Cynthia Carroll is an American businessperson. She is the chief executive officer of Anglo American PLC, a London, UK  mining company, which, among other things, is the world's largest platinum producer.

On October 24, 2006, Carroll was hired by Anglo American, and joined the board in January 2007, becoming chief executive at the beginning of March 2007. She chairs Anglo American’s Executive Committee and sits on the Safety and Sustainable Development Committee. She is one of only three female Chief Executives of FTSE 100

FTSE 100 Index

The FTSE 100 Index, also called FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the footsie , is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange....

 companies and the first non-South African to hold the post with Anglo American.

In 2008, she was ranked by the magazine Forbes

Forbes

Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

 as the fifth most powerful woman in the world. She was ranked fourth by the same list in 2009.

Her annual salary at Anglo American is £1,050,000 with an annual bonus of £319,000.

Carroll previously worked with the Montreal, Canada headquartered Alcan

Alcan

Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. is a Canadian company based in Montreal. It was created on November 15, 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto PLC's Canadian subsidiary, Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc., and Canadian company Alcan Inc. On the same date, Alcan Inc. was renamed Rio Tinto Alcan Inc..Rio...

, as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Primary Metal Group since 2002. She joined Alcan in 1989. In January 1996, she was promoted to managing director of the Aughinish Alumina division, located on Aughinish Island, Askeaton, County, Limerick, Ireland. Before joining Alcan, she worked for Amoco

Amoco

Amoco Corporation, originally Standard Oil Company , was a global chemical and oil company, founded in 1889 around a refinery located in Whiting, Indiana, United States....

, which is now part of British Petroleum, for eight years as a petroleum geologist, from 1982 to 1987, working in gas and oil exploration in Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, and Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

.

She is married with four children.

Early years and career

Carroll graduated from Skidmore College

Skidmore College

Skidmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students. The college is located in the town of Saratoga Springs, New York State....

 in 1978, a Bachelor of Science in Geology. She holds a Masters of Science degree in Geology from the University of Kansas

University of Kansas

The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...

 (1982) and a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 (1989).

She formerly served as a director of Sara Lee and AngloGold Ashanti Limited. She also sits on the Boards of American Aluminium Association and the International Aluminium Institute.

Cynthia Carroll has launched a number of new initiatives within the business, including an asset optimisation project; the introduction of the value based management methodology within Anglo American; and a push to improve safety performance. In 2007, she closed two platinum shafts in South Africa following a number of fatalities until the workforce received more safety training She participated in the Tripartite Safety Summit in 2008 with union, government and industry representatives to address safety concerns in the mining industry Since Cynthia Carroll took over as chief executive, Anglo American has acquired stakes in two copper projects Michiquillay in Peru and Pebble in the US; a coal company Foxleigh in Australia; and the iron ore project in Brazil, Minas-Rio.

Criticism and controversy

Carroll was personally attacked while at Anglo American for her responsibility in the conglomerate's dismal labour rights record as well as her role in several environmentally controversial projects piloted by the company. Carroll was most notably nicknamed by Grist Magazine

Grist Magazine

Grist is a free American liberal non-profit online magazine that has been publishing environmental news and commentary with a wry twist since 1999. Grists taglines are "Gloom and doom with a sense of humor" and "A beacon in the smog"...

 "Cyanide Cynthia, world's biggest Scrooge

Miser

A miser, cheapskate, snipe-snout, penny pincher, piker, scrooge, skinflint or tightwad is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities...

" for her role in the Pebble Mine

Pebble Mine

Pebble Mine is the common name of an advanced mineral exploration project investigating a very large porphyry copper, gold, and molybdenum mineral deposit in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska, near Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark. The proposal to mine the ore deposit, using large-scale...

 project in Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

.
Carroll’s strategy for Anglo has attracted plenty of criticism. Some shareholders see her modernisation plans as too radical for a company that has historically had such an important role in the South African economy, while others complain that the company has been undermanaged, and that she has not yet delivered on her proposals. And Anglo’s recent decision to suspend its dividend has drawn criticism.

Carroll has implemented measures to address safety concerns Anglo American responded to the allegations in the War on Want report and separately disclosed its safety performance in its annual earnings report.

The Grist magazine nickname was later discussed in a Fast Company

Fast Company (magazine)

Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...

magazine article that profiled Carroll’s initiatives surrounding the Pebble Mine project. In 2007, Carroll issued a series of social, environmental and economic commitments on behalf of the Pebble Partnership to address concerns from the local community