American coal operator CONSOL Energy has promoted Mitesh Thakkar to the seat of president, in addition to his current position as chief financial officer (CFO), as part of the company’s long-term succession planning.
His promotion was unanimously approved by the CONSOL Energy board on January 19. In addition to his current CFO responsibilities, Thakkar will lead the teams responsible for strategy and business development, environment and sustainability, and sales and marketing.
Thakkar was first appointed interim CFO in January 2020. Additionally, he served as director of finance and investor relations of CEIX and CONSOL Coal Resources since November 2017 and as director of finance and investor relations of CCR since May 2015.
Thakkar will continue to report to company president and CEO Jimmy Brock in his new role.
“Since becoming chief financial officer in 2020, Mitesh has helped steer the company through a very challenging period of COVID-related shutdowns and significant deterioration of business outlook, while capitalizing on the subsequent recovery. He orchestrated our plan to de-lever our balance sheet by reducing our outstanding net debt by 83% (including Q4 2022 reductions), played a key role in the merger transaction with CONSOL Coal Resources and created significant financial flexibility by opportunistically identifying new sources of capital in a challenging industry,” said Brock.
“We expect 2023 to be a year of opportunity for CONSOL, and I believe [this] announcement will position us well to take advantage of those opportunities while continuing to execute on our capital allocation priorities.”
Thakkar noted that, sharing in Brock’s enthusiasm regarding significant opportunities for shareholder return, growth and sustainability initiatives, they have made tangible progress on all three fronts in 2022.
“And 2023 has the potential to accelerate these initiatives,” he noted.
“To that extent, I am pleased to announce that CONSOL’s board has approved capex of approximately $28 million for 2023-2026, including $9.5 million in 2023, to advance our sustainability goals by mitigating methane emissions from our mines. This investment will help us achieve our goal of voluntarily reducing our scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in 2026 compared to 2019 base levels.”
In addition, he said the miner is expecting “meaningful growth” this year: “Our recent investments in the Itmann metallurgical coal mine and the fifth longwall at the Pennsylvania Mining Complex begin to bear fruit. We believe this will only expand our capability to return value to our shareholders and invest in sustainable opportunities for our future.”
Source: CONSOL Energy