Alcoa appoints chief sustainability officer

Alcoa has appointed Kevin J. Anton as chief sustainability officer, responsible for developing a strategy that integrates all of the company’s sustainability efforts.

Anton, who has led the Alcoa Sustainability Steering Committee for the past year, comes to his new role after serving as vice president, finance and strategy, for Alcoa Global Primary Products. He will remain a vice president of Alcoa and a member of the company’s executive council.

‘The environmental benefits of aluminum, such as light weighting and recyclability of our “miracle metal”, present tremendous opportunities for the aluminum industry,’ said Alcoa’s chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld. ‘Alcoa is in a unique position to take a proactive sustainability approach and turn it into a competitive advantage. No one is more qualified than Kevin Anton to ensure that Alcoa capitalizes on those opportunities.’

Anton has worked for more than 30 years in the metals and mining industry and is the immediate past chairman of the US Aluminum Association. In his new role, he will be responsible for developing a sustainability strategy and action plan that coordinates the efforts of government affairs, environment, health and safety and AlcoaTechnicalCenter, as well as Alcoa’s marketing, communications and philanthropic efforts.

‘Our vision is to make sustainability a prime driver of our business and a compelling part of the Alcoa brand,’ Kleinfeld said.

Anton joined Alcoa in 1998 as vice president of Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals. He then became vice president, finance, for Alcoa’s Primary Products organization. In 2001, he became president of Alcoa Materials Management, which involves purchasing and the physical and financial trading activities of primary and scrap aluminum, electricity trading, and transportation purchasing for the Primary Products business. In 2006, he was elected a vice president of Alcoa, and a year later became chief financial officer for Global Primary Products, while still maintaining responsibility for Alcoa Materials Management. As CFO, Anton was responsible for financial activities and strategy for Alcoa’s nine alumina refineries, bauxite assets in Australia, Brazil, Jamaica, Suriname and Guinea, and the company’s worldwide smelting system.

Before joining Alcoa, Anton held senior management positions at Alumax, serving as vice president and controller for its primary aluminum group and director of business planning. Alcoa acquired Alumax in 1998. 

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