Board of Directors
Piedmont Lithium is governed by a team of seven Directors with broad experience and expertise. Six of our Directors serve as non-executive, independent Directors. The mission of the Board of Directors is to ensure the business upholds its strategic priorities in a way that is aligned with Piedmont’s purpose and connected with the expectations of Piedmont’s stakeholders.
Mr. Jeff Armstrong
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Armstrong has served as Chairman of our Board since May 2021. He also served as Chairman of the board of our predecessor company prior to the redomiciliation. He served as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of North Inlet Advisors, a FINRA-regulated entity, from 2009 until 2022. North Inlet provides investment banking services to middle market companies in the industrial, consumer, business services, and agriculture spaces. Mr. Armstrong has served on the Boards of private companies in the chemical, solar, healthcare device, and direct-to-consumer sectors. Prior to 2009, Mr. Armstrong served as Head of Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity Coverage and Leveraged Capital at what is now Wells Fargo’s Investment Bank. Mr. Armstrong also worked as an investment banker in the late 1980s and 1990s for Citigroup and Morgan Stanley. Mr. Armstrong resides in Charlotte, NC and is actively engaged in the community. He earned a Master of Business Administration from the Darden School of Business, received a Bachelor of Science from the McIntire School of Commerce, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Ms. Christina Alvord
Director
Ms. Alvord joined our Board in January 2023. Most recently, Ms. Alvord served as the President of the Central Division of Vulcan Materials Company, the nation’s largest producer of construction aggregates. She previously served as Vulcan’s President of the Southern & Gulf Coast Division and Vice President of Corporate Planning and Performance Improvement. Before joining Vulcan, Ms. Alvord held various executive management positions at GE Aviation, including serving as President of GE Aviation-Unison Industries and GE Aviation-Middle River Aircraft Systems. In addition to serving as a board member for Piedmont, Ms. Alvord also serves on the boards of Apogee Enterprises and Albany International. She began her career as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Co. after graduating from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Jorge M. Beristain, CFA.
Mr. Beristain has served as a member of our Board since 2021 and as a member of the Board of our predecessor company prior to the redomiciliation since 2018. Most recently Mr. Beristain was the Vice President of Finance for Ryerson Holding Corporation (NYSE: RYI) from 2022 to 2025 and served on the Board of Directors of Ryerson China Limited in 2024 and 2025. With revenue of over $5 billion, Ryerson is a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals with over 110 global locations, supplying the industrial, transport, consumer, construction and energy sectors. He previously served as the Chief Financial Officer of Central Steel & Wire Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ryerson, since 2019 where he was integral to its financial transformation. From 2000 to 2017, Mr. Beristain served as Managing Director and Head of Deutsche Bank AG’s Americas Metals & Mining equity research, where he was consistently ranked by institutional investors as one of the top analysts in the U.S. During his more than 20-year career on Wall Street, Mr. Beristain lived and worked in the U.S., Latin America, and Canada and visited hundreds of industrial companies worldwide. Mr. Beristain received a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Alberta and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Ms. Dawne Hickton
Director
Ms. Hickton has served as a member of our Board since March 2024. She currently serves as the Chair, CEO and President of Cumberland Additive, Inc., a metal additive manufacturer of solutions for the aerospace, defense, energy, and space markets. Ms. Hickton also served as a past member of the National Space Council User’s Advisory Group, which is chaired by the Vice President of the United States to enable and propel America’s space objectives. Prior to her current role, Ms. Hickton was the Executive Vice President of Jacobs (NYSE: J) and President of its Critical Mission Solutions business line, which provides engineering design and support services for NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other national security priorities. She also held the position of Vice Chair, President, and CEO of RTI International Metals, Inc. (NYSE: RTI), a billion-dollar, vertically integrated global supplier of titanium mill products and fabricated metal components. Ms. Hickton is a Trustee for the University of Pittsburgh and an emeritus member of the Board of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. She is a graduate of the University of Rochester and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.