Neville Power (born 1958) is an Australian corporate director and former company executive. He has a background as a mining engineer and served as CEO of

Fortescue Metals Group Fortescue Metals Group Limited (often referred to as Fortescue Metals Group, FMG, or simply Fortescue) is an Australian iron ore company. As of 2017, Fortescue is the fourth-largest iron ore producer in the world. The company has holdings of ...

(FMG) from 2011 to 2018. He is the chair of the

National COVID-19 Commission Advisory Board The National COVID-19 Commission Advisory Board (NCC) is the Australian Government strategic advisory board for the national economic recovery to the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally formed as the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission on 25 ...

, which was established in March 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Early life

Power was born in 1958. He grew up on Bushy Park, a

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stati ...

near

Duchess, Queensland Duchess is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. In the , Duchess had a population of 23 people. Geography The town is in the east of the locality. The Cloncurry Duchess Road, which is part of the Cloncu ...

. He was initially home-schooled before attending high school in

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...

. Power left school at the age of 15 and began an apprenticeship as a

fitter and turner A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who not only operates machine tools, but also has the knowledge of tooling and materials required to create set ups on machine tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling ...

Mount Isa Mines Mount Isa Mines Limited ("MIM") operates the Mount Isa copper, lead, zinc and silver mines near Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia as part of the Glencore group of companies. For a brief period in 1980, MIM was Australia's largest company. It has ...

(MIM). He later completed an engineering degree at the

Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education The Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education (DDIAE) was a tertiary education facility offering undergraduate (Bachelor level and below) degrees and certificates in Toowoomba, Queensland Australia, from the 1967 until it was elevated to Univ ...

and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

Career

Private sector

Power worked for Mount Isa Mines for 23 years, eventually becoming head of its gold division and then serving as general manager of its subsidiary Oaky Creek Coal. He later moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to work for

Smorgon Steel Smorgon Steel was an Australian steel manufacturing company. It was the last remaining part of Smorgon Consolidated Industries, founded in 1958 by Victor Smorgon, member of the Smorgon family. In 1997, Smorgon purchased structural materials Welde ...

, spending 12 years with the company. He was appointed chief executive (reinforcing and steel products) in 2001. He later moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

to join Thiess, where he "championed an indigenous employment program and rose to become CEO of the Australian operations". Power succeeded company founder

Andrew Forrest John Andrew Henry Forrest (born 18 November 1961), nicknamed Twiggy, is an Australian businessman. He is best known as the former CEO (and current non-executive chairman) of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), and has other interests in the mining i ...

as CEO of

(FMG) in July 2011, after a period as

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

. His initial base remuneration was $1.8 million annually. According to ''

The Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...

'', he "steered the company through a near death experience in 2012, when a heavy debt burden pushed it perilously close to the brink, and oversaw a massive operational expansion which cemented its place as the world's fourth-largest iron ore producer". He was strongly opposed to the proposed Minerals Resource Rent Tax. Power retired from Fortescue in 2018. He has since taken up an appointment as chair of Perth Airport Pty Ltd. In September 2019 he joined the board of Strike Energy, an oil and gas exploration firm, of which he is a major shareholder.

Public sector

Power is the chair of the

Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-ope ...

. In March 2020, Prime Minister

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (; born 13 May 1968) is an Australian politician. He served as the 30th prime minister of Australia and as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2018 to 2022, and is currently the member of parliament (MP) for t ...

nominated Power to chair the

, created in response to the

. This board was wound down in late 2021.

Personal life

Power holds helicopter and fixed-wing pilot's licences. On 8 October 2021, Power and his son, Nicholas Power, illegally breached Western Australian border entry laws by flying a helicopter from their family property near Mt Isa to Exmouth, and then to Perth, WA the next day. They pleaded guilty and are due to be sentenced on 23 March 2022. As a consequence, Power has resigned as chair of both Perth Airport and the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. In seeking a non-prison sentence, Power's lawyer said it was an “'out-of-character aberration' and a 'very bad lack of judgment', adding Mr Power was 'dripping with remorse'. It was also stated that Power experienced “cognitive distortions” and was having marital difficulties.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Power, Nev People from Mount Isa Living people Australian mining engineers Australian mining businesspeople Australian chief executives Australian corporate directors University of Southern Queensland alumni University of Queensland alumni 1958 births