Management Team

Ms. Humpton is Chief Executive Officer of USA Rare Earth, Inc., where she leads the Company’s efforts to build a secure, domestic rare earth supply chain spanning mining, processing, and magnet production. 

Ms. Humpton previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens USA from 2018 to 2025, overseeing approximately 45,000 employees across all 50 states and Puerto Rico and more than $21 billion in annual revenue. During her tenure, she led the company’s U.S. strategy across industrial, energy, and infrastructure sectors. 

Prior to joining Siemens in 2011, Ms. Humpton held senior leadership roles at Booz Allen Hamilton and Lockheed Martin, where she was responsible for large-scale system integration programs focused on biometrics, border and transportation security, and critical infrastructure protection. 

Ms. Humpton serves as Chair of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and as Vice Chair of Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. 

Ms. Humpton holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Wake Forest University. Her leadership experience across industrial, infrastructure, and national security sectors positions her to guide the Company’s growth in building a resilient domestic rare earth supply chain. 

Mr. Steele has over 30 years' experience in finance and investment banking. He has a strong background working with high-growth, disruptive companies and has led over $28 billion in capital raises and M&A transactions throughout his career in both the private and public markets. His capital raising and strategic financial leadership will support USAR's future growth in both mining and magnet manufacturing as the Company scales.

Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Steele was Global Chief Financial Officer at Mujin Corp., a physical AI industrial robotics software company. Prior to Mujin, Mr. Steele was Managing Director at Bank of America Securities responsible for public and private equity, debt and M&A transactions. Mr. Steele has focused on disruptive high growth industries like USAR's throughout much of his career and brings a wide range of experience across diverse industries such as robotics, consumer electronics, food/agtech, consumer retail, and hospitality, among others. He started his career as an accountant at Ernst & Young in audit and litigation consulting.

Mr. Steele holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management and a BA in Business Economics from UC Santa Barbara.

Grant Smith is chairman and majority shareholder of Less Common Metals (LCM). He acquired LCM in late 2015 and brings), where he provides strategic leadership and long-term direction leveraging his more than four decades of experience in the global minerals industry. Grant’s career began in 1980 in the Australian coal sector and has expanded to include the production, marketing, and international trade of a broad range of minerals, including coal, uranium, garnet, iron oxide, barite, and silica sand and flour.

His expertise spans the full mineral value chain, and he has extensive experience managing complex industrial mineral supply chains, including long-standing partnerships with leading producers and suppliers serving end markets such as pulp and paper, ceramics and glass, polymers, and coatings.

Across his career, Grant has been recognized for his deep technical knowledge, commercial insight, and practical approach to building durable mineral supply chains. His ability to connect small and mid-sized producers with large multinational customers has made him a trusted leader and partner in the global industrial minerals sector

Valerie Ford Jacob is the Chief Legal Officer at USA Rare Earth, where she oversees all legal, regulatory, compliance, and public policy matters.

Ms. Jacob brings decades of experience advising on complex financings, mergers & acquisitions, and corporate governance matters for issuers, underwriters, special committees, and boards. Most recently, she served as a partner at Freshfields US LLP. During her more than 10 years at Freshfields, she was co-head of both the Financial Institutions Group and Global Capital Markets. Previously, she was chairperson and senior partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.

Ms. Jacob holds a B.S. from Boston University and a J.D. from Cornell Law School. She is also a member of The Committee of 200 (C200), an invitation only organization of leading women executives. She has been consistently recognized as a leading lawyer by numerous independent organizations, including Chambers Global, Chambers USA, IFLR1000, Legal 500, and Best Lawyers.

Greg Bowman is Chief Global Policy Officer and Head of External Affairs at USA Rare Earth, where he leads the company’s public policy, corporate affairs, government relations, and strategic communications efforts.

Mr. Bowman brings decades of experience across national security policy, legislation, global strategy, and complex infrastructure programs. Prior to joining USA Rare Earth, he served in senior leadership roles at Siemens Government Technologies, including Chief Corporate Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President, National Security Solutions. Before Siemens, Mr. Bowman spent more than 25 years in senior leadership and legal roles in the U.S. Army.

