The board of directors of the National Mining Association (NMA) have named Jack N. Gerard as the association''s new president and CEO.
Gerard will succeed Richard Lawson, NMA''s president and CEO for the past 13 years, who is retiring at the end of the year.
"Gerard brings a wealth of experience and government relations expertise to the job. He is an excellent communicator who is well acquainted with many of the issues facing the mining industry," said NMA Chairman Steven Leer, president and CEO of Arch Coal Inc. "His wide experience on Capitol Hill will allow him to make very significant contributions to the mining industry in the years ahead."
Leer said Gerard was selected from a groups of several candidates that were interviewed by a search committee over the past year.
Gerard is currently chairman and CEO of the government relations consulting firm of McClure, Gerard and Neuenschwander Inc., which specializes in representing natural resource an energy clients.
Here, Gerard had managed and organized the Mineral Resource Alliance in the early 1990s with 23 CEOs involved with the mining industry representing most of the mineral production in the United States. This effort was focused on reforming the 1872 Mining Law.
Gerard is a graduate of George Washington University, Washington, D.C., where he received a bachelor''s degree in Political Science with Honors and a Juris Doctor degree.
Gerard will officially join NMA on Nov. 1 and work with retiring Lawson in the transition process through the end of the year.
by Virginia Sutcliffe