Joe Craft, CEO of Alliance Resource Partners

Joseph W. Craft III has been President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director since August 1999 and has indirect majority ownership of our managing general partner. Mr. Craft also serves as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of AGP, the general partner of AHGP. Previously Mr. Craft served as President of MAPCO Coal Inc. since 1986. During that period, he also was Senior Vice President of MAPCO Inc. and had previously been that company?s General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer. He is a former Chairman of the National Coal Council, a Board and Executive Committee Member and Chairman of the Safety, Health and Human Resources Committee of the National Mining Association, a Director of American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a Director of BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: BOKF) since April of 2007, a member of the Board of Trustees for the University of Tulsa and a Director of the Tulsa Community Foundation. Mr. Craft holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Kentucky. Mr. Craft also is a graduate of the Senior Executive Program of the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The specific experience, qualifications, attributes or skills that led to the conclusion Mr. Craft should serve as a Director include his long history of significant involvement in the coal industry, his demonstrated business acumen and his exceptional leadership of the Partnership since its inception.