Julian Ogilvie Thompson

Who is Julian Ogilvie Thompson?

Julian Ogilvie Thompson is a South African businessman and former chairman of De Beers and Anglo American mining.

Ogilvie Thompson was educated at Diocesan College in Cape Town and the University of Oxford. In 1957, he became personal assistant to Harry Oppenheimer and joined the Anglo American finance division in 1961. He went on to manage and head this division and also joined the De Beers board in 1966.

Ogilvie Thompson was appointed an executive director of Anglo American in 1971 and succeeded Harry Oppenheimer as chairman of Minorco in 1982 and as chairman of De Beers in 1985. He succeeded Gavin Relly as chairman of Anglo American in 1990 and retired as chairman of De Beers in 1997 to become a non-executive deputy chairman.

After leading the 1999 merger of Anglo American and Minorco, Ogilvie Thompson became its chairman and CEO. He was succeeded by Tony Trahar in 2000 but continued as a non-executive chairman.

He also resigned as deputy chairman of De Beers in 2002, but continued to be a non-executive director.

He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation.