Anglo American plc announcef the appointment of Alison Atkinson as Group Director - Projects & Development and a member of Anglo American's Group Management Committee, to take effect during the second quarter of 2023. Alison is currently the CEO of AWE, an arms-length body of the UK Government responsible for developing and maintaining essential elements of the UK's nuclear deterrent, incorporating some of the world's most advanced research and production capabilities. Alison Atkinson has served as the Chief Executive Officer of AWE plc since 2020, an organisation with a critical mission to support the defence and security of the UK.

She joined AWE in 2005 and has fulfilled a number of senior roles in that time, delivering multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects and technology programmes and developing capabilities and products that support the UK's nuclear defence programme. Prior to AWE, Alison spent 14 years at Halcrow, the global engineering consultancy, managing a wide variety of capital projects in the UK and overseas in both the public and private sectors. A champion for diversity in science and engineering, Alison was voted the sixth most 'Influential Female Engineer in the UK and Europe' by the Financial Times and Inclusive Boards in 2019.

Alison has a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) from the University of Manchester, UK, is a Chartered Civil Engineer and is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. She is a non-executive director of Kier Group plc and Chair of its Safety, Health and Environment committee.