Mr. Bowman received a bachelor’s degree from Longwood University in sociology and pre-law, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He also earned a Master of Military Law and Government Contracting from the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center & School, and a Master of Military Arts and Sciences from the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College. He previously served on the U.S. Army Science Board and the U.S. Department of Defense Business Board, and currently serves on the Founding Council of PRISM, the Strategic Council of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, and the Board of Directors of Hope for the Warriors.

Mr. Kronenfeld is an accomplished corporate attorney with approximately 15 years of experience advising growth-stage and public-company organizations on corporate governance, securities matters, and strategic transactions. He serves as General Counsel of USA Rare Earth, where he leads the in-house corporate legal function and supports the company’s strategic growth initiatives.

Prior to joining USA Rare Earth in March 2021, Mr. Kronenfeld practiced in Hunter Business Law’s M&A and securities division. He previously worked in middle-market investment banking and as in-house counsel to a Nasdaq-listed deep-sea exploration company. He earned a B.A. from Washington & Lee University and completed both his J.D. and LL.M. in Taxation at Washington University in St. Louis.

Mr. Bushi leads the company’s manufacturing operations at its Stillwater, Oklahoma, sintered neodymium magnet production facility.

He has over 25 years of large-scale manufacturing experience and most recently served as Vice President of Manufacturing for CoorsTek, a ceramics manufacturer in Golden, Colorado – experience directly applicable to magnet manufacturing. Mr. Bushi has a strong background in heading high volume manufacturing operations and a record of success across multiple industries, including automotive, defense, and aerospace.

He holds an MBA from Wayne State University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University.

Dr. Alex Moyes serves as Vice President of Mining and Processing at USA Rare Earth, where he leads the development of mining operations, resource characterization, and the development of process flowsheets for the Round Top project in West Texas. With oversight of upstream activities, including mine planning, leaching, and separation technologies, he is instrumental in advancing the company’s integrated mine-to-magnet strategy.

Dr. Moyes brings nearly two decades of expertise in mining engineering, geology, and resource development. Prior to joining USA Rare Earth, Dr. Moyes held the role of Director of Critical Minerals and Planning at Ramaco Resources, where he spearheaded initiatives in rare earth and other strategic minerals, including exploration, process flowsheet development, and techno-economic modeling. Before that, he served as Vice President of Economics and Planning at FREYR Battery, directing financial modeling and risk analysis for lithium battery projects. His earlier career at Dominion Energy focused on innovation in energy technologies, subsurface planning, and geoscience leadership, marked by a consistent emphasis on project execution and bringing complex deposits into production.

Dr. Moyes holds four degrees from the University of Utah, including a Ph.D. in Mining Engineering, an MBA, an MSc in Geology, and a BSc in Geoscience.

J.B. Lowe leads USA Rare Earth’s strategic engagement with the financial community and serves as the primary liaison between USAR’s leadership, analysts, and global shareholders.

Lowe brings more than 20 years of capital markets experience on both the buy and sell side. Most recently, he served as Head of Investor Relations at SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: SEDG). Prior to that, Lowe served as the head of U.S. Renewable Energy Equity Research at Citigroup. Earlier, he was an equity research analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and at TD Cowen, where he led coverage of U.S.-focused SMID-caps in the oil and gas sector.

Lowe holds a B.A. in political science from Duke University and is a CFA Charterholder.

Victoria Sprenger is Head of People & Culture at USA Rare Earth. She has more than 20 years of experience leading people functions across startups, national enterprises, and global corporations, including strategic talent acquisition, culture design, and workforce optimization. She creates people strategies that eliminate talent bottlenecks, accelerate organizational effectiveness, and drive operational performance at speed.

Prior to USA Rare Earth, Victoria held human resources roles at the public accounting firm BKD (now Forvis Mazars) and at Cerner, the provider of electronic health record systems and other digital health solutions acquired by Oracle in 2021. She also worked as a technology consultant at the business-process automation software company PaperWise. Immediately before joining USAR in 2022, Victoria was director of HR for Little Sunshine’s Playhouse, a chain of preschools with more than 40 U.S. locations.

Victoria holds a BS in public administration and an MBA, both from Missouri State University. She also senior human resources certifications through both the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM-SCP) and HRCI (SPHR).