Duncan Wanblad
Chairman
De Beers plc Board
De Beers Group is overseen by a highly qualified board, whose nine members bring the breadth of skills and perspectives that we believe best serves the evolving needs of our business – they set our overall Group strategy and regularly review our performance.
Board of Directors
Al Cook
Chief Executive Officer
Al Cook became Chief Executive Officer of De Beers Group in February 2023
Skills and Experience
Al brings extensive leadership expertise to De Beers Group, having previously been Executive Vice President, Exploration and Production International at Equinor, where he led Equinor’s multi-billion dollar global E&P business across Africa, the Americas and Europe. He previously led Equinor's global strategy and business development, developing the company’s net zero strategy.
Before joining Equinor, Al had a 20 year career at BP, where his final role was Chief of Staff to the CEO. This included working with the World Economic Forum to address the challenge of climate change, setting up the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative and supporting diversity programmes across the energy industry.
Al holds an MA in Natural Sciences from St. John’s College, Cambridge University and in 2005 completed the International Executive Programme at INSEAD.
External Appointments
Al is a Trustee of the Power of Nutrition charity, a Fellow of the Energy Institute and a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.
Richard Lawson
Chief Financial Officer
Richard was appointed Chief Financial Officer in October 2023.
Skills and Experience
Richard joined De Beers in 2017 as the Group Financial Controller, and subsequently assumed responsibility for the Business Planning and Business Development functions. He is also currently a Board Member of the Element Six joint venture with Umicore.
He has a strong track record of senior multi-national financial roles throughout his career, including at Anglo American Thermal Coal in South Africa where he led the finance department and supported the transformation of that business prior to its demerger from Anglo American. Whilst at Thermal Coal, he was also a Director of Mafube Coal, the Anglo American joint venture with Exxaro, and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Richards Bay Coal Terminal, one of the leading coal export terminals in the world.
Richard trained as a Chartered Accountant at PwC and holds a BSc in Biology from the University of Nottingham.
External Appointments
None
