Christopher J. Hagedorn Named Vice President of Business Performance for Peabody Energy

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Peabody Energy today announced that Christopher J. Hagedorn has been named Vice President of Business Performance, reporting to Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Services Roger B. Walcott, Jr. Hagedorn will be responsible for driving and integrating Peabody's companywide performance improvement efforts.

Hagedorn is heading the company's new set of transformation initiatives, termed "P3", that have been introduced to improve Peabody's performance through a focus on People, Platforms and Processes to shape the company's culture, capitalize on Peabody's strengths and deliver on its core strategies. He will work across Peabody in areas such as Operations, Marketing, Corporate Development, Strategy and Business Services units to identify and integrate best practices.

Hagedorn most recently served as an Associate Principal for McKinsey & Company, where he served as a management consultant to the Energy, Chemicals, Petroleum and Mining sectors since 2000. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal company, with 2005 sales of 240 million tons of coal and $4.6 billion in revenues. Its coal products fuel approximately 10 percent of all U.S. electricity generation and 3 percent of worldwide electricity.

CONTACT: Beth Sutton (505) 287-2636