Joe Craft is President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Alliance Resource Partners, L.P., the second-largest coal producer in the eastern United States. ARLP operates mining complexes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia and sells coal principally to electric utilities in the United States.

A native of Hazard, Kentucky, Mr. Craft holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Kentucky. He is also a graduate of the Senior Executive Program of the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 2010, Mr. Craft was inducted into the Gatton College of Business and Economics Alumni Hall of Fame and the University of Kentucky’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni, the highest recognition bestowed by the university on graduates for their professional accomplishments. Craft was also inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame in 2007 and the University of Tulsa’s Business Hall of Fame in 2009.

Throughout his career, Mr. Craft has served in many industry and community leadership positions. He currently serves as a director of BOK Financial Corporation, a director and chairman of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, a director and executive committee member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a member of the National Coal Council Chair’s Leadership Council, and is a past chairman of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.