Lynch was born in
Broken Hill in Western
New South Wales (NSW) in 1953.[3][4] His grandfather, Paddy O'Neill, was a notable union leader in Broken Hill.[5][6]
After moving from Broken Hill, where he played for the North Broken Hill Football Club, Lynch played for
Geelong Football Club, making his debut in the
Victorian Football League (VFL, now AFL) in 1972. He played twice in 1972 and a further three times in 1974. He was a member of the Geelong team that won the VFL reserves premiership in 1975.[13][14][15][16][17]
Business life
Lynch joined
Alcoa in 1979, where he rose through the levels, becoming chief financial officer, Alcoa Europe, in
Lausanne, Switzerland. He was also managing director of KAAL Australia Ltd, a joint venture company formed by Alcoa and
Kobe Steel.[18] In 1999, Lynch was appointed vice president and chief information officer.[19][20]
In 2000, Lynch was head-hunted by
BHP Billiton as chief financial officer of the company's Minerals Group.[21][22] He became chief financial officer of the group in September 2001.[23] Lynch was appointed an executive director of BHP Billiton and member of its board in January 2006.[24][25] He was subsequently appointed as group president of BHP Billiton's Carbon Steel Materials division in April 2006. After being passed over for the BHP Billiton CEO role, Lynch retired from the company in June 2007.[26][27][28][29]
He was elected a member of the
AFL Commission at the end of 2007, retiring from the role in 2014.[34][35]
In 2011, Lynch was appointed to the
Rio Tinto board as a non-executive director.[27] He was the chief financial officer of Rio Tinto from April 2013 to September 2018.[32][36][37][38][39][13][40]
In 2020, Lynch joined the board of Australian bank
Westpac.[8]
References
^Williams, Felicity (26 October 2007). "Lynch takes the leap". The Age. p. 84. Broken Hill-born Mr Lynch, who has worked in the mining industry for 30 years
^Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia Of AFL Footballers. BAS Publishing.
ISBN9781920910785.