Co-Chairmen of the Board
Mr. Moffett serves as Co-Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of McMoRan Exploration Co. and Chairman of
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.
From 1964 to 1969, Mr. Moffett was a consulting geologist. In 1969, he and two associates founded McMoRan Oil & Gas Co., which developed into one of America’s leading independent oil and gas companies. In 1981, Mr. Moffett put together the merger of McMoRan Oil & Gas Co. and Freeport Minerals Company. The merger resulted in the establishment of a new company, Freeport-McMoRan Inc., which became one of the world’s leading natural resource companies of which he served as Chairman and CEO from 1984 - 1997.
Mr. Moffett serves on several boards and has received many awards, including the 1990 Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans Award. In May 2000, he received that Association’s 2000 Norman Vincent Peale Award for his exceptional humanitarian contributions to society. He is also a member of the University of Texas McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame and the American Mining Hall of Fame, Mining Foundation of the Southwest. Mr. Moffett received a Bachelor of Science degree with special honors in Geology from the University of Texas at Austin while on a full football scholarship and a Master of Science degree in Geology from Tulane University. He has also received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Louisiana State University and a Doctor of Financial Economics, Honoris Causa, degree from the University of New Orleans. He has served on the MMR board since 1994.
Richard C. Adkerson is Co-Chairman of the Board of McMoRan Exploration Co. He also serves as President and Chief Executive Officer and a director of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.
He graduated from Mississippi State University with a BS degree with highest honors and an MBA degree. In 2010, he received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Mississippi State. He also completed the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School in 1988. Prior to joining Freeport-McMoRan in 1989, he was Partner and Managing Director in Arthur Andersen & Co. where he headed the Firm’s Worldwide Oil and Gas Industry Practice. From 1976 to 1978, he was a Professional Accounting Fellow with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Adkerson is past Chairman of the International Council on Mining and Metals. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Business Council and the Business Roundtable. He serves on the Advisory Council of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States and as a member of the Clinton Global Initiative. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Commerce Authority, Greater Phoenix Leadership, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council and the Dean’s Council of 100 for the Arizona State University W. P. Carey School of Business. He is Vice-Chairman of the National WWII Museum, serves on the Board of Visitors of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and is Campaign Chair of the Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center “Cancer Has Met Its Match Campaign” in Phoenix. He is a member of the Mississippi State University Foundation Board of Directors and served as its President, chaired its “State of the Future” capital campaign, serves on the University’s Advisory Board for the College of Business and was named National Alumnus of the Year of Mississippi State University in 2011. He was inducted into the American Mining Hall of Fame in 2010, received The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers Charles F. Rand Memorial Award in 2011 and named Executive of the Year by the W. P. Carey School of Business Dean’s Council at Arizona State University in 2011. In each of the past four years, he was named The Best CEO in Metals and Mining by Institutional Investor magazine and was named The Copper Man of the Year 2009 by The Copper Club. He has been a board member since 1994.

