Stanley C. Suboleski

Stanley Suboleski’s first job in the coal industry began working summers and after graduation for North American Coal Company, where he obtained a scholarship that made his college career possible. He left NACCO to join Virginia Tech as an instructor, while working on a project to develop a suite of computer programs for the coal mining industry, including production simulators, scheduling software and engineering design analyzers. The next step in his career, Suboleski joined Consolidation Coal as an internal consultant to its Scientific Systems Group, subsequently going on to operations management and ending his tenure there as general superintendent of underground mining at Consol’s Hanna Coal Company. He then joined A.T. Massey as vice president to head the development of the Piney Creek Coal Company in Beckley during the 1974 coal boom.  

While earning his Ph.D. at Penn State, Suboleski was hired as an instructor while working closely with the U.S. Bureau of Mines to evaluate new mining methods and concepts. While searching for a faculty position, he became a loan officer for Continental Illinois National Bank, the leading financer of new mining projects at the time, rising to the level of vice president and head of domestic lending for the mining division. One of his customers was A.T. Massey Coal, which he subsequently re-joined in 1982 as vice president – development and treasurer, tasked with leading the growth of the company after it became a partnership of Royal Dutch Shell and Fluor. Suboleski would essentially work for Massey from then on, although his tenure was interrupted by stints as Chairman of the Mining Engineering program and centennial professor at Penn State following the dissolution of the A.T. Massey partnership, and Head of Mining and Minerals Engineering at Virginia Tech following his initial retirement from Massey. He would re-join Massey following each of these, holding a variety of positions, including vice president of development, executive vice president of Norfolk-Southern Operations, vice president of mining strategy, president of United Coal Company and interim chief operations officer.  

Under the Bush administration, in 2003 he was confirmed as commissioner on the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, the appellate court that hears cases under the several Mine Safety and Health Acts. Following his term there, he was elected to the Board of Directors of Massey Energy and to OKD Coal, in the Czech Republic. Upon the sale of Massey Energy, he joined Evan Energy (now Massey LC), the family company of Morgan Massey, as senior vice president.  

As a Distinguished Member of Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Suboleski has served in many positions, including chairman of the Central Appalachian Section and the SME Board of Directors. He has also served on a number of government commissions and advisory boards as well as a member of the National Academy of Engineering. His awards include the Howard Eavenson Award of the SME and the Erskine Ramsey Award of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical & Petroleum Engineers, Inc.