District 5, Seat 1
RAJA UPADHYAY
Education:
Master of Science in Mining Engineering – University of Arizona, Tucson AZ – 1975
Professional Experience:
June 1997 to March 2014 – President, RungePincockMinerco(RPM) Denver, CO –
Responsible for managing consulting services for mining clients in the Americas
and parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. I managed offices in US, Canada, Brazil and
Chile. My responsibility included budgeting, P&L and financial management. RPM
is an international mining and software consulting company headquartered in
Brisbane, Australia. I retired from RPM in March, 2014.
October 1976 to June 1997 – Western Fuels Association Inc., Denver CO,
Washington DC, and Rangely CO. Western Fuels is a Fuel Supply cooperative
established as not for profit organization to supply fuel to its members in the US.
Its membership is made up of G&T cooperatives and municipal utilities involved in
coal fired power plants and several distribution cooperatives similar to LECC.
Western Fuels membership included Basin Electric from Bismarck ND, Tri-state
G&T from Thornton CO, Cajun Electric from New Roads LA, Plains Electric from
Albuquerque NM and Deseret G&T from Sandy UT. Its Municipal utilities
members included Kansas City Board of Public Utilities, Sikeston Power of
Sikeston MO and City Utility of Rochester MN. There were several distribution
cooperatives who were members of Western Fuels, as well. I started as a senior
engineer and promoted to mine manager and ultimately Manager of Operation
and Engineering. During my employment I was responsible for building four coal
mines and two short-line railroads. I was also responsible for transporting
approximately 20 million tons of coal to 11 different power plants. In my position
I participated in Western Fuels board meetings. Western Fuels board was made
up of representatives of G&Ts and municipal utilities.
1975 to 1978 – I worked for Kennecott Copper Corp in Salt Lake City UT and
Cameron Engineers in Denver CO.
Professional Membership:
Society of Mining Engineers – Member since 1971
National Coal Council – Appointed by Secretary of Energy, resigned after
retirement
National Mining Association – Represented as company member since 1997.
Resigned after retirement.
Appointment and Election:
In 1984 I was appointed by Governor of Colorado to serve as an advisor for Job
Partnership Act. I had to resign in 1986 when I was transferred to Washington DC.
In 1983 I was elected to serve as a board member of Colorado Northwestern
Community College in Rangely CO. The board was responsible for setting policies,
approval of budget and approval of capital budgets. I resigned from the board
because of my transfer to Washington DC.
Awards:
In February 2016, I was awarded by the Society of Mining Engineers, Ben F
Dickerson III award for my forty-year contribution and professionalism to the
mining industry.
Social Membership:
Life member of Association of Nepalese in the Americas
Life member of Rocky Mountain Friends of Nepal
Life member of Association of Nepalese in Mid-west America