Hanekamp, with more than 30 years in marketing, trading, transportation and logistics, most recently was chief commercial officer for Illinois Basin longwall mine White Oak.

He also was vice president of US exports, domestic trading, international sales for the Americas for Peabody Energy. Based in London, Hanekamp oversaw the growth of the producer’s Atlantic sales and marketing activities and global derivatives trading and risk management.

Before joining the Peabody team in 1999, he held various senior-level asset management, transportation and commodity trading seats at Cargill’s Continental Grain.

“John's experience developing strategies to increase revenues, profit and growth and the strong business relationships he's built around the world will be of great value to the company as we work to expand our global reach," Alpha president Paul Vining said.

“While Alpha has a well-established presence internationally in metallurgical coal, serving customers on five continents, John's role will be to enlarge our export capabilities for thermal coal customers around the world.”