Walter Energy Inc, leading publicly traded pure play producer of metallurgical coal for the global steel industry, announced that it has named Mr Walter J "Walt" Scheller III as CEO and has elected him to its board of directors, effective immediately.
Mr Scheller, 50, was previously President US Operations and since joining the Company in June 2010 he has been a key member of the team instrumental in accomplishing a number of milestone initiatives, including the acquisition of Western Coal and the addition of an estimated 68 million metric tons of neighboring metallurgical coal reserves at the Company's Alabama operations.
Mr Scheller was chosen after a thorough search process conducted by Spencer Stuart that included both external and internal candidates. He replaces Mr Joseph B Leonard, a member of Walter Energy's Board who served as interim CEO since August 1.
Mr Michael T Tokarz chairman of the board said “Walt is the ideal individual to provide strong leadership, address the company's near term challenges, and capitalize on our significant organic growth opportunities. He has a unique combination of hands on mining experience as well as both a business and legal background gained over a 30 year career in the natural resources industry. Moreover, he brings fresh perspectives and a diversity of thought from his tenure at other mining companies along with 15 months of on the ground experience at Walter Energy.”
Mr Scheller said “This is an exciting opportunity and my priorities are clear. I will be intensely focused on enhancing shareholder value; leveraging our world class natural resources to drive additional earnings and growth; continuing to serve our customers with high quality product on a timely basis; and re committing our organization to providing a safe and rewarding environment for our employees.”
Scheller joined Walter Energy as president and chief operating officer of its Jim Walter Resources subsidiary. He had spent four years before that at Peabody Energy Corporation, where he was most recently group executive Colorado operations. He had previously served as senior vice president strategic operations for Peabody. Prior to that, he served as vice president, Northern Appalachia Gas Operations for CNX Gas Corporation and before that served in a number of executive and operational roles over 21 years at Consol Energy Inc, most recently as vice president - operations of the company.
He holds a Master's Degree in Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh - Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, a law degree from Duquesne University and a Bachelor's Degree in Mining Engineering from West Virginia University.
