Mike Henry

Mike Henry
Henry at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 2024
Born	1966 (age 60–59) Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Education	University of British Columbia (BSc, Chemistry)
Occupation	Business executive
Company	BHP
Title	Chief Executive Officer of BHP (2020 to 2026)
Children	2

Mike Henry (born 1966) is a Canadian mining executive who was the chief executive officer of BHP, the Australian-headquartered mining company, from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2026. He succeeded Andrew Mackenzie and was succeeded by Brandon Craig.

A chemistry graduate of the University of British Columbia, Henry began his career in 1990 with the Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corporation in his hometown of Vancouver. Mitsubishi sent him to Australia in 1999 to help set up its coal joint venture with BHP, the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance, and he joined BHP permanently in 2003. Over the next 16 years he held commercial, marketing, safety and operating roles in The Hague and Australia. He joined BHP's executive leadership team in 2011 and from 2016 ran Minerals Australia, which held the company's Australian iron ore, coal, copper and nickel operations.

As chief executive, Henry oversaw the merger of the company's petroleum business with Woodside Energy in 2022 and the unification of its dual-listed structure under the Australian parent company in January 2022. He also oversaw the A$9.6 billion acquisition of OZ Minerals in 2023, the sale of several Queensland coal mines, the approval of the Jansen potash project in Canada, and a shift in the portfolio towards copper. He made three unsuccessful proposals for Anglo American plc in 2024, and made a further approach in 2025 that ended on November 24, 2025. His tenure also covered the 2024 settlement in Brazil over the 2015 Fundão dam failure, valued at US$31.7 billion on a 100 percent basis, and a November 2025 ruling by the English High Court that found the company liable under Brazilian law for the disaster.

The board announced Henry's succession on March 18, 2026, and Henry stepped down as chief executive and as a director on June 30, 2026, after six and a half years in the role. Under the transition terms he stays on in a support capacity until November 30, 2026, when his employment with the company ends.

Early life and education

Henry was born in Canada in 1966 and grew up in Vancouver, which the Australian Financial Review described as his hometown. He was born into a navy family. His mother, who has Japanese heritage, worked as an emergency services nurse. His father worked as a prison guard and later in security in the airport sector.

He studied chemistry at the University of British Columbia and graduated with a Bachelor of Science. After university he spent time teaching English in Japan, where he met his future wife. He then looked for work that would give him international exposure, and found it at Mitsubishi.

Career

Mitsubishi Corporation (1990 to 2001)

Henry worked for Mitsubishi Corporation from 1990 to 2001, starting in Vancouver. It was through this job, at the age of 25, that he first came across BHP. He later recalled the materials and people he dealt with at the time: "I still remember now just how impressed I was at the time. I knew then that this was a company I wanted to work for." Before joining BHP, Henry worked in the resources industry in Canada, Japan and Australia.

In 1999 Mitsubishi sent Henry to Australia to help establish its coal joint venture with BHP, the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA).

BHP Mitsubishi Alliance and early BHP roles (2001 to 2010)

In 2001 Henry was seconded to BMA as vice president of business development, a post he held until 2003. Henry joined the company full time in 2003 in its energy coal business, first as vice president of energy coal business development (2003 to 2004) and then as vice president of energy coal marketing (2005 to 2006).

He then moved to marketing and trading, based in The Hague, covering a range of mineral and petroleum commodities. There Henry was also responsible for the company's ocean freight operations. He was marketing director for energy and freight from 2006 to 2009 and marketing director for petroleum from 2009 to 2010.

Marketing and executive leadership team (2010 to 2016)

Henry was president of marketing from 2010 to 2011 and chief marketing officer from 2011 to 2013, and joined the executive leadership team in 2011. According to the Australian Financial Review, running BHP's marketing from 2010 to 2015 gave Henry a view across the company's whole business and its key customer relationships in China and Japan.

From 2013 to 2015 he was president of health, safety and environment (HSE), marketing and technology. He was then president of coal from 2015 to 2016. Over this period he also held responsibility for technology, capital projects, supply, logistics, and marketing and trading. By 2019 Henry's career had covered four continents and all of the company's commodities, and he had led teams in 18 countries.

President, Minerals Australia (2016 to 2019)

In February 2016 Henry became president of operations for Minerals Australia, which put him in charge of the company's iron ore, coal, copper and nickel assets in Australia. In 2019 the company described Henry's division as having nearly 40,000 people across six assets, revenue of US$29 billion, EBITDA of US$16 billion and capital spending of US$3 billion. The Australian Financial Review called it the most important operating job in the company, since iron ore produced almost half the company's underlying earnings in the 2019 financial year.

