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Chris Rowlands
Global technical lead, Regional Economic Development, Rio Tinto
Chris Rowlands is the Manager of Regional Economic Development in the Global Area of Expertise (AoE) at Rio Tinto. He is currently based in Perth, Western Australia. In his role, he focuses on economic development initiatives that align with Rio Tinto's strategic objectives, particularly in relation to community engagement and sustainable development practices.
Rowlands has a background that includes over 15 years of experience in various sectors, including banking, private sector development, and international organizations. His work often involves collaboration with local communities to assess socioeconomic impacts and identify opportunities for future growth and sustainability within the regions where Rio Tinto operates.123
He is actively involved in projects that assess the socioeconomic impacts of mining operations, such as the recent socioeconomic impact assessment (SEIA) being conducted for the Weipa region. This assessment aims to gather community feedback and inform future planning as Rio Tinto considers expansions and closures of its mining operations.1
For more detailed information about his professional background, you can find him on LinkedIn under the username chris-rowlands-55646318.
Highlights
Theresia Ott is #hiring. Know anyone who might be interested? This is a super exciting area to support meaningful impact.
Last week in Brisbane, Rio Tinto held the first of two global conferences for communities and social performance professionals across our global business to deep dive into key priority topics and improve our engagement with host communities. We still have a long way to go and regain trust amongst many host communities, governments, stakeholders and investors. And that will take time, consistent performance and sustained improvement in standards. To inspire us on that journey it was really powerful to hear from many external (and internal) speakers who challenged and provoked us to think differently and challenge the status quo.
Special thank you to Ellie Wong from World Vision Australia, Mark Harwood from ygap, Caitlin Young from Rio’s Indigenous Economic Development team and Steve Sharpe from Argyle Diamond Mine who joined me on the Regional Economic Development panel to help us explore how Rio Tinto can stimulate scalable, long-term economic diversification and wellbeing that extends well beyond the mining value chain and uses mining as a catalyst for inclusive and just economic development.
#economicdevelopment #justtransition #longterm #prosperity #communities #firstnations #wellbeing
