Mark N. Schroeder will continue as senior vice president and CFO, while assuming additional responsibilities for corporate development activities; Robert W. Bennett will continue as senior vice president and chief marketing officer; and Joseph W. Bean will continue as senior vice president-law and administration, general counsel and corporate secretary. The company announced Thomas H. “Pete” Simpson has been named operations manager responsible for all operations at the Federal No. 2 mine and its supporting facilities. Simpson will succeed Joseph B. “Blair” McGill, who will be retiring from the company in January 2011, and will report to James N. Magro, senior vice president of underground mining. Rashda M. Buttar, vice president and associate general counsel of Patriot, a recipient of the 2010 Most Influential Business Women Award sponsored by the St. Louis Business Journal. Separately, she was also honored with the 2010 Women’s Justice Enterprise Award sponsored by Missouri Lawyers Weekly.
Pike River Coal Ltd. has appointed Peter W Whittall CEO.
Massey Energy recently announced the promotion of three executives: Andrew Hampton was promoted to vice president of corporate development; Roger Hendriksen was promoted to vice president of investor relations; and Jason Whitehead was promoted to vice president of underground operations. Hampton will be responsible for managing Massey’s acquisitions, divestitures and other strategic business development opportunities. Hendriksen will liaison between Massey and the investment community. He was previously director of investor relations. Whitehead will be responsible for the day-to-day oversight and management of all of the company’s underground mines. He most recently was director of underground improvement.
International Coal Group (ICG) has promoted Charles G. Snavely to the newly created position of executive vice president of mining operations. He will be responsible for all ICG mining operations in addition to corporate oversight of safety and compliance performance. Gary A. Patterson has been promoted to senior vice president of operations with responsibility for the West Virginia and Maryland Region. Scott Perkins will continue to serve as senior vice president of operations for the Kentucky Region, but his area of responsibility will be expanded to include operations in Illinois. Patterson and Perkins will report to Snavely, who reports to Ben Hatfield, CEO, ICG.
Randy Hansford has been appointed vice president of West Virginia operations for United Coal Co. Hansford will serve as president of Pocahontas Coal Co. in Beckley, W.Va., and Carter Roag Coal Co. in Mill Creek, W.Va. He will also serve as chairman of the board of managers of Affinity Coal Co., an independently managed subsidiary of UCC that is developing the Affinity Complex located in southern Raleigh County, W.Va. Hansford has served as president of Riverton Coal, where he managed five business units, four of which were located in West Virginia.
CONSOL Energy has appointed Brandon R. Elliott vice president of investor and public relations.
Michael Karmis, who holds the Stonie Barker Professorship of Mining and Minerals Engineering at Virginia Tech, will receive an honorary degree from the Scientific Council of Moscow State Mining University in Russia this fall. Moscow State Mining University said it was awarding Karmis a “Doctor Honoris Causa” honorable title as recognition of his personal contribution to the establishment and development of the scientific and educational collaboration and international relations between higher mining education institutions worldwide. Karmis also serves as the director of the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research.
Savage Companies has appointed Gennaro Patella vice president and general manager for CANAC Railway Services, based in Montreal, Quebec.
AK Steel has appointed Gary T. Barlow vice president of sales and customer service. He succeeds Douglas W. Gant, who is retiring after 30 years of service.
KBR has appointed Ron Gualy vice president of coal monetization for the company’s technology business unit.
