Cliffs Natural Resources Names P. Kelly Tompkins CFO

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. has named P. Kelly Tompkins chief financial officer effective immediately, replacing Terrance Paradie.

Mr. Paradie, who became CFO in 2012, is leaving to pursue another business opportunity.

Mr. Tompkins was most recently executive vice president of business development. Mr. Tompkins will be succeeded as executive vice president by Clifford Smith, the current executive vice president of Seaborne Iron Ore. The Seaborne position has been eliminated. In the most recent period, Seaborne iron-ore prices were 45% lower than the year-earlier period.

Mr. Tompkins has been at Cliffs since 2010, and previously worked at RPM International Inc., a specialty chemical company.

Cleveland-based Cliffs, the largest iron-ore mining company in the U.S., swung to a loss in the most recent quarter as costs associated with its Canadian iron-ore mine and lower metal prices continued to drag down results.

It has been rebuilding operations following a board coup last summer orchestrated by hedge fund Casablanca Capital LP that led to Lourenco Goncalves taking over as chief executive.

Mr. Goncalves, a veteran metals executive from Brazil, has been refocusing Cliffs on its more profitable Minnesota and Michigan mines that supply iron ore to booming automotive-focused steel mills.

Shares, inactive premarket, have been down 36% this year.

Write to Angela Chen at [e-mail]

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