Sam Walsh (businessman)
Sam Walsh AO (born 27 December 1949) is an Australian businessman who was elected to the Mitsui & Co board as a non-executive Director on 21 June 2017. Prior to this he was chief executive officer (CEO) of London-based mining company Rio Tinto Group, from 2013 to 2016. Prior to becoming CEO of Rio Tinto, Walsh served as Rio Tinto chief of the Iron Ore group, and of Rio Tinto Australia. Based in the Australian city of Perth, he oversaw company's mining operations and expansions in Pilbara, Western Australia. Early life Sam Walsh was born 1949 and he grew up in the Melbourne seaside suburb of Brighton. He was one of five children. As a boy he actively engaged in weekly church going, scouting, and learning to play the piano and the trumpet. When Walsh was 15, his father was ill and after a series of operations his father died suddenly of a heart attack. Walsh described the death of his father as a time when everything changed. "My mother had never even written a cheque, she had never looked after the bills and that was a role I stepped into. I was managing the home finances and being the