Alcoa Corp. has replaced CEO Roy C. Harvey with the company’s chief operating officer, William F. Oplinger.
Oplinger will serve as president, CEO and a member of Alcoa’s board of directors, the North Shore-based company announced Monday. The abrupt move went into effect Sunday.
Harvey had been CEO since the company completed its separation from Arconic Inc. in November 2016. Arconic was acquired by private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc. in a deal completed in August.
Harvey will serve as strategic adviser to the CEO until Dec. 31.
Oplinger, 56, has served as the aluminum firm’s executive vice president and chief operations officer since February and previously as the executive vice president and chief financial officer since November 2016.
The company said the transition “reflects the company’s succession planning process.”
“Roy has guided Alcoa since its launch as a public company in November 2016, helping to transform Alcoa into the stronger and more resilient company that it is today,” Steven Williams, the company’s nonexecutive chairman of the board, said in a statement. “On behalf of the entire board of directors, we extend our sincerest gratitude to Roy for his service and his lasting contributions to Alcoa.”
“Our board believes Bill’s extensive experience with Alcoa makes him well-positioned to carry the company forward,” Williams added.
Oplinger had been with the firm prior to the separation of Alcoa and Arconic in 2016. He had been executive vice president and chief financial officer for Alcoa Inc., where he also was chief operating officer for the Global Primary Products division and oversaw its mining, refining, smelting, casting and energy businesses.
“I am extremely honored to lead a company with such a rich legacy and build upon the progress we’ve made over these past several years,” Oplinger said in a statement. “We’ve strengthened our company and we will be focused on executing on our strategies to create value today while we work on our long-term vision to reinvent the aluminum industry for a sustainable future.”
Alcoa has about 14,000 employees in 15 countries. About 9,750 of those workers are represented by labor unions.
