Cynthia Blum Carroll (born 13 November 1956) is an American businesswoman. She was the chief executive officer of Anglo American, a British mining company, which, among other things, is the world's largest platinum producer. On 24 October 2006, Carroll was hired by Anglo American, and joined the board in January 2007, becoming chief executive at the beginning of March 2007. She chaired Anglo American’s Executive Committee and sat on the Safety and Sustainable Development Committee."Anglo American Leadership Team"
, "Anglo American plc", 24 July 2009. She was one of only three female chief executives of

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companies and the first non-South African to hold the post with Anglo American. In 2008 she was ranked by the magazine ''

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'' as the fifth most powerful woman in the world. She was ranked fourth in 2009 and seventh in 2007 by the same list. Anglo American announced on 26 October 2012, that Carroll would step down as chief executive. She has been a non-executive director of BP since 6 June 2007. Carroll previously worked for Alcan, as president and chief executive officer of the Primary Metal Group since 2002. She joined Alcan in 1989. In January 1996 she was promoted to managing director of the Aughinish Alumina division, located on Aughinish Island, Askeaton,

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."Leading the Way"
''Newsweek'', 18 December 2006. Before joining Alcan, she worked for

Amoco Amoco ( ) is a brand of filling station, fuel stations operating in the United States and owned by British conglomerate BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and petroleum, oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company i ...

, which is now part of BP, for eight years as a petroleum geologist, from 1982 to 1987, working in gas and oil exploration in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

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Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, and

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. She is married with four children.

Early years and career

Carroll graduated from

Skidmore College Skidmore College is a Private school, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,700 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Scien ...

in 1978, a Bachelor of Science in Geology. She holds a Masters of Science degree in Geology from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

(1982) and a Masters of Business Administration from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(1989). In 2012 she was elected a fellow of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

. She formerly served as a director of Sara Lee and AngloGold Ashanti Limited. She also sits on the Boards of American Aluminium Association and the International Aluminium Institute. Cynthia Carroll has launched a number of new initiatives within the business, including an asset optimisation project; the introduction of the value based management methodology within Anglo American; and a push to improve safety performance. In 2007, she closed two platinum shafts in South Africa following a number of fatalities until the workforce received more safety training.Warner, Melain
"Anglo American's Bristol Bay Controversy: Wildlife vs. Mineral Riches"
"Fast Company", 13 October 2008. She participated in the Tripartite Safety Summit in 2008 with union, government and industry representatives to address safety concerns in the mining industry Since Cynthia Carroll took over as chief executive, Anglo American has acquired stakes in two copper projects Michiquillay in Peru and Pebble in the US; a coal company Foxleigh in Australia; and the iron ore project in Brazil, Minas-Rio.Ryan, Brenda

, "Miningmx", 17 January 2008.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Cynthia Blum 1956 births American women chief executives Skidmore College alumni University of Kansas alumni Harvard Business School alumni Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Female fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Living people Directors of BP American corporate directors British chief executives American mining businesspeople British mining businesspeople 21st-century British women engineers 21st-century American women