The mining industry has long been a fundamental component of global development, providing essential materials that drive infrastructure, energy, and technology. As the demand for minerals continues to rise, the industry is adapting to new challenges and opportunities. Sustainability, environmental responsibility, and technological innovation are reshaping mining operations, leading to more efficient and eco-friendly practices. From embracing digital transformation to focusing on future-facing commodities such as those required for energy transition, the sector is evolving to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world. This shift reflects the growing importance of sustainability and innovation in ensuring the long-term viability of the industry.
Sevi Rich, Vice President of Global Core Accounts, is a prominent leader at the top of this change, guiding the industry with her forward-thinking leadership. Known for her ability to manage challenging business problems and complex project portfolios and drive strategic innovation, Sevi is shaping the future of mining by combining emerging technologies with sustainable practices. Her career path, which spans across various sectors, has equipped her with the skills to address the multifaceted challenges of the mining industry. Through her visionary approach, she is improving operational efficiencies and cultivating a culture of inclusivity and innovation within her teams.
At Worley, Sevi focuses on enhancing partnerships with core clients, delivering innovative solutions, and ensuring long-term value creation. The company’s global influence, combined with Sevi’s strategic leadership, allows them to co-create solutions that address the evolving needs of their customers while prioritizing sustainability. With an emphasis on aligning business strategies with environmental and social goals, Worley continues to lead in providing innovative, responsible resource management services that position the company as a leader in the future of mining.
Let’s explore Sevi’s inventive leadership journey in mining:
Diverse Career Path in Mining
Sevi’s career trajectory has been diverse, equipping her to understand the challenges faced by the mining industry. She started as a mathematician and data scientist, exploring roles in oil and gas, financial services, and power utilities. These early experiences helped her develop skills in data storytelling and stakeholder management, laying the foundation for her future in mining.
She transitioned into mining through leadership roles, where she oversaw strategic development, business plans, opportunity assessments, and strategic studies. These positions helped her grasp how large organizations function and how to develop scalable and executable strategies. She quickly learned that success in mining required not just a technical focus but a comprehensive understanding of finance, stakeholder requirements, regulations, and operational complexities.
As she advanced, she took on larger leadership roles, managing large P&Ls, driving organizational transformations, leading large project portfolios, and fostering a culture of learning and innovation. These experiences gave her a holistic perspective on being a better leader, creating value, improving overall business outcomes, and managing risks in mining.
More recently, her global executive leadership roles have focused on future-facing commodities, energy transition, and the integration of emerging technologies. These roles allowed her to lead innovation while tackling sustainability and operational excellence.
A key milestone was leading Rio Tinto’s first acquisition integration in over a decade successfully through globally dispersed teams, also establishing processes for both current and future merger integrations. This experience reinforced her belief in global citizenship, strategic partnerships, and transformative leadership.
Innovation-Driven Global Account Strategies
As Vice President of Global Core Accounts at Worley, Sevi focuses on strengthening partnerships with core customers, delivering value, and driving service diversification. She develops and executes global account strategies that emphasize long-term, innovation-driven solutions. A key part of her role is transforming client relationships into strategic business partnerships and co-creating new ways of working to ensure mutual success.
She partners with customers throughout the life cycle of their assets, delivering data-centric and innovative solutions that improve project delivery and value creation. Additionally, she advocates for sustainable outcomes, aligning Worley’s services with environmental and social goals to ensure positive impacts and continued leadership in innovation and responsible resource management.
Empowering Teams Through Inclusivity
Her leadership style is collaborative, transformational, and results-oriented. She nurtures open communication, trust, and innovation, empowering her teams to take ownership of their work. Leading global, diverse teams has taught her the importance of inclusivity and listening to various perspectives.
According to her, essential leadership qualities in this industry include adaptability, guiding teams through uncertainty, and maintaining a strong focus on long-term goals. She also emphasizes creating a psychologically safe environment where team members feel comfortable voicing ideas and concerns.
Commitment to Innovation and Emerging Trends
The ability to think strategically while maintaining a hands-on approach has been key to Sevi’s success. Mining projects involve complexities across engineering, finance, projects, and environmental factors, and a big-picture view is crucial. Relationship-building has also been vital—strong partnerships both within teams and across organizations are critical to delivering successful outcomes.
Resilience and adaptability have been indispensable in navigating the volatile nature of the sector, and her commitment to innovation keeps her ahead of emerging trends like AI and digital transformation.
Encouraging Long-Term Thinking in Teams
She ensures alignment through clear communication, regular strategy sessions, and feedback loops. She makes sure every team member understands the purpose behind what they’re doing, linking their tasks to both the company’s long-term vision and their client’s objectives.
She cultivates a culture of ownership and accountability, encouraging team members to invest personally in their outcomes. She also mentors and coaches her team, helping them develop leadership skills and think long-term.
Prioritizing Continuous Learning and Education
Sevi stays updated by engaging with industry networks, attending conferences, and participating in thought leadership forums. She prioritizes continuous learning through executive education, webinars, and publications from key industry bodies.
Additionally, she proactively follows advancements in other industries, such as tech, manufacturing, and logistics, to understand how their innovations—like digital twins, autonomous systems, or agile methodologies—can be applied to mining.
She also keeps a close eye on technology providers and startups to stay informed about emerging trends such as AI and automation. This outside-in approach helps her bring forward-looking solutions to their projects, driving value beyond traditional mining practices.
Key Traits for Aspiring Leaders
Her advice to aspiring leaders in the minerals, mining and metals industry is to embrace change and adaptability. The industry is evolving rapidly with the rise of technology and sustainability. Aspiring leaders should build knowledge of digital tools and emerging technologies and experiment with them, as these will shape the future.
Focus on building strong relationships, as collaboration is essential in mining. Stay resilient and patient—mining projects take time, and navigating through challenges is part of the process. Commit to continuous learning and experimenting, and be open to diverse roles that expand your skill set.
Nurturing Long-Term, Value-Driven Partnerships in Mining
Sevi’s future goals include continuing to drive innovation and sustainability in the mining industry, particularly through the integration of technologies like AI, machine learning, and automation. She is passionate about enabling the supply of future-facing commodities that will power the global energy transition.
She also aims to lead initiatives that develop long-term, sustainable partnerships between miners and service providers, moving away from transactional models to more value-driven relationships. Ultimately, she wants to contribute to the industry’s transformation by delivering projects that are efficient, profitable, and environmentally responsible.
