Kirby Clarke Adams Elected to UVA Darden School Foundation Board of Trustees

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business and the Darden School Foundation today announced the election of a new trustee, Kirby Clarke Adams (MBA ’79), whose three-year term began 1 July.

“We are very excited for Kirby to join our board,” said Phil Knisely, outgoing chair of the Darden School Foundation Board of Trustees. “His extensive international leadership experience in the metals and mining industries brings a unique background to the board of trustees, and we look forward to drawing from his experience.”

Kirby Adams is currently the deputy chair of Trans-Tasman Resources Limited (TTR), headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand. Trans-Tasman Resources Limited is a private New Zealand company partly owned by USA private equity established in 2007 to explore and develop the North Island’s west coast iron sand deposits.

From 1988 to 1995, Adams was president and CEO of TIMET, the world’s largest producer of titanium metal. In 1995 he relocated to Melbourne, Australia, to join BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company. In 2002, as managing director and CEO, Adams led the successful IPO and spinout of BHP Steel to become BlueScope Steel Limited, where he rejuvenated and repositioned Australia’s leading steelmaker into the global leader in steel building products. More recently he was CEO at Corus Group (Tata Steel Europe), where he successfully led, motivated, restructured and turned around Europe’s second largest steel company post-global financial crisis and led the global finance, strategy and safety functions for Tata Steel, as well as served on its board of directors in Mumbai, India. He previously served as chair and vice chair of the World Steel Association and International Iron and Steel Institute. Other previous board service includes serving as a board member for the Business Council of Australia, chair of the Titanium Development Association, and vice president and board member of the Peak European Steel Industry Association.

“Kirby brings valuable insights to the Darden School Foundation Board of Trustees,” said Bob Bruner, dean of the Darden School of Business. “The board of trustees and I enthusiastically welcome him, and we look forward to benefiting from the impacts of his service to Darden.”

In addition to his MBA from Darden, Adams holds a B.S. in engineering from Auburn University. As a United States and Australian citizen, he currently resides in Incline Village, Nevada and Melbourne, Australia.