About
Senior Management
Our Leadership
Piedmont Lithium has strong leadership with considerable market experience. Our leadership team’s successful mining ventures include a multi-decade track record of creating wealth for shareholders in mining ventures, experience in building top-tier management teams in the U.S. and the proven ability to fund exploration and development stage opportunities.
Mr. Keith D. Phillips
President & Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Patrick H. Brindle
Executive Vice President & Chief Operating OfficerMr. Brindle was recently appointed in March 2022 as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, having previously served as the Company’s Chief Development Officer. Mr. Brindle joined the Company in January 2018 as Vice President of Project Management. Since that time Patrick has been responsible for development of the Carolina Lithium Project as well as the Company’s investments in Sayona Mining and Atlantic Lithium. He has more than 20 years experience in senior management and engineering roles including multi-year expatriate assignments and has completed EPC projects in diverse jurisdictions including the United States, Canada, China, Mongolia, Australia, Brazil, and others. Before joining Piedmont Lithium Mr. Brindle was Vice President of Engineering for DRA Taggart, a subsidiary of DRA Global, an engineering firm specialized in project delivery of mining and mineral processing projects globally. Patrick has a BS in Environmental Science and a BS in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech.
Mr. Bruce Czachor
Executive Vice President & Chief Legal OfficerMr. Czachor has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer and Secretary since August 2021. He joined the Company in December 2018 on a part-time basis as our Vice President and General Counsel, and served as legal consultant for most of 2020 before rejoining as our Vice President and General Counsel in December 2020. Mr. Czachor has over 34 years of experience in general corporate matters, corporate governance, capital markets, bank finance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, licensing agreements and commercial transactions, and was a partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. Over his career, Mr. Czachor has represented a wide variety of businesses, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups, and he has extensive experience in the mining, energy and cleantech industries. Mr. Czachor received a J.D. from New York Law School and a B.A. in Political Science from Binghamton University. He is admitted to practice in New York, New Jersey and California.
Mr. Michael White
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial OfficerMr. White serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and has extensive experience in leading global finance and accounting organizations, mergers and acquisitions including post-merger integrations, initial public offerings, internal controls, and information systems. Prior to joining Piedmont, Mr. White served as Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller of ChampionX Corporation (formerly Apergy Corporation), a manufacturing and services company in the oil and gas industry, from its spinoff and initial public offering in 2018 through a merger in 2020. Prior to ChampionX, Mr. White served as Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller of Aegion Corporation, a public company in the oil and gas and water industries, from 2014 through 2018. From 2001 through 2014, he served in various senior financial leadership positions for public and non-public companies in the manufacturing, chemicals, oil and gas, services and technology industries, including Chief Financial Officer of Baker Energy. Prior to 2001, he was a manager in the assurance practice with Ernst & Young. Mr. White earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from the University of Houston and is a certified public accountant and member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Mr. Austin Devaney
Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial OfficerMr. Devaney serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. From 2015 to 2019 he served in increasingly senior sales and marketing roles with Albemarle Corporation, the world’s #1 lithium producer, ultimately serving as Vice President Strategic Marketing and Customer Excellence. For Albemarle’s predecessor, Rockwood Lithium, Mr. Devaney served as Global Product Manager – Lithium Hydroxide, and National Sales Manager – Battery Products.
In his time at Albemarle and Rockwood, Mr. Devaney developed broad and deep relationships with many of the most important participants in the global electric vehicle supply chain. His technical background was particularly useful in navigating the product qualification processes that are required by global auto makers. This experience will be directly relevant as Piedmont completes its initial lithium hydroxide testwork programs in coming weeks and will have product samples to share with prospective customers for the first time.
Prior to his time in the lithium business, Mr. Devaney had senior marketing and operational roles with US chemical companies including Occidental Chemical Corporation, Kemira, and Fuchs Lubricants. He earned his BS in Chemical Engineering from Clemson University and his MBA from Southern Methodist University.
Mrs. Kris McVey
Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative OfficerReporting to Chief Executive Officer, Keith Phillips, Ms. Krishna McVey serves as the Chief Administrative Officer for Piedmont Lithium where she oversees multiple functions including human resources, communications, community relations, government affairs and IT. Ms. McVey originally joined Piedmont with a mission to implement world-class human resources practices. She has a broad, multi-dimensional background in human resources that includes experience in all aspects of labor and employment law and human capital management. Over her career Ms. McVey has led several complex, transformational organizational initiatives, as well as leading talent acquisition and management, design and implementation of compensation performance systems, and the formulation of a wide range of organizational policies for multinational, multi-business unit companies.
Ms. McVey joined Piedmont in mid-2021 from TC Transcontinental Packaging where she rose from Global Director of Human Resources to Vice President of Human Resources and U.S. Labor Relations. Prior to her time at TC Transcontinental, she had a 15-year career with Michelin North America with positions in both France and North America. She began her tenure at Michelin as Associate General Counsel, then progressed through the organization to lead Human Resources with the Aircraft Tire Division of Michelin North America where she developed policies and procedures for both the hourly and salaried population of the 500-employee operation. Ms. McVey began her career in private practice with the law firm Edwards Ballard where she represented a variety of private and public employers developing human resources policies and diversity programs, while providing extensive legal training to clients in all areas of human resources and employee relations.
