After an exhaustive search and selection process, Codelco said that Rubén Alvarado Vigar will assume as its new CEO starting on 1 September, replacing André Sougarret Larroquet.
General manager of Metro between 2014-2022, he was also corporate general manager of Alsace & Express between 2012-2013, director of engineering and maintenance of LAN Airlines between 2007-2012, project manager for the Techint joint venture between 2005-2007 in Argentina and general manager of the San Antonio Port Company between 2004-2005.
He is additionally a former Codelco employee, with 20 years of experience linked to the El Teniente division, where he became its general manager. A year after graduating from the University of Chile, he joined Codelco as a smelter engineer, where he worked for nine years between 1984-1993, participating in technological developments such as the El Teniente Converter and the Cleaning Oven, among others.
In 1993 he was promoted to chief of research and technology transfer in the same smelter management, and then he was appointed manager of the area. In this function, between 1994-2000, he reorganised Caletones Smelter to migrate it from a productive functional orientation to one of business processes and implemented career development projects for workers, of technological businesses both in Chile and abroad (including Peru, Mexico, Zambia and Thailand) and a quality management system for continuous improvement.
In 2000, he was appointed general manager of the El Teniente Division until 2004. During its period, the El Teniente Development Plan was built and implemented, a set of mining, technological and management projects, which reversed the expected decrease in productivity due to the depletion of some sectors, expanded production capacity and maximised divisional surpluses. He also implemented the Caletones Decontamination Plan, the first to fully comply with the rules of the environmental bases law.
Source: Codelco