With the company since 1989, Richard Adkerson is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Freeport-McMoRan. FCX, with headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, is a leading international mining company. Prior to joining Freeport-McMoRan, 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 currently serves as Chair of the International Council on Mining and Metals. He has been a member of ICMM since 2005 and previously served as Chair from 2008 – 2011. He is a member of The Business Council, the Business Roundtable, the Council on Foreign Relations and serves as Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. He also serves on Greater Phoenix Leadership and the Dean's Council of 100 for the Arizona State University W. P. Carey School of Business. For ten years, Mr. Adkerson was named The Best CEO in Metals and Mining by Institutional Investor magazine.
He graduated from Mississippi State University with a B.S. degree in Accounting with highest honors and an M.B.A. 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.