RME appoints new Chief Engineer
26.03.2025Mill relining systems Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), RUSSELL MINERAL EQUIPMENT (RME) announced the appointment of Simon Thompson to the role of Chief Engineer, strengthening RME’s position as the world's most trusted OEM of mill relining technologies and its leadership in the manufacturing of advanced mining technology. As a member of RME's Chief Executive Team, the Chief Engineer oversees RME's Leadership Team, and has accountability and authority for RME’s engineering globally to advance RME’s technology suite and impact.
RME Holdings Board with Simon Thompson. Left to right: RMEH Board Director, Cherylyn Russell; RMEH Chairman and Founder, Dr John Russell; RME Chief Engineer, Simon Thompson; RMEH Board Director, Dr Peter Rubie
© RME
Simon Thompson brings more than a decade of experience in the mining machinery original equipment manufacturer sector, including an oil and gas services company. He joined RME in 2018 as Global Engineering Manager, before being promoted to the role of General Manager, Engineering following a global search supported by renowned global recruiter, Korn Ferry. With continued support from Korn Ferry for the Chief Engineer appointment, Simon Thompson will officially commence in the role of RME Chief Engineer on 26 March 2025.
In its 40-year history, RME has had only two Chief Engineers. Dr Peter Rubie held the position for more than two decades, while RME Founder and Executive Chairman, Dr John Russell held the position most recently. In announcing the appointment, Dr Russell highlighted extraordinary engineering as one of RME’s defining characteristics that will be sustained by Simon Thompson and the RME Engineering Team.
“Since 1985, RME has innovated mill relining technologies and services in the pursuit of removing fatal risk and improving our Customers’ productivity,” Dr Russell said. “Extraordinary engineering is core to that legacy and will be perpetuated by Simon as part of RME’s entrepreneurial leadership team, and nurtured by him within his own leaders and people. Simon’s accessibility and compelling leadership will ensure he continues the development of the imaginations and careers of RME’s Engineering Team, in support of RME’s values and culture.” Dr Russell added: "Simon has a mature, whole-of-business perspective, field and industry experience, youth and compassion, and demonstrates his passion for delivering high-performance and technologically progressive products and solutions to our mill operators and reliners globally. Furthermore, he brings innovation, pragmatism and intellect in support of our Customers, designs, processes and systems.”
RME Chief Executive Team. Left to right: Chief Operations Officer, Geoff Wadsworth; Chief Customer Officer, Eddie Bosnjak; Chief Engineer, Simon Thompson; Chief Financial Officer, John Howard
© RME
Responsible and prudent succession plans
RME entered into a transitional sale agreement with Resource Capital Funds (RCF), including an investment from the Australian Government’s National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) in November 2024. Thompson’s appointment as Chief Engineer is a key milestone in RME’s ownership transition, and provides further evidence of the responsible and prudent succession plans the Company is implementing to continue to strengthen RME for the benefit of its people’s careers and the Customers it serves and keeps safe every day.
RME Holdings Board Director, Dr Peter Rubie described RME’s succession plans as key to ensuring RME continues to reach its next level of technological and operational potential, more quickly, as the world strives for a net zero future. "Successful leadership at RME is highly collaborative, dynamic and exciting. In this way, Simon continues RME's successful and rich tradition of engineering leadership, blending technical rigour with entrepreneurialism,” Dr Rubie said.
RME's engineers’ pioneering safety and productivity technologies are the driving force behind the RME Mill Relining System, including the world’s first semi-autonomous mill relining technology, which is moving reline crews out of harm's way.
RME Engineering Team leadership
© RME
A team greater than the sum of its parts
RME Holdings Board Director, Cherylyn Russell explained that RME’s Chief Engineer is supported by world-class leaders and team members within engineering and other associated disciplines. “The breadth and depth of talent makes the team exceptional, as does the team’s drive to set new industry-wide safety standards and productivity gains, and its dedication to RME’s noble purpose,” Ms Russell said. "Simon has proven to be an empathetic, credible and highly accessible leader of our people in RME's engineering and related disciplines. He loves identifying potential in people and is excited by their growth."
Sustaining engineering excellence and a compassionate and empathetic culture
Simon Thompson holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with First Class Honours from the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), where he also received the Frederick Barnes Waldron Award for attaining the highest overall achievement in the course. He is an active industry representative on UniSQ’s Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering Advisory Committee, a Member of the Institution of Engineers Australia (MIEAust), and a Registered Professional Engineer of Professionals Australia (RPEng). Additionally, Thompson is a named inventor and co-inventor on a number of mechanical device patents.
Simon Thompson said: “Working with RME’s Chief Executive Team is a challenge I gladly embrace, and I look forward to contributing to their strategic and operational insights and practical guidance to RME’s leaders, managers, all personnel and our Customers globally. I joined RME in 2018 to work with an ambitious, strategically minded business with a passion for innovation and excellence. It has proven itself to be a Company with both the willingness and capacity to cater for those who thrive on making positive change. We are proud of the compassionate and empathetic culture we have built as an engineering cohort, and I am committed to ensuring we sustain that culture. The Engineering Team’s innovations are essential for our Customers and crucial for maximising mill availability, driving significant safety and commercial benefits industry-wide. We have dedicated ourselves to continually optimising and improving the safety and productivity of mineral processing operations for our Customers.”
