Advisory Board

Daniel McGroarty: Chair of the Advisory Board

Dan McGroarty has consulted for more than a decade with firms ranging from Fortune 50 companies to start-up ventures in industries ranging from the resource sector, telecommunications and airlines to travel, pharmaceuticals and financial services. His engagements occur at the CEO and senior executive level. In a typical Carmot engagement, Dan manages custom-built consulting teams on an international level, with a focus on issue management and company strategy, against the broader policy and risk environment that affects each client.

As principal of the non-profit American Resource Policy Network, an experts-led resource development think tank, Dan provided testimony on critical metals issues to the U.S. House Sub-Committee on Energy & Mineral Resources in 2011 and 2013, and to the U.S. House Sub-Committee on Science, Space & Technology in 2013.

Dan has been asked to participate in the 2015 National Defense Stockpile Requirements Report, which by statute is delivered to the Secretary of Defense and the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.

Dan serves as Senior Advisor to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce/International Division. He served as Director of publicly-traded U.S. Rare Earths and its predecessor company from December 2010 to June 2013, and as president of the company from December 2011 through July 2013.  He is a frequent speaker on Rare Earths and strategic and critical metals issues, at conferences across the U.S., Canada and in China, and in television, radio and print interviews.

Prior to establishing his consultancy, Dan served at senior levels in the U.S. Government, as Special Assistant to the President in the White House and as presidential appointee to two Secretaries of Defense.

As a former think tank fellow, Dan is author of two books on education policy. His articles and opeds on current issues have been published in The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Public Interest, National Review, Philanthropy, The Christian Science Monitor, Politico, Forbes, the Los Angeles Times, Investor’s Business Daily, Policy Review and The American Spectator.

Dan also serves as Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, as a contributing columnist on geo-political issues at RealClearPolitics’ RealClearWorld page, and as a Contributing Editor at InvestorIntel.com.

Jack Lifton

Jack Lifton is an Independent consultant and commentator, focusing on the market fundamentals and future end use trends of the rare metals. He specializes in the sourcing of nonferrous strategic metals and on due diligence studies of businesses in that space. His work includes exploration, mining, refining and the recovery of metal values by the recycling of not only metals and their alloys but also of metal-based chemicals used as raw materials for component manufacturing. Mr. Lifton has more than 55 years of experience in the global OEM automotive, heavy equipment, electrical and electronic, mining, smelting, and refining industries. His background includes the sourcing, manufacturing, and sales of platinum group metal products, rare earth compounds, and ceramic specialties used to make catalytic converters, oxygen sensors, batteries, and fuel cells. He is knowledgeable in locating and analyzing new and recycled supplies of 'minor metals' including tellurium, selenium, indium, gallium, silicon, germanium, molybdenum, tungsten, manganese, chromium, and the rare earth metals. Today he primarily consults to institutional investors doing due diligence on metals related opportunities and to natural resource ventures on technologies and markets. Jack wrote a weekly column on minor metals for Resource Investor for three years until December 2008, during which he authored more than 125 original articles. He is also speaks on minor metals fundamentals and end-uses at private, public, and professional meetings. Since 2008 Jack has written more than 400 articles, and since 2007 he has made presentations at conferences, seminars, and workshops all over the world more than 100 times.

James B. Hedrick

James Hedrick is an independent geologic consultant to the mining industry, investment groups, media, and the government.  He retired from his position as the rare-earth commodity specialist at the U.S. Geological Survey in 2010 after nearly 32 years of U.S. Government service.  He has studied all aspects of the rare-earth elements for the U.S. Government since 1981.  His past responsibilities were to prepare the U.S. Government’s reviews and publications on a variety of minerals and metals. He continues to write articles for the minerals industry and has chaired various sessions on rare earths and strategic and critical minerals in both the United States and Europe.

Jim started his U.S. Government career in Oregon in 1978 as an engineering geologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-civilian. A year later he transferred with the government to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to the U.S. Bureau of Mines to research strategic deposits, prepare cost feasibility studies, and review environmental impact statements for the Director of the Bureau of Mines. In 1981, he accepted a job with the U.S. Bureau of Mines at their headquarters in Washington, DC, as the rare-earth commodity specialist.  In addition to the rare earths, he was assigned an increasing number of mineral commodities including thorium, mica, hafnium, and zirconium. His publications and projects included work on mercury, rubidium, iodine, boron, bromine, graphite, gold, silver, copper, molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, and beryllium.

Jim has published over 300 articles and professional papers on mineral commodities, including over 100 since arriving at the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia, in 1996.  He is a graduate of James Madison University with B.S. degrees in Geology and General Science, and did graduate study at North Carolina State University.

Upon retirement from the U.S. Geological Survey, Jim formed Hedrick Consultants, Inc. in Burke, Virginia. He has been an advisor to several rare-earth and mining exploration companies in Australia, Canada, and the United States. He provides consulting expertise on all aspects of the metal and industrial mineral industries.

Charles "Chip" Groat

Charles “Chip” Groat, Ph.D., is currently the President and CEO of The Water Institute of the Gulf,  a not-for-profit, independent research institute dedicated to advancing the understanding of coastal, deltaic, river and water resource systems, both within the Gulf Coast and around the world.  Chip is a globally recognized expert on earth sciences, energy, resource assessment, groundwater issues and coastal studies. Prior to The Water Institute of the Gulf, Dr. Groat served as Director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy and Associate Director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, where he held the John A. and Katherine G. Jackson Chair in Energy and Mineral Resources at the Jackson School of Geosciences.

He was director of the U.S. Geological Survey for seven years under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and served as executive director of the American Geological Institute. His experience as an educator includes time spent as Executive Director at the Center for Coastal, Energy and Environmental Resources at Louisiana State University and as a professor for LSU’s Department of Geology and Geophysics. Other past positions include Assistant Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, where he administered the Coastal Zone Management Program and the Coastal Protection Program. From May to November 1998, he served as Associate Vice President for Research and Sponsored Projects at the University of Texas at El Paso, following three years as Director of the Center for Environmental Resource Management. 

Dr. Groat earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Rochester, a master’s in geology from the University of Massachusetts, and a doctorate in geology from the University of Texas.

Philip Goodell

Dr. Philip Goodell was appointed as a director to the Company as of July 2012 where he served as the chairman of the Company’s corporate governance and nominating committee.   He decided not to stand for re-election and transitioned to the Advisory Board in February 2014. He is currently an associate professor of geology at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), where he has been in residence since 1975 and has successfully sponsored 26 M.S. and 19 Ph.D. candidates. In addition to his academic accomplishments, Dr. Goodell has wide-ranging experience in the mining industry and has consulted for St. Joe Minerals, Exxon Minerals, Chevron Minerals Corporation, Cameco Corp., MAG Silver Corp., and Energy Metals, Inc., among other companies. One of the theses sponsored by Dr. Goodell, authored by W. M. Shannon, contained much of the basic research on the Round Top area. Dr. Goodell holds a B.S. in solid state physics (1964) from Yale University and an M.S. in geology (1966) and a Ph.D. in geology (1970) from Harvard.

Robert Wingo

Robert “Bob” Wingo is President and CEO of Sanders/Wingo Advertising.  Bob joined Sanders\Wingo in 1983.  In the decades since, Bob’s commitment to authenticity and excellence has fueled the Sanders\Wingo team to expand the agency’s presence from El Paso across Texas to Austin, and into regional offices in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Sanders\Wingo has since amassed a portfolio that includes work for AT&T, State Farm, Chevrolet, GECU, MINI USA, El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau, Ocean Alexander, Peter Piper Pizza and the United States Postal Service. S\W is the fifth-largest African American–owned advertising agency in the nation, fostering and attracting talent from top schools and agencies all over the world.

Generosity with his knowledge and experience has led to a wealth of civic involvement and public service over the course of his career. In the 1990s, Texas Governor George W. Bush made Bob a member of the Finance Commission of Texas. In January of 2004, Texas Governor Rick Perry appointed Bob to the Texas Economic Development Corporation Board, where he served as Chairman. Governor Perry also appointed Bob to a position on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

On a national scale, Bob sits on the board of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Foundation. Other board service includes seats on the Boards of Las Palmas Del Sol Medical Centers, UnitedHealthcare, Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas Foundation and Wells Fargo Community Bank. Many organizations have honored Bob for his contributions to the community and to the fields of marketing and advertising. One of the most notable testaments to Bob’s leadership has been the  recognition of Sanders\Wingo as Black Enterprise 2009 Advertising Agency of the Year.

Rencently, The University of Texas at El Paso and its Alumni Association honored Bob Wingo as one of their 2013 Distinguished Alumni.

Today, Bob’s contributions to his community include:  

Martin Luther King, Jr. – National Memorial Foundation – Board Member
Las Palmas Del Sol Medical Centers – Board Member
UnitedHealthcare Texas Advisory Board – Board Member
CPRIT Foundation (Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas) Foundation - Member
UTEP College of Business  – Advisory Board Member and Guest Speaker
University of Texas at El Paso Centennial Committee – Board Member
Economic Development Initiative for The Paso Del Norte Group – Co-Chairman
YWCA Capital Campaign Steering Committee – Campaign Co-Chairman