Smiths Group plc has announced the appointment of Steve Williams to take over as chair of the board from Sir George Buckley. Williams will take his place on the board on 1 September, with Sir George intending to retire at the conclusion of the company’s AGM in November.

With over 40 years of global business experience, Williams is currently chair of aluminium multinational the Alcoa Corporation, and a non-executive director of Enbridge Inc. Previously a non-executive director at TC Energy Corporation, Williams served as an advisory board member of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission.

Williams was an executive at Suncor Energy for 17 years, across a number of senior roles including CEO, CFO, and COO. He spent the first 18 years of his career at ExxonMobil in the UK in a variety of commercial, operational, and technical roles.

Sir George Buckley, chair of Smiths Group, said: “I am pleased to welcome Steve to the Board of Smiths, and I wish him, the company, and our people every future success.”

CEO Paul Keel added: “As a global business headquartered in the UK, we are pleased that Steve shares our British heritage and global outlook. I thank George for his many contributions to Smiths and look forward to working with Steve to build on our strong momentum.”