Jakob Stausholm, Former CEO of Rio Tinto
Y-SIM CEO Speaker Series
How a Crisis Reshaped Rio Tinto’s Purpose, Culture and Strategy
Monday, October 20
11:45 AM – 12:45 PM EST
3:45 PM – 4:45 PM GMT
Format: Virtual
Concludes with student Q&A: Your opportunity to gain leadership insights straight from the CEO
Read the Y-SIM case study: Rio Tinto
The series is just getting started! Registrants can opt-in to stay informed about future CEO Speaker Series events, and post-event recordings, articles and insights.
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About Jakob Stausholm
Jakob Stausholm is the former Chief Executive Officer of Rio Tinto. As Chief Executive, Jakob used his strategic, commercial and governance expertise to oversee the implementation of Rio Tinto’s strategy. He was committed to building trust with communities, governments and other stakeholders, improving operational performance, and decarbonization.
Jakob worked globally in senior finance for more than 20 years. From 2012 until 2018, he worked for A.P. Moller-Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company. He was Chief Strategy, Finance and Transformation Officer, first for Maersk Line and later the broader Maersk Group. In 2008, Jakob moved back to his native Denmark as Group CFO of the global facility service provider ISS. Before that, he spent 19 years working for Shell across Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
From 2009 to 2016, Jakob served as a non-executive director of Statoil (now Equinor), the last six years as Chairman of the Audit Committee. He also served as a non-executive director of Woodside Petroleum between 2006 and 2008.
Jakob grew up in the city of Nyborg, Denmark, the son of a civil engineer and a teacher. He made his start in business working at Shell’s Danish head office while studying at the University of Copenhagen. Jakob was married with three children and split his time between homes in Denmark, Mallorca, and London. An avid cyclist, Jakob’s favorite way to get to know a place while on business was through an early morning bike ride.
About the Y-SIM CEO Speaker Series
The idea that great companies can serve both business and society sounds deceptively simple. In practice, it is one of the most complex challenges leaders face. How can CEOs systematically create value for customers, employees, partners, communities, and other stakeholders—while sustaining financial success?
The Yale Program on Stakeholder Innovation and Management (Y-SIM) is launching a CEO speaker series to explore this question directly with leaders of iconic enterprises. Moderated by Jon Iwata, Executive Fellow at Yale SOM and former Chief Brand Officer at IBM, these conversations probe the toughest “how” questions: How do leaders balance stakeholder demands without zero-sum tradeoffs? How do they turn commitments into systems and strategy? How do they position their companies to thrive long after founders are gone?
By uncovering the mechanisms behind these choices, the series reveals the playbooks shaping some of the most consequential strategies in business today.