P. Kelly Tompkins Executive Vice President - Legal, Government Affairs and Sustainability

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CLEVELAND (Business Wire) -- Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (Paris: CLF) today
announced the appointment of P. Kelly Tompkins as executive vice
president - legal, government affairs and sustainability. In this
newly created role, Tompkins will report directly to Joseph A. Carrabba,
Cliffs' chairman, president and chief executive officer. He will have
responsibility for all traditional corporate general counsel matters,
Cliffs' ongoing relationships with all U.S. and international government
and regulatory bodies, and the execution and reporting of the Company's
increasingly critical sustainable development practices. Mr. Tompkins
will officially join Cliffs on May 3, 2010.




Since 2008, Tompkins has served as executive vice president and chief
financial officer for RPM International Inc. (NYSE: RPM), a $3.4
billion, specialty coatings and sealants manufacturer. In this role, he
was responsible for worldwide finance, accounting, tax, treasury,
internal audit, government affairs, investor relations and risk
management. Prior to this position, Mr. Tompkins was RPM's chief
administrative officer, responsible for all of RPM's financial,
traditional corporate general counsel matters and communication
functions, including investor relations.




Mr. Carrabba said: "Our Board and executive team are extremely
enthusiastic about Kelly joining the Company. Attracting a proven,
senior-level executive with such a vast background and broad experience
base is a testament to Cliffs' rising corporate profile and the
Company's future prospects. I believe Kelly's leadership will prove
invaluable as we continue to execute our strategy and grow as an
international mining and natural resources company. In recent years,
Cliffs has become an increasingly more complex and integrated global
company. This requires that we build the sophisticated business
processes and systems needed to support our next phase of growth.
Kelly's expertise and leadership will help us achieve this goal."




Before joining RPM in 1996, Mr. Tompkins held various positions with
Reliance Electric Company (a $1.5 billion NYSE-listed diversified
manufacturing company) and Exxon Corporation.




Tompkins serves on the boards of University Hospitals Case Medical
Center; the Alzheimer's Association of Cleveland; the Greater Cleveland
Partnership's Government Affairs Council and Magnificat High School, an
all-girls college preparatory school. He is a member of the Advisory
Board of the Canada-United States Law Institute of Case Western Reserve
University and the Advisory Council for the Baldwin-Wallace College of
Business. He served as the 95th president of the Cleveland Bar
Association in 2005-2006. He is a past recipient of the George B. Davis
Award for his distinguished service to Cleveland State University and
has received Outstanding Alumnus Awards from Cleveland-Marshall Law
School (2008) and from Mercyhurst College (2009). He earned an industry
achievement award in October 2003 from the National Paint & Coatings
Association.




Mr. Tompkins received his B.A. degree from Mercyhurst College and his
J.D. degree from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1981.