Weir Group, the Glasgow-based global engineering and mining giant, announced the appointment of Brian Puffer to the company’s board of directors as chief financial officer (CFO) and executive director.
Puffer will join the Weir board on April 1, 2024, at the latest.
Weir said Puffer is currently chief financial and risk officer of BP plc Integrated Supply and Trading “and has over 30 years’ experience in driving commercial and financial performance in both industry and as a partner in PwC.”
Puffer will succeed John Heasley who, as announced on July 27, 2023, will be leaving Weir to take up a new role as finance director of Anglo American plc.
Heasley will step down as CFO and resign from the Weir board on November 30, 2023.
Weir Group chair Barbara Jeremiah said: “The board is delighted to appoint Brian as the group’s new CFO.
“He is an accomplished finance leader and with his broad experience, he will be a valuable asset to Weir.
“Brian joins our strong finance team at Weir and will provide leadership as we drive standardisation and simplification across the business.
“We look forward to welcoming him to the board.”
Weir Group CEO Jon Stanton said: “I am delighted that Brian is joining us at this exciting time for our business.
“He has an outstanding track record in senior finance roles within BP and, in particular, his extensive experience of business transformation will enable him to make an immediate contribution to Weir as we execute on our strategy and deliver the benefits of our performance excellence programme.”
Puffer said: “It’s great to be joining Weir, a true leader in its field with a compelling opportunity to create value from making mining more sustainable.
“I am looking forward to working with Jon and the rest of the team to deliver excellent outcomes for all our stakeholders.”
Weir said Puffer’s remuneration arrangements have been set in accordance with its directors’ remuneration policy.
His base salary will be £500,000 per annum with pension, benefits and incentives in-line with its “current approach.”
“Brian will also be granted various RSU awards with expected vesting between February 2025 and November 2027 to compensate him for incentive awards that he is expected to forfeit on leaving his current employer,” said Weir.
“The aggregate face value of these buy-out awards is expected to be c.£2.9m (maximum value of c.£3.5m) but may vary depending on which awards are forfeited.
“These buy-out awards have been structured on a ‘like for like’ basis to reflect the time frames and key terms of the forfeited awards. Full details will be disclosed in the 2023 Annual Report.
“The information required to be disclosed under section 430(2B) of the Companies Act 2006 in relation to John Heasley will be available on the Group’s website in due course.”
Weir has 12,000 employees operating in over 60 countries with a presence in every major mining region of the world.