Macarena Gutiérrez, the company’s Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, has been named Chief Executive Officer of Atlantic Copper.
Gutiérrez, who joined Atlantic Copper in 1997, will be the first woman to be CEO at the company effective April 1. She succeeds Javier Targhetta, who after 35 years with the company, will become Chairman of Atlantic Copper’s Board of Directors.
"It is an honor to continue the path set by Javier Targhetta over these 35 years,” Gutiérrez said. “I take on the leadership of a strong company, with a highly committed team with whom we will face the great challenges of the future, where innovation, sustainability, and digitalization will be essential tools to drive the necessary changes to compete in a global, complex, and constantly evolving environment."
Targhetta praised Gutiérrez as a “great professional” and expressed his gratitude to Freeport leadership, singling out Kathleen Quirk, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Richard Adkerson, Chairman of the Board, for “the trust they have always placed in me and for the great support they have consistently provided to Atlantic Copper."
Of Gutiérrez, Targhetta added: “Her deep knowledge of the company and the sector, combined with her strategic vision, make her an ideal leader to face the great challenges that Atlantic Copper has ahead and to reach even higher levels of excellence.”
Gutiérrez holds a degree in business administration and joined Atlantic Copper as Head of Financial Control in 1997. Four years later, she was appointed Director of Planning and Control, and in 2005 became Chief Financial Officer. In June 2022, Gutiérrez became Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer of the company.
In recognition of her career, Gutiérrez was included in the 2022 list of 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining, which recognizes the most influential women in the mining and metallurgical industry worldwide.
Targhetta, a mining engineer, has led Atlantic Copper since 1990. Since 2005, he has combined his role at Atlantic Copper with that of Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Freeport, taking on the responsibility for global copper concentrate sales.