2027 Speakers

William (Bill) F. Oplinger is President and Chief Executive Officer of Alcoa Corporation, a global industry leader in bauxite, alumina, and aluminum. He is also a Director of Alcoa Corporation.

Bill served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of Alcoa from February 2023 until his election as President and Chief Executive Officer on September 24, 2023, and was responsible for the daily operations of the Company’s global bauxite, alumina, and aluminum assets.

From November 2016 to February 2023, Bill was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company. Prior to the separation of Alcoa Inc. into two publicly-traded companies in 2016, Bill had been Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, a position he assumed in 2013. He has deep experience leading Alcoa’s finance function, having overseen for treasury, pension, tax, controllership, financial planning and analysis, audit, investor relations and transformation.

Previously at Alcoa Inc., Bill served as Chief Operating Officer for Alcoa Global Primary Products (GPP) responsible for day-to-day operations of its five businesses – mining, refining, smelting, casting and energy. In this role, he oversaw extensive restructuring of the upstream business with an emphasis on optimizing the group’s centers of excellence (COE’s), including the launch of the mining COE. Earlier, Bill served as Chief Financial Officer of GPP.

In addition, Bill previously held key corporate financial positions in Financial Analysis & Planning and as Director of Investor Relations. He has also held major assignments in the GPP business, including Controller and Operational Excellence Director. Earlier in his career, Bill held engineering, marketing management and business planning positions with Westinghouse and Emerson Electric.

Bill earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Virginia Tech and a Master of Science with honors in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.

"The future of mining will be built through partnership, and Mining Indaba provides a unique opportunity to bring industry, governments and investors together. Africa's mining sector has tremendous potential, and forums like this help create the dialogue and collaboration needed to unlock that value responsibly."