Richard C. Adkerson, president and CEO of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., will receive The Copper Club’s Ankh Award naming him The Copper Man of the Year 2009 in recognition of his strong leadership at Freeport and in the global mining industry.
The award will be presented at The Copper Club’s 2009 annual dinner June 3 at The Rainbow Room, 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City.
The Copper Club was formed in 1944 to convene those involved in all aspects of the copper industry to work toward common goals in promoting a vital metal for the global economy.
Adkerson, 62, joined Freeport-McMoRan in 1989 shortly after discovery of the Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia and helped manage its development into the world’s largest single reserve of both copper and gold.
He led Freeport-McMoRan’s $26 billion acquisition of Phelps Dodge Corp. in 2007, at the time the largest acquisition in the history of the mining industry, the subsequent integration of the two companies and the company’s rapid pay-down of acquisition debt.
The transaction transformed Freeport-McMoRan into the world’s largest publicly traded copper company, a global mining leader with headquarters in Phoenix and active mining operations in North and South America, Indonesia and Africa.
The company has a dynamic portfolio of operating, expansion and growth projects in the copper industry and is the world’s largest producer of molybdenum.
Copper Club Chairman Arthur Miele said the executive committee’s selection of Adkerson to receive the Ankh Award was unanimous because of “the exemplary leadership he has provided Freeport-McMoRan and the outstanding level of service he has rendered to our industry, both nationally and internationally.
“His diligence in developing and implementing practical solutions to critical problems will offer long-lasting benefit to every sector of our business and his hard work and firm commitment to sustainable development both at his company and the global copper mining industry has surely created a brighter outlook for the future of copper.
“Equally noteworthy is the fact that he accomplished much of this in challenging economic times.”
Adkerson graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor’s in accounting with highest honors and an MBA degree. He later completed the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School.
Prior to joining Freeport-McMoRan, he was a partner and managing director of Arthur Andersen & Co. In 1976, he was tapped for a coveted two-year fellowship with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. He participates in a number of community, charitable, educational and industry organizations.
