Tito Martins, Vale Canada's chief executive officer, will be here in Thompson today for a series of closed-door meetings with Mayor Tim Johnston and the other members of city council, "as well as with employees on-site and hopefully with the president of Local 6166 (Murray Nychyporuk)," says Cory McPhee, vice-president of corporate affairs at Vale's headquarters for base metals in Toronto.
No public meetings or events are planned today, McPhee says.
"As you can appreciate, not a lot of time has passed since we announced our future plans for the Thompson Operations and our focus at this time is on meeting stakeholders, listening to their concerns and as much as possible ensuring common understanding on everyone's part of the path ahead," says McPhee. "This is a necessary first step in the process."
McPhee joined the old Inco public affairs department in 1989 after studying science at Laurentian University and journalism at Cambrian College. He became director of corporate affairs in May 2007 and was named vice-president for corporate affairs in July 2009.
Martins last met in Toronto Nov. 24 with Johnston, Nychyporuk, Manitoba Innovation, Energy and Mining minister Dave Chomiak and Thompson NDP MLA Steve Ashton, who is also minister of infrastructure and transportation.
Federal officials have been much more reluctant to come to the table. While Steve Ashton, Johnston and Nychyporuk have met with Conservative Vic Toews, the federal cabinet minister responsible for Manitoba, federal Industry Minister Tony Clement held only a brief perfunctory meeting with Churchill NDP MP Niki Ashton in Ottawa Nov. 25. Niki Ashton did not take part in the meeting with Toews that Johnston and Nychyporuk were at Nov. 25.
"Still waiting for a firm date to meet with the key federal ministers in Ottawa about Vale's announced cuts to Thompson," Steve Ashton said Dec. 1, as Manitoba's NDP provincial cabinet minters continue to be largely rebuffed by the Harper government in Ottawa. "The federal government has to be part of the solution," Steve Ashton said.
Martins is part of an eight-member worldwide executive management team headed by President and CEO Roger Agnelli. Other member of that team include Jose Carlos Martins, Vale's executive director for marketing, sales and strategy; Carla Grasso, Vale's executive director for human resources and corporate service; Eduardo de Salles Bartolomeo, executive director of integrated bulk operations; Guilherme Perboyre Cavalcanti, Vale's executive director for finance and investor relations and chief financial officer; Eduardo Ledsham, executive director for exploration, energy and projects management; and Mario Alves Barbosa Neto, executive director of Vale's new fertilizers division.
Martins, a former Vale communications executive, was appointed as president and CEO of its Vale nickel subsidiary in December 2008. Martins, who has worked for Vale since 1985, was previously executive director for corporate affairs and energy.
Martins has a bachelor's degree in economics from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and a master's degree in management from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (IEAD). He has attended other executive education programs at INSEAD's European campus in Fontainebleau in France, an hour away from Paris, and at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Rio de Janeiro-based Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, commonly known simply as Vale, purchased Inco in a $19.9-billion all-cash takeover offer deal in October 2006. Valepar SA, the company that controls Vale, is owned by Previ, the employee pension fund of state-controlled Banco do Brasil SA; Bradespar SA, an industrial holding company; Mitsui & Co, Japan's second-largest trading company; and BNDES Participações SA. Created on June 1, 1942 by the Brazilian government, Vale was privatized on May 7, 1997.
Vale announced Nov. 17 it plans to phase out its smelting and refinery operations at Manitoba Operations by 2015, eliminating 500 jobs or 40 per cent of its local workforce, and focus on "developing new sources of ore as it transitions its operations to mining and milling...."
