Organization and Structure
Alliance Organization
The FutureGen Industrial Alliance, Inc. is structured as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization in order to focus on technology advancement rather than profits. Alliance members contributing to the project do not receive any direct financial returns from participation in FutureGen. All revenue from the sale of any marketable byproducts will be returned to the non-profit. This arrangement enables the Alliance members to focus on developing innovative approaches to generating electricity from coal in a cleaner way than ever envisioned. The non-profit structure will enable the Alliance to take more risk in experimenting with advanced technologies than would be the case if traditional measures of financial return were considered.
Board Members
| Sean D. Major Chairman of the Board |
Greg A. Walker Secretary and Treasurer |
| Frederick Palmer Member at Large |
Mick Buffier Member at Large |
| Ian Hall Member at Large |
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| Management Team | |
| Kenneth K. Humphreys Chief Executive Officer |
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Sean D. Major – Chairman of the Board
Mr. Major is responsible for Joy Global’s legal affairs, including its two primary business segments, P&H Mining and Joy Mining Machinery. Prior to joining Joy Global, he was employed by Johnson Controls, Inc., holding roles with increasing legal responsibility. Mr. Major started his in house career with Abbott Laboratories as Counsel International after working for seven years in private practice with law firms in Chicago and Tokyo. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics from DePauw University, his juris doctor degree from Indiana University, and his masters of business administration from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Greg A. Walker – Secretary and Treasurer
Greg Walker assumed the position of Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for Foundation Coal in July 2004. Effective August 1, 2009, Foundation Coal Corporation was merged into its parent company, Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. In this position he oversees the legal, land, environmental and government affairs functions of a major U.S. coal producer. He has more than 25 years of experience with legal and regulatory issues in the domestic and international mining and energy sectors.
Greg has a J.D. degree from the University of Florida and a B.A. in Geology and Environmental Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Palmer – Member at Large
Fred Palmer is Senior Vice President of Government Relations for Peabody Energy where he is responsible for advancing state and federal policies related to the production and use of coal. Prior to joining Peabody, Fred served as Of Counsel at Shook, Hardy, and Bacon in Washington, DC, and as General Manager, CEO, and General Counsel of the Western Fuels Association. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the National Coal Council serving on the Executive Committee and Chairman of the Coal Policy Committee. Fred is a 2004 recipient of the Erskine Ramsay Medal Award from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration. He has served on various professional boards with roles including Chairman of the Environmental Information Council, President of the Board of Directors of the Greening Earth Society, and Chair of the Climate Change Task Force for the National Mining Association.
Fred holds J.D. and B.A degrees from the University of Arizona.
Mick Buffier – Member at Large
Mr. Buffier joined Xstrata Coal in February 2001 and has over 30 years experience in the coal mining industry. He holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Hons) from Sydney University and a Masters of Business Administration from Newcastle University.
Appointed Group Executive, Xstrata Coal in March 2009, Mr Buffier is responsible for Corporate Affairs, Government Relations and Sustainable Development across Xstrata’s global coal operations.
Prior to this Mr Buffier was Chief Operating Officer of Xstrata’s coal mining operations in NSW, a position he held from 2002. Before joining Xstrata, Mr Buffier held various positions including Mining Engineer, Senior Mining Engineer, Production Manager, Mine Manager and General Manager.
Mr Buffier is the Chairman of the NSW Minerals Council, a member of the Executive Committee and the Coal Committee. He is a Board member of Australian Coal Association Low Emission Technologies Pty Ltd (ACALET) and the National Low Emission Coal Council R&D Board (NLECC). Mr Buffier is also a Ministerial appointee to the NSW Clean Coal Council. He is an Alternate Director of the World Coal Institute and an Associate of the Coal Industry Advisory Board.
Ian Hall – Member at Large
Ian Hall is Regional Head Strategy for Anglo American’s Thermal Coal business unit. Ian started his career with Eskom, the national electricity utility in South Africa, where he worked on construction of coal-fired power plants. He joined Anglo American in 1995 and was the General Manager of one of its subsidiary companies in the manufacturing industry. Since 1999 he has had various roles in Anglo American’s coal businesses in marketing, business development and strategy functions. This included managing the marketing and logistics function for a large joint venture mining operation in Colombia and development of coal bed methane and power generation opportunities.
Ian has a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and is a registered Professional Engineer. He represents Anglo American on the Board of the SA Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage, the IEA’s Clean Coal Centre and the South African Coal Roadmap project.
Kenneth K. Humphreys – Chief Executive Officer
Kenneth K. Humphreys is chief executive officer of the FutureGen Alliance, a non-profit international consortium of companies that will build and operate the CO2 pipeline and storage network for the FutureGen 2.0 clean energy project in the U.S.
Humphreys has led the Alliance since September 2010, when the U.S. Department of Energy restructured the FutureGen project to be the world’s first large-scale, near-zero emissions power plant using carbon capture and storage (CCS) and oxy-combustion technologies. Previously, Humphreys served as the Alliance’s managing director.
Prior to his role with the Alliance, Humphreys was Director of the Carbon Management Initiative and was Sustainable Technology Development Chief Engineer at Battelle. He has spent the last 20 years working in the energy sector on public and private sector ventures and is a recognized expert in CCS technology.
Humphreys graduated from West Virginia University and has a master’s degree in engineering management from Washington State University.
