Kathleen Quirk, President and Chief Executive Officer, was honored for her exceptional leadership and decades-long commitment to the copper industry with the prestigious Ankh Award presented by The Copper Club during its annual dinner in New York City Wednesday.
The recognition comes the day after Quirk assumed the additional role of Freeport-McMoRan’s Chief Executive Officer. She succeeds Richard C. Adkerson who remains Chairman of the Board of Directors.
The Ankh Award has been presented annually since 1962 to professionals who have made extraordinary contributions to the copper industry. Quirk’s selection was announced in February. Watch a video of employees congratulating her:
In accepting the award, Quirk praised the courage, boldness and tenacity of the people in the industry as they overcome challenges to produce copper to meet the growing demands of the world economy.
“Everywhere you turn today, people are talking about copper and its role in society, making our societies better, its role in electrification, its role in connectivity, its role in artificial intelligence,” Quirk said. “Everywhere you turn there are new uses in society for copper. While that’s a really positive thing in terms of the demand trends, it also brings about a sense of challenge for all of us to be able to produce more. We’re going to have to make more investments, take risks, be more innovative. But it’s not a question about money, it takes a lot more. We have to, as an industry, continue to move it forward, be progressive, embrace innovation.”
Quirk also praised her coworkers in the “Freeport Family,” singling out Adkerson and the culture of
trust he fostered at the company.
“You really have to work in an environment and create that kind of culture where people want to work together, where they watch each other’s backs, where they’re not looking for fall people,” she said. “They’re looking to make everybody at the organization better. That’s what we have at Freeport.”
Quirk, a graduate of Louisiana State University, has worked for Freeport for 35 years and is a member of the Board of Directors. Her career with the company began in 1989, and she has had responsibility for a broad range of corporate functions including taxation, investor relations, corporate development and treasury. She was named Chief Financial Officer in 2003. In that role, Quirk was recognized as Best CFO in Metals and Mining by Institutional Investor magazine numerous times.
Quirk was named President in 2021 and became a member of the Board of Directors in 2023. She assumed her role as Chief Executive Officer June 11.
As a senior member of the company’s executive team for more than 20 years, she has been instrumental in Freeport’s strategic planning and execution of company goals.
In a recent news release announcing the award, Adkerson praised Quirk as a “strong leader and devoted advocate for Freeport’s more than 70,000 workers around the world, their families and the communities where they live.”
“No one is more deserving of the Copper Club’s Ankh Award than Kathleen,” Adkerson said. “Her commitment to Freeport and to supporting the copper industry has been unwavering. Kathleen always strives to do what is fundamentally right.”
The Copper Club was established in 1944 to promote the interests of the copper industry. It includes copper producers, fabricators, refiners, dealers, traders and merchants.
The Ankh Award is named for the ankh, a graphic symbol for copper dating back to ancient Egypt.