October 12, 2024: A 39-year old, ex-army officer who has had a rapid career ascent at global trading house, Trafigura, has been named its new CEO.

Richard Holtum will take over as chief executive of Trafigura from January, becoming the group’s third CEO after only ten years at the company. He follows founder Claude Dauphin and outgoing chief executive, Jeremy Weir.

Insiders say that the rise of former Sandhurst-trained Holtum within the Swiss trading house, one of the world’s largest, signals a new era for the company as it moves beyond its roots in oil and metals trading and expands into renewable power and gas.

Holtum joined Trafigura’s LNG team in 2014 via its junior trading programme and rose rapidly through the ranks becoming global head of LNG and Gas in 2019 and playing a significant part in growing the company’s integrated LNG and natural gas trading activity into a global business.

He was then appointed global head of gas and power in 2022, with responsibility for building Trafigura’s presence in the fast-evolving gas, power and carbon markets. His job was expanded to include responsibility for renewables in 2023. 

Board member Sipko Schat said Holtum would take the company “through the next phase of its evolution”, and praised his record of building Trafigura’s gas, power and renewables business.

He takes over the helm following a series of changes at the top of the business in the past 12 months. Former chief operating officer Mike Wainwright retired in April, while the former head of oil José Maria Larocca left at the end of last month. Both had helped run the business, alongside Weir, since the 2015 death of Dauphin. Chief financial officer Christophe Salmon retired in June after 12 years at the company.

Before Trafigura, Holtum worked on rival trader Glencore’s crude oil desk. Outgoing CEO Jeremy Weir, who held the position for over 10 years, will take up the task of group chairman on January 1.