To: All Freeport Employees
From: Kathleen Quirk, President, Freeport-McMoRan
Date: March 9, 2022
I am pleased to announce that Maree Robertson has joined the Freeport organization as our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer effective March 1, 2022. Maree brings over 20 years of international experience in the mining and resource sectors, and we look forward to learning from her experience and perspectives as she integrates with our long-tenured team.
Maree is a senior member of our management team with responsibility for our accounting, finance and tax functions, including financial reporting, operational accounting, internal controls, financial planning and analysis, and treasury and risk management. She will lead an exceptional finance and accounting team with a proven track record for success and a drive for excellence. She also will oversee our insurance programs in coordination with Aon, our relationships with internal auditor Deloitte and external auditor EY, as well as work closely with our international accounting and finance organizations.
Don Whitmire, Vice President and Controller, is planning to retire following 33 years of outstanding service to the company. Don has been a valued contributor to our senior management team and a key leader in our accounting and finance organization throughout his successful career. We are extremely grateful for his many contributions to our organization. Don has agreed to provide advisory services and assist in transitioning his responsibilities following his June 30, 2022, retirement.
Hugh Donahue, Vice President-Tax, has elected to transition to a Senior Advisory capacity in which he will continue to support our organization and the Corporate Tax team with a mentorship initiative and as an advisor on projects and transactions. Hugh has successfully led our tax area for 17 years and has been a valued leader in this important and complex area.
In connection with the above announcements and our priority to foster development of our people, leverage technology and expand opportunities for our accounting and finance teams, we are announcing the following organizational changes:
Corporate Accounting, Consolidations and Tax
- Ellie Mikes will be named Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer and will lead our financial accounting organization. Ellie has 19 years of experience with the Freeport organization and has been an outstanding transformative leader in our Financial Reporting and Treasury functions during her career. In her role, she will prioritize the development of our people for future opportunities that will bring enhanced value to the organization. Ellie will report to Maree.
- Pat Prejean will be named Vice President and Corporate Controller. In this expanded role, Pat will oversee the Financial Reporting function and a newly combined Corporate Accounting and Consolidations team. Pat has 30 years of experience in the Freeport organization with extensive knowledge of our business and accounting processes, financial reporting and technical accounting. Pat will report to Ellie.
- Supporting Pat in his expanded role will be Kent Alme, who will be Assistant Controller-Corporate Accounting and Consolidations; Bob Helm, who will be Assistant Controller and Senior Advisor-Indonesia Operations; and Andrew Omer, who will be Assistant Controller-Financial Reporting. The team will work together to integrate our Consolidations and Corporate Accounting functions to improve efficiencies and expand career development opportunities for our team. Bob will continue to lead our initiatives to provide mentorship, development, support and technology solutions for our accounting team in Indonesia.
- Greg Martonick will be named Vice President-Tax and will lead our tax team. Greg has 17 years of experience in the Freeport organization, a strong tax accounting and tax operations background and has taken on an expanded leadership role in the Tax department in recent years. Greg will report to Ellie.
Operational Accounting – Americas
- Steve Tanner will continue as our Vice President and Chief Financial Officer-FM Americas and Controller Operations, leading our Operational Accounting function for the Americas business. Steve has 39 years of experience in our organization with extensive operational finance and accounting experience. Steve and his team will continue to support our operational leaders with analysis, planning and reporting. This team will continue to place a high priority on maintaining and building collaborative partnerships with our operational sites. Steve will report to Maree.
- Supporting Steve in his role will be Lex Zerwas, Director-Operations Strategy and Controller, and Dave Prest, who will be Director-Operational Accounting. Dave is re-joining the accounting organization after completing his recent position in Global Supply Chain. In this new role, Dave will be focused on technology solutions and talent and leadership development for our accounting and finance team.
Treasury
- Bob Boyce, Vice President and Treasurer, will continue to lead our Treasury function. Bob has 36 years of experience in the Freeport organization and has been integral to our many successful financings over the years. He will report to Maree.
- Supporting Bob in his role will be Brad Fox, who will be named Assistant Treasurer. Brad has 24 years of experience in our financial organization and is a proven, collaborative leader. Additionally, Alex Barrows, Director-ESG Relations and Capital Financings, who has been doing outstanding work leading our ESG relations initiatives with debt and equity investors, will support Bob on bank and capital markets transactions.
Finance
- Chad Ventola, Vice President-Finance, will continue to lead our financial planning and analysis team. Chad has 25 years of experience in the Freeport organization and has taken on expanded levels of responsibility over his successful career. Chad leads an exceptional team with responsibility for preparing our corporate financial forecasts and analyzing results. Chad will report to Maree.
Please join me in welcoming Maree and congratulating these individuals on taking on additional responsibilities under this new accounting organizational structure.
I also want to wish Don, his wife Peggy and the entire Whitmire family well in Don’s well-deserved retirement.