Senior management

Group Management Team
The management of James Hardie is overseen by a Group Management Team, whose members cover the key areas of fibre cement research and development, production, manufacturing, sales, human resources, investor relations, finance and legal. Team members (in alphabetical order) are:

• Russell Chenu, Chief Financial Officer 
• Robert Cox, General Counsel and Company Secretary
• Mark Fisher, Executive General Manager - International
• Louis Gries, Chief Executive Officer
• Nigel Rigby, Executive General Manager - USA
• Sean O'Sullivan, Vice President - Investor & Media Relations

Russell Chenu  BCom, MBA
Chief Financial Officer
Age 60


Russell Chenu joined James Hardie as Interim CFO in October 2004 and was appointed CFO in February 2005. He was elected to the company's Managing Board by CUFS holders at the 2005 AGM,  re-elected in 2008 and continued as a member of the Managing Board until it was disbanded in June 2010.

Mr Chenu is an experienced corporate and finance executive who has held senior finance and management positions with a number of Australian publicly-listed companies.

In a number of these senior roles, he has been engaged in significant strategic business planning and business change, including several turnarounds, new market expansions and management leadership initiatives.

Mr Chenu has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne and an MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Australia. 

 

Robert Cox BA, MA, JD
General Counsel & Company Secretary
Age 56


Robert Cox commenced as James Hardie's General Counsel in January 2008. He joined the company’s Managing Board as an Executive Director and as Company Secretary effective 7 May 2008. He was re-elected in 2008 and continued as a member of the Managing Board until it was disbanded in June 2010 and as Company secretary until 29 June 2010.

Before joining James Hardie, Mr Cox was Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Secretary with PepsiCo Inc. During his five years with PepsiCo, Mr Cox was responsible for corporate governance and Sarbanes-Oxley/New York Stock Exchange compliance, and managed the corporate law group and the office of Corporate Secretary for the Board of Directors.

His experience also includes 10 years as a partner of the international law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP, at offices in Asia and California, where he led the business and transactions practice group in corporate governance, corporate securities, mergers and acquisitions, financial services, real estate, tax and strategic technology transactions.

Mr Cox has a Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, California; and a Master of Arts from the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC, specialising in International Economics, European Studies, and American Foreign Policy.

Mark Fisher  BSc, MBA
Executive General Manager - International
Age 39

Mark Fisher joined James Hardie in 1993 as a Production Engineer. Since then, he has worked for the company as Finishing Manager, Production Manager and Product Manager at various locations; Sales and Marketing Manager; and as General Manager of our Europe Fibre Cement business. Mr Fisher was appointed Vice President - Specialty Products in November 2004, then Vice President Research & Development in December 2005. In February 2008, his role was expanded to cover Engineering & Process Development, Pipes and XLDTM Trim.

In January 2010, he was appointed Executive General Manager - International, responsible for research and development, engineering, manufacturing, logistics and product management, as well as the company’s non-US businesses.

Mr Fisher has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Southern California, USA. 

Louis Gries  BSc, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Age 57


Louis Gries joined James Hardie as Manager of the Fontana fibre cement plant in California in February 1991 and was appointed President of James Hardie Building Products (Inc) in December 1993. Mr Gries became Executive Vice President Operations in January 2003, responsible for operations, sales and marketing in our pipes and fibre cement businesses in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe.

He was appointed Interim CEO in October 2004 and was made CEO in February 2005. Mr Gries was elected to the company's Managing Board by CUFS holders at the 2005 AGM and continued as Chairman of the Managing Board until it was disbanded in June 2010.

Before he joined James Hardie, Mr Gries worked for 13 years for USG Corp, in a variety of roles in Research, Plant Quality and Production, Product and Plant Management. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Illinois, USA and an MBA from California State University in Long Beach, California USA. 

 

Nigel Rigby
Executive General Manager - USA
Age 43
 

Nigel Rigby joined James Hardie in 1998 as a Planning Manager for our New Zealand business and has held a number of sales, marketing and product and business development roles with the company. In November 2004, Mr Rigby was appointed Vice President - Emerging Markets, and in 2006 he was named Vice President - General Manager Northern Division. In November 2008, he became Vice President - General Manager of the company’s newly-formed US Eastern Division, responsible for the former Northern and Southern Division markets and plants

In January 2010 he was appointed Executive General Manager - USA, responsible for the US business.

Before joining James Hardie, Mr Rigby held various management positions at Fletcher Challenge, a New Zealand-based company involved in energy, pulp and paper, forestry and building materials.   

Sean O'Sullivan
Vice President - Investor & Media Relations
Age 45

Sean O’Sullivan joined James Hardie as Vice President, Investor and Media Relations in December 2008. For the eight years prior to joining James Hardie, Mr O'Sullivan was Head of Investor Relations at St George Bank, where he established and led the Investor Relations function.

Mr O'Sullivan's background includes thirteen years as a fund manager for GIO Asset Management with responsibility for domestic and global investments. During this period, he spent time on secondment with McKinsey and Co, completing a major study into the Australian financial services industry. Mr O'Sullivan's final position at GIO was General Manager of Diversified Investments where his responsibilities included determining the asset allocation for over A$10bn in funds under management. After leaving the GIO, Mr O'Sullivan worked for Westpac Banking Corporation in funds management sales.

He has a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Economics from Sydney University and an MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management.