Ms. McVey earned a joint Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law and Master of Human Resources from the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, as well as her Bachelor of Arts (French) degree from the University of South Carolina. Over her career, Ms. McVey has served on the Board of several philanthropic and community organizations, Pineville Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, including SAFE Homes/Rape Crisis, the United Way of Stanly County, and the Centralina Workforce Development Board.
Mr. Nick Fouche
Senior Vice President of Capital ProjectsMr. Nick Fouche, an industry veteran with a global resume, is the Senior Vice President of Capital Projects for Piedmont Lithium. He brings nearly three decades of experience to his role with the company, where he oversees project execution strategies for Piedmont’s global portfolio of assets. He works to deliver on objectives while supporting the company’s safety, environment, and health commitments.
Mr. Fouche has spent his career in the mining industry, building a global background and working in a range of leadership positions for several organizations including Ero Copper Corp., South32, Palabora Mining Company, and Rio Tinto. He has led large teams in the development of multi-billion-dollar projects and has overseen a number of mine development studies. He has completed several large mine and process plant projects, including developing a 33k/ton per day block cave, a copper process plant, a magnetite process plant, and a smelter retrofit feasibility.
Mr. Lamont Leatherman
Vice President & Chief GeologistLamont Leatherman is an exploration geologist with over 25 years of experience. Mr. Leatherman is the former project geologist for BHP Minerals and Noranda. He has extensive experience in numerous styles of mineralization including lithium bearing pegmatite systems.
Ms. Monique Parker
Vice President – Health, Safety and EnvironmentMs. Parker has over 15 years of Environmental, Health, and Safety experience in a wide range of industries spanning from chemical manufacturing, food processing, building materials, and textiles and most recently with Albemarle Corporation. She has spent time in all regions of the world supporting and auditing facilities in regards to safety and environmental regulatory requirements. She has experience collaborating with many agencies while permitting in multiple states dealing with Title 5, PSD, and major expansion projects. Monique is a Chemical Engineer from Tennessee Technological University who truly enjoys finding creative ways to keep people safe and the environment clean.
Ms. Erin Sanders
Vice President of Corporate CommunicationsErin Sanders is an award-winning integrated communications strategist who has more than 20 years of experience and a deep background in the mining, environmental, industrial, manufacturing, and energy industries. As the Vice President of Corporate Communications, Ms. Sanders is responsible for all executive and corporate communications, community relations, crisis and issues management, employee communications, brand communications, public relations, and social media strategies for Piedmont.
She has spent her career at leading global and regional communications agencies and has helped build the brand identities of Fortune 500 companies, support clients in achieving business objectives, develop nationwide media relations campaigns, and guide some of the world’s top organizations in overcoming crisis situations. Her background includes working with the leading global public relations and communications firm, Burson-Marsteller, as well as several key global organizations such as Shell Oil Co., OceanaGold’s Haile Gold Mine, Albemarle, Samsung, Lenovo, and Google.
Mr. Jim Nottingham
Senior Project Manager – Concentrate OperationsMr. Nottingham has joined Piedmont as Senior Project Manager – Concentrate Operations. Jim brings extensive project management, construction, mine management and process plant operations management experience to Piedmont from his 30+ years’ operating in the mining industry. Mr. Nottingham received his BS in Mining and Mineral Engineering from West Virginia University.
Mr. David Buckley
Vice President – Chief Process EngineerMr. Buckley is a 25-year veteran of the lithium business, having worked most recently as Chief Process Engineer of Quebec-based Critical Elements Corporation after senior positions with FMC’s Lithium Division and Albemarle (former Rockwood Lithium). Mr. Buckley has extensive experience in lithium extraction from both hard rock resources and lithium bearing brines. He also brings experience in converting the extracted lithium into lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide and other downstream lithium chemicals. He has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech.
Mrs. Binh Meador
Senior Project Manager – Chemical OperationsBinh Meador is currently assigned as Senior Project Manager – Chemical Operations. In this role, she provides leadership and direction through all phases of the project development for the lithium hydroxide chemical facility. Binh has 20 years of project execution experience. Since starting her career Binh has held a variety of increasingly leadership roles as project manager, technical team lead, and department manager positions. Binh has experience building and leading high-performance teams to execute major projects for both greenfield and brownfield facilities. She has worked on domestic as well as international projects including multiple years expat assignments in the Caribbean and the Middle East. Binh is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. Outside of work she enjoys cooking with her family and gardening during her free time.
Mr. John “Pratt” Ray
Production Manager – Chemical OperationsMr. Ray joined Piedmont in 2020 as Production Manager – Chemical Operations. Pratt has deep experience in the production of lithium hydroxide and carbonate, both from spodumene and brine sources, having spent almost 30 years in production and operating roles at Livent’s Bessemer City, North Carolina lithium chemical facility.
Ms. Malissa Gordon
Manager – Community and Government RelationsMs. Gordon joined Piedmont in 2020 as Manager – Community and Government Relations. Malissa most recently spent over 12 years with the Gaston County (North Carolina) Economic Development Commission. Ms. Gordon brings deep local roots to the Piedmont team with strong connections to community leaders, non-profit and business organizations. Ms. Gordon received her BS in Corporate Communications from Western Carolina University.