July 22, 2019 - The coal industry is about to lose an icon. According to the website of Compass Minerals, the company has appointed George J. Schuller Jr. to the newly created position of chief operations officer responsible for managing all global operations across the company’s salt and plant nutrition businesses. Schuller will take up the position in early September.

George Schuller

Schuller is well-known in international coal circles with more than three decades of experience working with Peabody Energy in senior management roles in both surface mining and underground mining operations. He is currently President of Peabody Australia and many observers had tipped him to rise to the position of CEO of Peabody Energy, America’s largest coal company.

“I first met George as a student at WVU,” recalls Calvin Kidd, Executive Consultant, Quaker Chemicals. “He graduated in 1986 and I have been honored to have seen him advance throughout his outstanding career. We are all very proud of him.”

“It is very sad for our great coal industry to lose such an eminent mining engineer and we will miss him,” said Bill Reid, managing editor of CoalZoom.com and Coalminerexchange.com. “But we should remember that it is indeed a tribute to the coal mining industry that our leaders are regarded so highly as to be sought after in other industries. We thank him for serving coal so well and wish George and Lori every success and happiness as they embark on a new chapter in their lives."