# Northern Star Hands Top Job to Glencore Executive After Investor Revolt > Australia's largest gold miner has turned to a 25 year mining veteran from Glencore to replace its long serving chief executive, after an activist investor built a stake worth roughly 716 million dollars and pushed for change. - Source: South East Money - Canonical URL: https://southeastmoney.id/article/northern-star-glencore-executive-new-ceo - Author: South East Money Editorial - Section: Business - Published: 2026-07-02T11:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-02T11:00:00.000Z - Tags: Northern Star Resources, Glencore, Gold Mining, Elliott Management, CEO Appointment --- Northern Star Resources, Australia's biggest gold producer, has named Glencore executive Suresh Vadnagra as its next chief executive, ending months of pressure from an activist shareholder that had been agitating for a management shake up. Vadnagra currently oversees Glencore's nickel and zinc industrial assets and brings more than 25 years of experience across major global mining operations, including an earlier stint at Newcrest where he ran major projects, technical teams and technology functions. He is set to take over as managing director and chief executive on October 5, with chief financial officer Ryan Gurner holding the role on an interim basis until then. ## A costly exit for the outgoing chief Vadnagra will replace Stuart Tonkin, who spent 13 years leading the company before announcing his resignation in May following a run of production setbacks and a slide in the share price. Northern Star has also confirmed a leadership change at board level, with chairman Michael Chaney set to retire in November and be succeeded by fellow director Michael Ashforth. The incoming chief executive's pay package includes a base salary of 2.2 million dollars, a sign on payment of 1.6 million dollars and roughly 4 million dollars in sign on shares, to be delivered across three tranches running through to October 2028. ## Elliott's billion dollar push The leadership overhaul follows a public campaign by activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which disclosed in early June that it had built a stake worth about 1 billion Australian dollars, or roughly 716 million US dollars, in Northern Star. Elliott had criticized the company over cost overruns, operational inconsistency and what it called scattered decision making, and pressed the board to bring in a chief executive with proven turnaround experience as part of a broader strategic review. --- Originally published by South East Money. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://southeastmoney.id/article/northern-star-glencore-executive-new-ceo.