputation as genial with a no-nonsense core.
"Beneath the velvet manners, it's hard to escape the impression that Parker is really made of shipbuilder's steel," said a 2007 article in World Business magazine.
"Smooth and unhurried, he has the kind of presence that is build on decades of success."
Parker is well suited to help chart Anglo's future after it solidly rebuffed a proposal by Xstrata two weeks ago for a "merger of equals". [ID:nL6692311] [ID:nLU873975]
Known to relish challenges, Parker helped navigate a clutch of companies through mergers, including the British shipbuilding sector through nationalisation and then back to the private sector.
He is currently chairman of British energy network provider National Grid Plc (NG.L), assuming the post when Lattice, a spin-off of British Gas, merged with National Grid in 2002.
As chairman of Britain's Peninsula & Oriental Steam Navigation Co (P&O), Parker helped engineer its sale to Dubai ports operator DP World for $6.8 billion in 2006.
BELIEVES IN STRONG CHAIRMEN
Parker, who still speaks with a soft Irish brogue, believes chairmen should offer decisive direction without treading on the toes of the day-to-day managers.
"The best chairmen I've ever had when I was a CEO were strong, who knew what they wanted to do in their boardrooms," he said in a 2007 interview with a management journal.
Parker could well take a hard look at Anglo American's cost-saving programme that is due to deliver $2 billion in cuts by 2011.
Companies must whip themselves into shape so they won't be vulnerable by attack from predators, such as aggressive venture capital (VC) groups, he said in the World Business interview.
"If somebody tells me they're worried about being attacked by a VC, I tell them to do what a sensible VC would do and cut the fat out themselves - quickly."
Parker studied naval architecture and mechanical engineering at the College of Technology and Queens University in Belfast and joined the design team at Northern Irish shipbuilders Harland & Wolff in 1964.
He became managing director of Britain's Austin and Pickergill shipyard at the age of 32 and four years later joined the board of the public body that owned the British shipbuilding industry.
He helped transform the nationalised shipbuilder that was running losses of 100 million pounds a year by restructuring, including job losses of 15,000 out of 86,000 workers.
Parker, married with two children, strives to keep alive informal communication and hosts board dinners once a month at National Grid.
"Sometimes we have quite heated debates. But next day at the board, what looked before like a mountain of an issue, you've eaten two-thirds of it," he told the Journal of Management Development.
He will retain the chair at National Grid, but step down as co-chairman of paper and packaging group Mondi Group (MNDI.L) (MNDJ.J), which was spun off from Anglo two years ago. (Reporting by Eric Onstad; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
