Zlatko Todorcevski will take up the position on July 1 as part of a transition phase with his predecessor Mike Kane who is retiring from the company in September.

Mr Todorcevski, 52, was born in Macedonia before his family moved to Australia and settled in Wollongong.

He will now oversee a workforce of 26,000 people in the international building products and construction materials group that was founded in Sydney in 1946.

Mr Todorcevski said he was looking forward to the challenges ahead.

"It's a great honour to be appointed as Boral's next CEO and Managing Director. I see my job as helping to shape Boral's future and ensuring that a company with such a proud 75-year history and heritage continues to thrive and prosper for many years into the future," he said.

"This is a great, iconic Australian company, with an excellent brand, a committed and passionate workforce, strong market positions, and solid underlying business fundamentals. But it is fair to say that in recent times, the company has not performed in line with the market's or the Board's expectations.

"Boral has the potential to perform at a higher level and to be recognised as a great business, which is what attracted me to the position in the first place.

"My brief is straight forward: to use my strategic and commercial expertise and knowledge of the sector to strengthen the business so that we are delivering attractive returns for our shareholders, doing a great job for our customers, and ensuring we run a safe and sustainable company for our people and the communities in which we operate.

"As the Board made clear to me through the selection process, there are no sacred cows when it comes to our strategy and our portfolio. We will spend the next few months working on how to refocus Boral to deliver for our customers, our people and shareholders.

"These are tough times for all organisations - the economic impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic are still to fully play out.

"As COVID 19 lockdowns ease in our key markets, we need to be sure that Boral is well placed to take advantage of opportunities currently in the pipeline or created through stimulus activities, and to emerge as a strong business ready to grow and deliver acceptable returns".

After completing a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Wollongong in 1991 and a Master of Business Administration in 1994 Mr Todorcevski enjoyed a 23 year career with BHP starting with 10 years at Lysaghts, the downstream building products arm of what was then BHP Steel, working in marketing, finance, strategy and new product development.

During the next 13 years he went on to hold executive roles with BHP's Petroleum business including vice president Finance and Development for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and vice president Finance and Planning for Australia and Asia. He was appointed chief financial officer of BHP Energy in 2005, a role that saw him initially based in the UK before moving to the United States. He has also worked in Africa, Russia and Latin America.

Mr Todorcevski's 30 year career has provided him international experience in steel building products, oil and gas, and logistics with roles in finance, business planning and strategy.

During the last decade he was chief financial officer of Brambles Limited from 2012 to 2016 and Oil Search from 2009 to 2012.

The last three years have seen him serve on the board of construction materials company, Adelaide Brighton Limited, where he has been chairman since May 2019.

He is also a member of the Coles Group board where he is chair of the Audit and Risk Committee as well as the Star Entertainment Group board where he is chair of the Audit Committee.

From January 2016 Mr Todorcevski served two years as chairman for the Group of 100, the peak body for Australia's Chief Financial Officers. And in December 2017 he completed 18 months as the chairman of the ASIC Accounting and Auditing Standing Committee.

He is also a Fellow of CPA Australia, a Fellow of FINSIA, a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Boral Limited chairman Kathryn Fagg said Mr Todorcevski was appointed chief executive and managing director after an extensive search. She described him as an outstanding candidate with exceptional commercial acumen, strategic insight and a focus on return on capital.

Read more:

We depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.

Sign up for our newsletters for the latest news