Preston Chiaro

Preston Chiaro joined the Westminster College Board of Trustees in 2011. Mr. Chiaro has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in environmental engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Upon graduation he worked for several environmental engineering consulting firms in the eastern and northwestern parts of the US. Mr. Chiaro began working at Kennecott Utah Copper in 1991 to address legacy environmental issues. In 1995, he was appointed general manager of Rio Tinto Borax's Boron operations in California's Mojave Desert. Two years later he became Borax's senior vice president for operations and technology, and in 1999 took over as president and CEO of Borax at Valencia, California. In September 2003 he moved to London to head up Rio Tinto's Energy group, which included coal and uranium mines in Australia, Namibia, and the US. In November 2007, he assumed additional responsibility for Rio Tinto’s Industrials Minerals group. In 2009 he was appointed to his current role as Group Executive for Technology and Innovation at Rio Tinto. He also sits on the company’s Investment Committee, heads its Ore Reserve and Resource Steering Committee, and is the Rio Tinto executive committee’s champion for sustainable development and climate change.

Mr. Chiaro has served as director of Rössing Uranium Limited (2004 to 2009), Energy Resources of Australia Limited (2003 to 2006), and Coal & Allied Industries Limited (2003 to 2006). He has also served as chairman of the Coal Industry Advisory Board to the International Energy Agency (2004 to 2006) the World Coal Association (2003 to 2009, serving as its chairman from 2006 to 2008). He currently sits on the board of Resources for the Future (2006 to present) and is the President of the Death Valley Conservancy (2008 to present).