When Henry's appointment as chief executive was announced, the company listed several results from his time in the role:

• a 60 percent fall in the frequency of high-potential injuries in Minerals Australia;
• the company becoming the lowest-cost major iron ore producer in the world;
• a turnaround of Nickel West, after which the business was returned to the core portfolio;
• delivery of the South Flank iron ore project at half the capital intensity of earlier major projects in Western Australia;
• the company's first full-scale autonomous haulage system, at the Jimblebar mine;
• a company-wide operating system and a Maintenance and Engineering Centre of Excellence; and
• a new employment model and approach to building skills in Australia through a unit called Operations Services.

The Australian Financial Review reported that Western Australian iron ore costs fell from US$19 a tonne in the 2015 financial year, before Henry took charge, to US$14.16 a tonne in the 2019 financial year, a drop of 25 percent. The paper also noted problems during his tenure: industrial unrest and mining issues in the coal business, uneven performance at the Olympic Dam copper operation, and a run of accidents, including fires at an iron ore mine and a nickel smelter and the 2018 derailment of a runaway train.

The company also said that over the three years before 2019 Henry's division nearly doubled its number of female employees, and Indigenous employment rose from 4.1 to 5 percent. In 2018 Henry sat on the federal government's Resources 2030 Taskforce.

Appointment as chief executive (2019)

On November 14, 2019, the board named Henry chief executive officer and an executive director from January 1, 2020, after what it called "a thorough succession process". He replaced Andrew Mackenzie, who retired as chief executive on December 31, 2019. Chairman Ken MacKenzie said Henry's "deep operational and commercial experience, developed in a global career spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia, is the perfect mix for our next CEO." The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the contest had come down to two internal candidates, and that Henry was seen as the conservative choice.

Henry's initial pay package included a base salary of US$1.7 million a year and a pension contribution of 10 percent of base salary. He was also given a cash and deferred plan (CDP) award with a target of 80 percent of base salary, and a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) award worth 200 percent of base salary at face value, subject to shareholder approval. The company said 75 percent of Henry's total target pay would come from incentive plans.

At his first press conference Henry said he would spend the 45 days before taking office visiting the company's operations and "listening to our people", and would give his first impressions at the February 2020 half-year results. Commentators at the time listed the decisions ahead of Henry: whether to go ahead with the Jansen potash project, the future of the petroleum and energy coal assets, and the dual-listed structure in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Chief executive of BHP (2020 to 2026)

Henry became chief executive on January 1, 2020. In the 2020 financial year, which ended on June 30, 2020, the company reported revenue of US$42.9 billion and underlying attributable profit of US$9.1 billion.

Henry's first full financial year was dominated by commodity prices and portfolio decisions. In August 2021, the company approved the Jansen Stage 1 potash project and agreed to merge its oil and gas business with Woodside. In the 2022 financial year Henry's company unified its corporate structure under BHP Group Limited, completed the Woodside merger, and sold its interests in the Cerrejón energy coal mine in Colombia and in the BHP Mitsui Coal joint venture.

In 2023 BHP completed the purchase of OZ Minerals and combined it with its existing South Australian copper assets. In 2024 it sold the Blackwater and Daunia coal mines, made its proposals for Anglo American, agreed with Lundin Mining to buy Filo Corp. and form a copper joint venture in Argentina and Chile, and decided to suspend its Western Australian nickel operations temporarily. The cost of the Jansen project rose sharply in Henry's final two years.

By 2026, according to the company, it had become the world's largest copper producer, and copper made up more than half of its recent half-year earnings.

Succession and departure (2026)

On March 18, 2026, the company announced that Brandon Craig, its President Americas, would become chief executive and a director on July 1, 2026, after a formal succession process. Chair Ross McEwan said: "Under his leadership, BHP has transformed into a safer and more productive company, financially strong and sharply focused on shareholder value and social value." Henry said: "BHP is a safer and higher performing company and is better positioned for future growth... Brandon is an excellent choice as CEO, and I wish him every success in the role."

