Vanessa Torres

Vanessa Torres is a Chief Operating Officer with a full breadth of strategic and operating experience across the value chain in the resources industry. She has lived and worked in Australia, Canada and South America. An outstanding people leader, she attracts and inspires people to deliver transformational business performance.

Vanessa is currently Chief Operating Officer at South32, with full P/L accountability for its Australian Operations, with combined revenue of US$ 2.7 B/year. Central to her role is the development and execution of South32 strategy, leading and empowering people to deliver safety, productivity and growth. At South32, she has also held the roles of Chief Technical Officer and Chief Technology Officer.

Before joining South32, Vanessa held senior leadership roles at BHP for 11 years, including Vice President Production, Logistics and Infrastructure, where she delivered an operational turnaround more than 30 Mtpa Iron Ore production, equivalent to US$ 3 Billion/year annual revenue. She has also re-shaped BHP’s Strategy as Head of Group Investments and Value Management. Before BHP, she was Director Industrial Projects Development at Vale, where she held leadership roles in the development and delivery of major copper, nickel, phosphate and potash projects, and played a key role in the Vale-Inco US$ 16 Billion acquisition.

In addition to her executive role, Vanessa is a Director of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), and the Minerals Council of Australia. Vanessa has a passion to make a positive contribution to the community and is co-founder and financial supporter of a NGO in Brazil, which has provided free personal and professional development activities to an average of ~100 students per year, over 20 years.

Vanessa is a Chemical Engineer and holds Master and Doctorate degrees in Minerals Engineering, as well as executive education in strategy and finance at INSEAD, MIT and London Business School. Her career achievements have been recognised globally, including being named the 2017 Exceptional Woman in Resources in Australia. Vanessa speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese.