JEAN-SEBASTIEN JACQUES

Jacques grew up in France before building a career in European heavy industry. He joined Tata Steel and worked his way up to CEO of Tata Steel Europe — a brutal posting during the structural decline of European steel, involving plant closures and tens of thousands of redundancies across the UK and Netherlands.

Rio Tinto hired him in 2013 to run their copper division. He became group CEO in July 2016.

His strategy was disciplined simplification — sell non-core assets, cut costs, focus the portfolio on iron ore and copper. The Pilbara iron ore operations in Australia generated margins above 50% for years, and shareholders got paid very well.

He reduced net debt significantly and Rio Tinto outperformed many peers on total shareholder return during his tenure.

Then came May 22, 2020. Rio Tinto detonated the Juukan Gorge rock shelters in the Pilbara to extend a mine.

The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura Traditional Owners had told the company the site had irreplaceable spiritual significance. Rio Tinto had the legal permits.

They proceeded anyway. A parliamentary inquiry followed.

Jacques and two other executives resigned in September 2020.

Tata Steel Europe (CEO) — one of the largest steel producers in Europe, now owned by Tata Group. He ran it through years of structural decline and difficult labor negotiations across the UK and Netherlands.

Rio Tinto (CEO, 2016-2020) — a $100 billion-plus mining giant with iron ore mines in Australia, copper mines in Chile and Mongolia, and aluminium smelters globally. After departing Rio Tinto, he has maintained a low profile with advisory and board roles in European industry.

As a CEO rather than a fund manager, his approach was capital discipline at the corporate level. He pushed hard to return cash to shareholders rather than chase acquisitions.

The core logic: if you cannot identify a clear return on capital, do not spend the money. That worked well financially for Rio Tinto shareholders for four years.

The failure was in how the return calculation defined costs.

Rio Tinto's financial performance under his leadership was genuinely strong. The Pilbara iron ore business ran at margins above 50% for years.

He cut net debt significantly, returned billions to shareholders through dividends and buybacks, and sold non-core assets at reasonable prices. The company was in measurably better financial shape when he left than when he arrived — which is a real achievement running a company of that scale through a volatile commodity cycle.

The Juukan Gorge destruction in May 2020. Rio Tinto had legal permits to blast.

But the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people had submitted evidence that the site contained artifacts dating back 46,000 years, making it one of the most significant Aboriginal archaeological sites in Australia. Nineteen community members signed a letter to Rio Tinto before the blast asking them to reconsider.

The blast happened. The reputational and human cost was enormous.

It cost Jacques his job, and it permanently reshaped how Australian mining companies must engage with Indigenous communities.

Return capital. Cut what does not earn its keep.

Do not overpay for acquisitions. He believed a focused portfolio of genuinely world-class assets was worth more than a diversified collection of mediocre ones.

He was right about that. The failure was in defining what counted as a cost.

He is married and has children. He keeps his family life entirely private — essentially nothing about his personal life is in the public record beyond his professional biography.

He is by all accounts intensely private outside of his corporate roles.

He studied engineering in France and went on to complete an MBA at a European business school. He built his early career in European steel and heavy industry before moving into extractive resources.

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