Henry stepped down as chief executive and executive director on June 30, 2026. Under the departure terms he continues to support the company until November 30, 2026, his last day of employment. He is paid in the ordinary course until then and receives four months' pay in lieu of notice. Henry takes part in the 2026 financial year CDP award, but receives no 2026 LTIP grant. Henry's unvested two-year deferred rights are kept in full, while his five-year deferred rights and LTIP rights are pro-rated. Henry must also keep holding company shares for two years after his employment ends.

In the 2026 annual report, McEwan wrote that Henry's "six-and-a-half-year tenure leading BHP will be remembered as among our brightest," and that he had "led with discipline, dedication and integrity". At the annual general meeting in Sydney on October 22, 2026, Craig thanked Henry "for his generosity and time as I moved into the CEO role" and said Henry's support "has ensured a smooth transition".

Leadership and management style

Coverage at the time of his appointment described Henry as low-key. The Australian Financial Review called his manner at his first press conference "measured, a bit reserved and likeably humble". It said his was "not a big, bold, overbearing personality", and that "the scientist in Henry comes through to emphasise discipline and data". The Sydney Morning Herald reported that BHP insiders privately described him as "thoughtful, intelligent" and "very straight". It also noted that he "listened to every question, thought carefully before he responded" and stayed on message.

While running Minerals Australia, Henry designed and implemented a company-wide operating system and a maintenance and engineering centre of excellence, which BHP said had cut costs and improved equipment uptime. The 2026 annual report credited Henry with "embedding operational excellence and the BHP Operating System (BOS) into the way we work". When Henry's successor was announced, the company said he had led "a strong focus on safety and a high-performance culture" and that it had established "sector-leading operational excellence" through the BHP Operating System.

Henry repeatedly stressed capital discipline. When he dropped the 2024 Anglo American approach, Henry said BHP "is committed to its Capital Allocation Framework and maintains a disciplined approach to mergers and acquisitions". Henry's interest in company history was also noted. In a 2016 speech to the Melbourne Mining Club he described how Melbourne had boomed during the gold rush and then declined: "Within 20 years, Melbourne went from boom to bear town." Henry's point was that governments and the mining industry could not rest on a long period of growth.

Gender balance in the workforce was another of Henry's stated priorities. The company said its female workforce had doubled to 35.2 percent between 2016, when it set a gender parity target, and 2023. Henry argued that the company's public reporting of sexual harassment was itself a sign of cultural change. When Henry stepped down, the company said it had reached a gender-balanced workforce.

Major deals and strategic decisions

Jansen potash project

On August 17, 2021, Henry's company approved US$5.7 billion (C$7.5 billion) of capital spending on Jansen Stage 1, a potash mine in Saskatchewan, Canada. First ore was targeted for 2027. Henry said the project was "an investment in a new commodity that we believe will create value for shareholders for generations". He described potash as tied to rising population, changing diets and decarbonisation. The project had been one of the open questions when Henry took over, with some investors sceptical of it.

The project's cost estimate later rose. In July 2025 the company raised the Stage 1 estimate to between US$7.0 billion and US$7.4 billion. It called the update disappointing, and the board took the overrun into account in setting Henry's 2025 bonus. In January 2026 it raised the estimate again, to US$8.4 billion. It blamed inflation, design and scope changes, lower productivity, and construction hours and materials left out of earlier estimates. In June 2026 the estimate for Jansen Stage 2 rose from US$4.9 billion to US$6.9 billion. The company recorded a non-cash impairment of US$2.3 billion on the Jansen project in the 2026 financial year.

Petroleum merger with Woodside

On August 17, 2021, BHP under Henry agreed with Woodside Petroleum to combine its oil and gas business with Woodside in an all-stock merger, with existing Woodside shareholders owning 52 percent of the enlarged company and BHP shareholders 48 percent. The deal closed on June 1, 2022. The company received 914,768,948 Woodside shares and paid them out to its own shareholders as an in specie dividend, which it valued at A$27.2 billion (US$19.6 billion). Henry said the remaining portfolio was "weighted towards commodities which support economic growth and have decarbonisation upside".

Unification of the corporate structure

After shareholders approved it in January 2022, Henry's company ended its dual listing and unified under the Australian parent BHP Group Limited, giving "one parent company and one share price". The company said the change made it "simpler, more agile and more efficient".

Coal divestments

Under Henry, the company finished selling its stake in the Cerrejón energy coal mine to Glencore in January 2022. In May 2022 it sold its 80 percent interest in BHP Mitsui Coal to Stanmore Resources for up to US$1.35 billion. On April 2, 2024, BMA completed the sale of the Blackwater and Daunia metallurgical coal mines in Queensland for up to US$4.1 billion on a 100 percent basis. In June 2022, after a two-year review, the company decided to keep its New South Wales Energy Coal operation instead of selling it.

Acquisition of OZ Minerals

Henry's company made its first approach to the Adelaide-based copper miner OZ Minerals in August 2022. On December 22, 2022, the two companies signed a scheme implementation deed at A$28.25 a share in cash, which gave OZ Minerals an enterprise value of A$9.6 billion. That price was a 49.3 percent premium to OZ Minerals' share price before the first proposal. OZ Minerals shareholders approved the scheme on April 13, 2023, and it was expected to be implemented on May 2, 2023. The acquired business was merged into a new Copper South Australia unit, which included the Prominent Hill and Carrapateena mines.

Anglo American proposals

On April 16, 2024, BHP under Henry made an all-share proposal to combine with Anglo American. The proposal required Anglo American to first distribute its holdings in Anglo American Platinum and Kumba Iron Ore to its own shareholders. A revised proposal followed on May 7, 2024, valuing Anglo American's share capital at about £34 billion; Anglo's board rejected it on May 13. Henry said the revised offer "would be a win-win for BHP and Anglo American shareholders" and that the company was "disappointed that this second proposal has been rejected".

The company submitted what it called an "increased and final" offer ratio on May 20, 2024, worth £31.11 per Anglo American share. Anglo's board rejected it on May 22. On May 29, 2024, Henry announced that the company would not make a firm offer, saying it had been "unable to reach agreement with Anglo American on our specific views in respect of South African regulatory risk and cost", and that it had not been given information it needed to address those concerns.

Henry's company approached Anglo American again in late 2025. On November 24, 2025, after preliminary discussions with Anglo's board, it said it was "no longer considering a combination of the two companies". It added that it was "confident in the highly compelling potential of its own organic growth strategy".

Filo Corp. and the Vicuña joint venture

On July 30, 2024, Henry's company and Lundin Mining agreed to buy Filo Corp., owner of the Filo del Sol copper project, and to form a 50/50 joint venture holding Filo del Sol and Lundin's Josemaria project in the Vicuña district on the border of Argentina and Chile. The company expected to pay about US$2.1 billion in cash. Henry said the deal fitted "BHP's strategy to acquire attractive early-stage copper projects and enter into strategic partnerships". By mid-2026 the company said Vicuña was on track for a possible Stage 1 investment decision as early as the end of 2026.

Suspension of Western Australia Nickel

On July 11, 2024, Henry's company announced that it would temporarily suspend its Nickel West operations and the West Musgrave project from October 2024, citing oversupply in the global nickel market and a sharp fall in forward nickel prices. It offered frontline employees other roles or redundancy, and set up an A$20 million community fund. It planned to review the decision by February 2027. Henry had led the turnaround of Nickel West earlier in his career. By 2026 the company was weighing a possible sale of the assets as part of that review.

Financial and market performance

The company's financial year ends on June 30. Its reported results for the years Henry led it were:

Financial year	Revenue (US$ billion)	Underlying attributable profit (US$ billion)
2020	42.9	9.1
2021	60.8	17.1
2022	65.1	23.8
2023	53.8	13.4
2024	55.7	13.7
2025	51.3	10.2
2026	58.8	13.2

The 2020 and 2021 figures include the petroleum business, which later reports reclassified as a discontinued operation after the Woodside merger.

In the 2026 financial year, Henry's last as chief executive, the company reported underlying EBITDA of US$32.9 billion, an underlying return on capital employed of 26.1 percent, and net debt of US$8.7 billion. Dividends for the year totalled 172 US cents a share, or US$8.7 billion. According to BHP, average total shareholder return during Henry's tenure was about 17 percent a year, and the company returned about US$80 billion to shareholders. The 2026 remuneration report gave the five-year total shareholder return as 80 percent.

The company reported about 80,000 employees and contractors in 2021 and more than 90,000 in 2025.

Remuneration

The company's voluntary disclosure of pay "received" by Henry, which differs from the statutory figure, was US$8.47 million for the 2024 financial year. For the 2026 financial year it was about US$10.25 million: a base salary of US$1.957 million, a CDP award of US$5.542 million and LTIP vesting of US$2.467 million. Henry's statutory remuneration for that year was US$9.87 million. Henry's bonus outcome was 110 percent of target for 2025 and 118 percent for 2026.

When he left the board, Henry held 556,394 shares through nominee accounts. He also held 643,505 LTIP performance rights (at their maximum number) and 340,109 CDP deferred rights. Henry's shareholding was 9.2 times his base salary, against a policy minimum of five times.

Board memberships and outside roles

• Executive director of BHP Group Limited, January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2026.
• Vice chair of the Minerals Council of Australia (as of 2019).
• Board member of the Business Council of Australia, appointed in November 2021.
• Member of the Australian federal government's Resources 2030 Taskforce (2018).

Controversies

Samarco dam failure litigation

The Fundão tailings dam at Samarco, a non-operated joint venture between BHP Brasil and Vale, failed on November 5, 2015, four years before Henry became chief executive. On October 25, 2024, Samarco, BHP Brasil and Vale signed an agreement with Brazil's federal government, two state governments, prosecutors and public defenders to settle the main claims in Brazil. Its stated value was R$170 billion (US$31.7 billion) on a 100 percent basis, including R$38 billion already spent. In the release Henry said: "The Samarco Fundão dam failure in 2015 was a terrible tragedy. It should never have happened and must never be forgotten."

A separate group action was brought against BHP in England. On November 14, 2025, the company said the English High Court had found it liable under Brazilian law for the dam failure, and that damages would be decided in later trials expected to finish in 2028 or 2029. It said it would appeal and argued that the UK claims duplicated compensation already paid or available in Brazil. The court found the BHP defendants liable as a "polluter" under Brazilian environmental law and at fault under the Brazilian civil code, but rejected the argument that they were liable under Brazilian corporate law.

Sexual harassment in fly-in, fly-out operations

In August 2021, early in Henry's tenure, the company told a Western Australian parliamentary inquiry into sexual harassment in the fly-in, fly-out mining workforce that it had dismissed 48 people since 2019 over sexual harassment. Between 2019 and 2021 it had six confirmed cases of sexual assault and 73 of sexual harassment at those sites. In 2023, after the company disclosed that substantiated harassment cases had risen to 124 from 103 the year before, Henry said: "There's unacceptable behavior that continues to happen inside the company... we still have some ways to go." That year the company finished a A$300 million programme of security upgrades at its Western Australian mining villages.

Employee underpayment

On June 1, 2023, during Henry's tenure, the company disclosed that about 28,500 current and former rostered employees in Australia had had leave wrongly deducted on public holidays since 2010. It also said about 400 employees at Port Hedland were owed allowances. It estimated the cost of fixing both problems at up to US$280 million before tax, and reported itself to the Fair Work Ombudsman. In a separate dispute over pay at Operations Services, the labour-hire unit Henry had set up, the company was ordered to pay BMA enterprise agreement rates at three Queensland coal mines. In April 2026 the High Court of Australia refused special leave to appeal.

Dispute with the Queensland government over coal royalties

Henry criticised the Queensland government in public after it raised coal royalties in 2022. In July 2022 he said "the near tripling of top end royalties has worsened what was already one of the world's highest coal royalty regimes, threatening investment and jobs in the state". At the World Mining Congress in Brisbane on June 27, 2023, minutes after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk promoted the state to investors, Henry said the increase had been made with "no effort to understand and no interest in understanding". He added: "we will not be investing any further growth dollars in Queensland under the current conditions." Palaszczuk replied that investment in the state had recently risen. In the same speech he criticised the federal government's "same job, same pay" labour legislation. At the 2024 annual general meeting Henry said the royalty regime was pushing the company to invest in Chile or other Australian states. The Liberal National Party government elected in Queensland in October 2024 committed to keeping the royalty tiers across its four-year forward estimates.

Personal life

Henry met his wife while teaching English in Japan, and by 2019 they had been married for 30 years. They have two adult daughters, who in 2019 were living in Canada. Henry and his wife lived in Melbourne from 2016. In 2019 he told the Australian Financial Review: "I've grown up in the Australian mining industry. This feels like home here in Australia."

He took up guitar lessons as an adult, having regretted not learning as a child. "I was shockingly bad then and I'm shockingly bad today," he told the Financial Review. "But it's something I quite enjoy." He has also studied BHP's history closely.

See also

• BHP
• Andrew Mackenzie
• Brandon Craig
• Woodside Energy
• Anglo American plc
• OZ Minerals

External links

• BHP official website