Michael Birkhead

About Michael Birkhead

Significant international experience in creating and delivering value in the Resources and Beverage sectors. This has required working closely with Operational Leadership teams in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and the United States.Rapid career progression from early days as an architect, to becoming the Commercial Manager at a major multinational brewing company, followed by progressive promotions to current role of Senior Vice President, Business Improvement & Global Supply Chain for a global gold mining company with ~$9B market capitalisation, and 10 mines on 4 continents. This role incorporates a complete understanding of the mining value chain, levers for improvement and the resources sector economics.This career is characterised by a track record for developing and driving corporate strategy and implementing company-shaping transformations. This includes successfully delivering 3 major change programs over the past decade by building high-performing teams, and effectively aligning the efforts of internal and external experts with operators to achieve results. This is under-pinned by a desire for self-development, including participation in the 2018 Advanced Management Program at Harvard.

Experience

1. Senior Vice President International Operations Business Improvement & Global Supply

   AngloGold Ashanti

   Oct 2015 — Present · Denver, CO, US

   Denver, Colorado USA-based role reporting to the Chief Operating Officer International, leading the international Operations Excellence initiative, Business Planning and the Global Supply Chain. Accountabilities include:• Designing and implementing the Operational Excellence initiative to drive a sustainable improvement in unit costs and return to the lowest quartile of the industry cost curve.• Co-ordinating and supporting the effective operation of the International Operations Leadership Team.• Collating the Annual Business Plans for Strategic Options, Pre-Budget and Budget.• Managing the consolidated, timely and accurate reporting of cost and operational performance.• Leading the Global Supply Chain function in the development of commodity strategies for all key strategic commodities to ensure that the company achieves lowest input costs.

Education

• Harvard Business School Executive Education

  Advanced Management Program (AMP), International Business

  2018

• University of the Witwatersrand

  Master of Business Administration (MBA), Project Management

  1998 — 1999

• Harvard Business Analytics Program

  Advanced Management Program (AMP), Business Administration, Management and Operations

  2018

• Hilton College

  Matric, 'A' aggregate; Kenneth Beghin Memorial Prize

  1985 — 1989

• Harvard Business School

  Advanced Management Program (AMP 194)

  2018 — 2018

• Harvard Business School

  Advanced Management Program (AMP 194), Business Administration, Management and Operations

  2018

• University of the Witwatersrand

  Bachelor of Architecture (BArch), Architecture

  1990 — 1995

Skills

• Procurement
• Customer Service
• Coal
• Precious Metals
• Slope Stability
• Leaching
• Contract Management
• Supply Chain
• Supervisory Skills
• Base Metals
• Business Process Improvement
• Maintenance Management
• Risk Assessment
• Mineral Exploration
• Microsoft Word
• Mining
• Mineral Economics
• Microsoft Excel
• Powerpoint
• Minerals
• Africa
• Change Management
• Gold