Paul Skinner

Chairman

BA (Hons) (Law), DpBA (Business Administration). Age 63.

Appointment and election: Paul Skinner is Chairman of Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited which together form Rio Tinto, the global mining and minerals company, dual-listed in the UK and Australia. He joined the boards of Rio Tinto as a non-executive director in 2001 and became Chairman in November 2003. Paul was last re-elected by shareholders at the 2008 annual general meetings . He is chairman of the Nominations committee (note b).

Skills and experience: Paul was born in 1944 and educated at Cambridge University, where he graduated in law, and later at the Manchester Business School.

He joined the Royal Dutch/Shell group of companies as a student in 1963.  During his career he worked in all Shell's main businesses, including senior appointments in the UK, Greece, Nigeria, New Zealand and Norway.  From 1999 he was CEO of the Group's global Oil Products business and was Managing Director of The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company plc, and a Group Managing Director, from 2000-2003.

Paul is a non-executive director of Standard Chartered plc, the emerging markets bank;  of Air Liquide S.A., the industrial and medical gases company;  and of the Tetra Laval Group, the privately owned global foods packaging company.  He is a non-executive member of the Board of the UK Ministry of Defence and of INSEAD, the European/Asian business school.  He was President of the UK Chamber of Shipping in 1997/8, was Chairman of the governing body of ICC UK over the period 2004-8, and became Chairman of the Commonwealth Business Council in 2007.

He is married with two sons and his interests include skiing, other outdoor sports, opera and modern history.

External appointments (current and recent):
Director of The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company plc from 2000 to 2003.
Director of Standard Chartered PLC since 2003.
Director of Tetra Laval Group since 2005.
Director of L'Air Liquide since 2006.
Non-executive member of the Defence Board of the UK Ministry of Defence since 2006.
Member of the board of INSEAD business school since 1999.
Chairman of the Commonwealth Business Council in 2007.

Notes:
(a) Audit committee 
(b) Nominations committee
(c) Remuneration committee
(d) Committee on social and environmental accountability
(e) Independent