Garry Neil Drummond | Chairman & CEO | Drummond Co.
Drummond oversees an international business empire that frequently places his company on the list of Forbes’ most valuable privately owned companies.
“Using mules hauling small carloads of coal from the mines, Heman Drummond founded this Birmingham, Alabama company in 1935,” Forbes explained in a 2010 article. “Drummond now operates mines in Alabama and Colombia, controlling reserves totaling over 2 billion tons. The company mines both steam coal (for sale to electric utilities) and metallurgical coal. Drummond’s ABC Coke plant in Tarrant, Alabama is the largest single producer of foundry coke in the U.S. The firm’s real estate arm is involved in the construction of commercial and residential developments.”
Drummond Company’s revenues reach into the billions, and unlike other company’s represented on this list, it’s basically all controlled by a single man.
That level of resources gives Drummond the ability to exercise the most raw power of any CEO on this list. He could easily wake up in the morning and scratch out a $500,000 check to move the needle on an issue he’s particularly concerned with. On state political issues in particular, he’s positioned his Vice President of Governmental and Regulatory Affairs, David Roberson, to be an influential player as well.
Drummond has been very engaged in pushing back against leftwing environmentalists who are calling for increased regulations on the fossil fuels industry. Those issues directly effect his bottom line. But he’s also been a staunch advocate for lower taxes, freer markets and economic growth.
Drummond has the resources to influence politics and business on a global scale. Now consider what it means to bring that kind of horsepower into a comparatively tiny venue like Alabama state politics.
