Elbert Allen “Larry” Drummond has been an integral part of the Drummond Company’s incredible success in his positions of vice chairman and chairman of the Executive Management Committee.
The company began in 1935, with the vision of H.E. Drummond, the family patriarch and an entrepreneur who made the decision to enter the coal business in his native Sipsey, Alabama.
Upon H.E. Drummond’s death in 1956, the business was carried on by his sons, who build upon their father’s vision for the company. By the early 1970s. Drummond Company had entered the export coal market and quickly became an industry leader, with foreign sales offices opening shortly thereafter.
A decade after its formation, Drummond Company, Inc. undertook a sizeable capital expansion program to establish itself as the largest surface mining company in Alabama. This was quickly followed by the acquisition of Alabama’s By-Products Corporation. Recognizing that there were significant opportunities in the low-cost, low-sulfur coal markets in Colombia, a decision was made in the late 1980s to expand offshore and secured extensive mining rights there. Larry Drummond has been a major force in advancing all these initiatives.
Today, Drummond Company employs 5,100 directly with revenues of $5 billion annually.
While the coal mining activities were expanded, Drummond’s land management activities led the company through joint ventures, inro real estate development in Florida, California, and Alabama.
Located near Lakeland, Florida, is Oakbridge, a 1,500-acre mixed-use development, and Drummond’s first venture into real estate development. This planned community has its own country club and golf course, as well as residential, retail, professional, and commercial spaces.
Located in Vestavia Hills, Liberty Park community is near Drummond’s home office in Birmingham. At nearly 4,000 acres, it is also the largest planned community initiated by the company, with seven residential neighborhoods, corporate offices, retail space, and the Old Overton Golf and Country Club, named by Golf Digest as American’s best new private course in 1994.
Rancho La Quinta is in the California desert near Palm Springs and is a 725-acre golf-oriented residential community with two golf courses which has received local, state, and national recognition.
Building on the success of Rancho La Quinta, Drummond Company purchased an additional 1,000 acres for a second development in California. Andalusia at Coral Mountain is in La Quinta and features a world-class championship golf course. Upon completion, Andalusia will include about 800 homes in a variety of sizes and styles, reflective of the Andalusia region of southern Span.
Drummond received a Bachelor of Science degree in commerce and business administration from the Culverhouse College of Commerce at The University of Alabama in 1965, and a master’s degree in accounting from UA in 1966, followed by a law degree from The University of Alabama School of Law in 1969.
He is a member of the Alabama Bar Association, the Board of Visitors of the Culverhouse College of Business, The UA President’s Cabinet, at The University of Alabama, and the United Way of Central Alabama’s La Societe Nationale.
He is a director of the Boy Scouts of America Black Warrior Council, the board of the First Commercial Bank, the selection committee of the Alabama Business Hall of Fame, the Walker Area Community Foundation, the Alabama Conservation and National Resources Foundation, and the American Family Business Institute. He is a member of the First Baptist Church of Jasper. He and his wife, Abbie Sue, have three children: Terri Renee Drummond Lyon, Scott Allen Drummond, and Patrick Lee Drummond. He enjoys hunting, fishing, and golf.
