Marius Kloppers was born on 26 August 1962 in South Africa. He obtained a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pretoria (South Africa), a PhD from MIT (USA) and a MBA from Insead (France).
His early career was in petrochemicals with Sasol and materials research with Mintek, both in South Africa. After obtaining his MBA he worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co in The Netherlands.

Marius joined the Group in 1993 in the aluminium business and subsequently held a variety of operating and functional roles including General Manager, Hillside Aluminium, and Chief Operating Officer, Aluminium. He was a core member of the team that created the Group’s aluminium business.

Prior to the formation of BHP Billiton, he held other roles including Chief Executive Samancor Manganese and Group Executive of Billiton Plc with responsibility for its coal and manganese businesses.
He played a central role in the merger of BHP and Billiton, and held the positions of Chief Marketing Officer and then Chief Commercial Officer before being appointed Group President, Non-Ferrous Materials and an executive Director of BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton Plc in January 2006.

Marius Kloppers was replaced outgoing chief executive Chip Goodyear on October 1 2007, being 44 years old. BHP chairman Don Argus said the board was confident Kloppers had the skills needed to take BHP to the next stage of its development. By thi time of appointment Kloppers had extensive experience in the operating, marketing and strategic aspects of the natural resources industry and had gained gained through 14 years with BHP Billiton and its predecessor companies.

Marius Kloppers is married to Carin Kloppers, who he met in high school. They live in Melbourne, Australia with their three children, Noni, Reuben and Gabrielle.