Miner Vale names CFO Pimenta as next CEO, ending messy succession

Vale (NYSE:VALE) said late Monday it selected finance chief Gustavo Pimenta to replace Eduardo Bartolomeo as its next CEO, effective January 1, ending a tumultuous, months-long process that included government interference attempts and quarrels among board members.

Bartolomeo, who fought to keep the job, was Vale’s (VALE) top executive for five years after stepping in following the Brumadinho tailings dam disaster in January 2019.

Pimenta will be officially presented to investors as the new CEO at Vale’s (VALE) annual investors day December 3; Bartolomeo will remain as a company advisor until year-end 2025.

Pimenta joined Vale (VALE) as CFO in 2021, after spending more than a decade at U.S. power company AES Corp. and as a VP of strategy and mergers and acquisitions at Citibank.

The new CEO also has been at the forefront of ongoing negotiations with the Brazilian government, including a final settlement for a 2015 disaster tailings dam disaster and a dispute over the Carajas railway concession renewal.