Garry N. Drummond

In 1961, Drummond joined the family business, the Drummond Company, a coal company active in Alabama.[2][6] He later served as its chief operating officer.[2] He has served as its chairman and chief executive officer since 1973.[5][2][3] The company is active in coal-mining in Alabama and Colombia.[3]

In 1979-1980, with his brother, Elbert Allen "Larry" Drummond, and another executive, Clyde Black; he was indicted for bribing three Alabama legislators by supplying them with prostitutes.[3][7][8][9] The three-month trial was dismissed by Judge Frank McFadden, and the record was sealed.[3][7]

In the 1980s, Drummond began looking for coal in Colombia, even though the country was at war.[3] He established their first coal mine in 1995.[3] Shortly after, the FARC bombed the railway track which carried coal from the Drummond mine to their port off the Caribbean Sea.[3]

In 2013, Drummond planned to establish a new coal mine off the bank of the Black Warrior River near Birmingham.[3]

Drummond served on the board of directors of SouthTrust from 2001 to its merger with Wachovia in 2004.[2] He also served as the Director of the Alabama Coal Association.[2] Additionally, he was appointed to the National Coal Council by United States Secretary of Energy Donald P. Hodel in 1984, under the presidency of Ronald Reagan.[10] Later, he served as the Chairman of the Governor's Commission on Affordable Health Care.[2]

Drummond served on the Boards of Directors of the National Mining Association as well as the Economic Development Partnership for Alabama.[6] He has been a member of the Alabama Academy of Honor since 1989, the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame since 1997, and the Alabama Business Hall of Fame since 2003.[6]

Drummond taught Engineering part-time at Walker College.[11]

Alongside Eugene Honeycutt and Harold Gene Anderson, Drummond invented a specific method for "open pit bench mining", which has been patented since February 5, 2013.[12]