Ferguson joins Weir Group board

WEIR Group yesterday recruited heavy-hitting industrialist Alan Ferguson as a non-executive director with immediate effect.

The former chief financial officer of platinum miner Lonmin will take over as head of the firm’s audit committee from Stephen King when he retires from the board May 2012.

Since Ferguson’s departure from Lonmin, he has built a portfolio of non-executive positions. In July he was appointed to the board of speciality chemicals firm, Croda, while he also took a position at mining chemicals firm Johnson Matthey at the start of the year.

Ferguson left Lonmin in December. The company said at the time that his departure was “the last step” in the transition of its operational management from London to South Africa which followed a failed takeover of the firm by Xstrata that was derailed by the financial crisis in 2008.

Prior to his work at the mining group, Ferguson was group finance director of industrial gas company BOC Group. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.