Dive Brief:

• Aluminum producer Alcoa Corporation tapped controller and SVP Molly Beerman to serve as its CFO as part of an executive leadership restructuring aimed at strengthening the company’s focus on operational excellence, cost and innovation, the company announced Tuesday in a press release.  
• Beerman, a long-time company veteran, will step into the CFO seat effective Feb. 1, according to the release, as part of a host of other executive leadership changes by the company. Alcoa’s current CFO William Oplinger will become its chief operations officer, while Renato Bacchi, its chief strategy officer, will take on additional responsibilities as chief strategy and innovation officer, the company announced. Both changes are effective Feb. 1.
• Two Alcoa executives — John Slaven, current EVP and chief operations officer and Benjamin Kahrs, its chief innovation officer — will also be departing from the aluminum producer as part of the executive restructuring, according to the Tuesday release.

Dive Insight:

Beerman has served controller for the Pittsburgh, Penn.-based company since December 2016, according to a Jan. 10 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. She departed to serve as VP of finance and administration for non-profit organization The Pittsburgh Foundation for a two year period.

Starting in 2001 until 2012, Beerman also held various executive and financial roles for Alcoa Inc. — which separated into two companies, Alcoa Corp. and Arconic Inc. in 2016 — according to her LinkedIn profile. Her predecessor Oplinger joined the company in 2000, according to the filing, and served as Alcoa Inc.’s CFO beginning in April 2013 up until its separation into two entities in November 2016. Oplinger, 55, then took the mantle as Alcoa Corp.’s finance chief beginning that month, according to the filing.

As CFO, Beerman’s base salary will be increased to $641,500, with an annual incentive target opportunity of 100% of her base, according to the SEC filing.  

The aluminum producer’s executive leadership changes are coming as the company faces pricing instability and skyrocketing energy and material costs, both of which were cited as factors which led to a challenging third quarter for the company. Improving costs will remain as a key focus for the company, and its newly-minted CFO, with the restructuring, according to company statements. 

“This restructuring will ensure continued improvement and focus on Alcoa’s strategies to operate as a low-cost, margin-focused, sustainable producer,” Alcoa Corp. CEO and president Roy Harvey said in a statement.

Alcoa, alongside others in the metal industry, was also impacted by geopolitical factors such as the war in Ukraine, which contributed to high energy costs and production uncertainty especially in Europe. The aluminum market was “significantly impacted” by the European energy crisis, which is “rooted in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Harvey said during the company’s third quarter earnings call on Oct. 19, 2022.

Alcoa announced it would no longer buy raw materials from Russia, as well as halted the sale of raw materials to Russia, in a March 2022 letter to employees.

Alcoa reported a net loss of $746 million for its third quarter of 2022, as well as a 22% decline in revenue to $2.8 billion compared to $3.6 billion in the prior quarter, according to its third quarter earnings results. The decline was driven by slumping alumina and aluminum prices while costs of raw materials increased, Oplinger said during the company’s third quarter earnings call.

The aluminum company is expected to report its fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings on Jan. 18.