USA Rare Earth CEO Barbara Humpton to retire Oct. 1; Thras Moraitis, CEO of Serra Verde, to succeed as merger integration nears. Michael Blitzer becomes executive chairman.
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USA Rare Earth (Nasdaq: USAR) said Barbara Humpton will retire as chief executive officer and board director on Oct. 1, 2026. Thras Moraitis, currently CEO of Serra Verde Group, will succeed her. Michael Blitzer, the company’s chairman, was elected executive chairman, effective immediately.
The leadership changes come as USA Rare Earth nears the completion of its combination with Serra Verde, expected by the end of August. Moraitis will continue as president of the combined company during the interim period. He has served as Serra Verde’s CEO since January 2023 and has been involved in integration planning, the company said.
Humpton led USA Rare Earth through a period of aggressive expansion. The company secured a US$1.6 billion public-private partnership with the U.S. government. It also established a global footprint spanning critical processing and magnet production. Under her tenure, the company’s market capitalization rose nearly tenfold, a gain Blitzer attributed to M&A and the government deal.
Blitzer, a founder and managing partner of Inflection Point, has been the company’s financial sponsor since its public listing in 2025. He personally agreed to restrictions on the transfer of his USAR common stock until certain funding release milestones under the government financing are satisfied, the company disclosed.
Moraitis brings operational experience from the rare earths sector and from mining more broadly. He transformed Serra Verde into the only large-scale producer of the four critical magnetic rare earths outside Asia, and a pioneer of the Brazilian rare earths sector, according to the company. Prior to Serra Verde, he served on the executive committee of Xstrata under CEO Sir Mick Davis. There, he helped grow the company to US$65 billion before its sale to Glencore in 2013. He has been involved in roughly 40 transactions over his career.
”With the Serra Verde combination nearing completion and our overall focus shifting to execution, Barbara and the Board agree this is the right time for a leadership transition,” Blitzer said in the announcement. He called Moraitis “a rare group of leaders in this industry, with a proven record of carrying companies through integration and large-scale project execution.”
Humpton said, “I could not be more grateful to the USAR team for what we have built, and the Board and our partners for their collaboration and commitment to those efforts.”
Moraitis said he is “honored and excited” to take on the role. “Through the merger integration preparation, I have become deeply familiar with USAR's operations across all steps in the value chain,” he said. “Mike, the Board and I are all closely aligned in our vision for USAR: to create a platform comprising all components of the rare earth value chain, with the scale and capabilities to lead this industry globally.”
The transition shifts the company’s focus from strategy building to operational execution. The primary near-term risk is the successful integration of Serra Verde. The company’s US$1.6 billion government partnership depends on meeting project milestones. Any delay in the merger close or failure to meet those milestones could affect the timeline and financing.
What could reduce that risk: Moraitis’s operational experience in large-scale project execution, the board’s alignment, and continued government support for domestic critical minerals supply chains. What could make it worse: delays in the merger, execution missteps, or a change in U.S. policy toward rare earth development.
USA Rare Earth operates across the full value chain, from mining to metal-making, alloy production and neodymium magnet manufacturing. Its assets include the Less Common Metals facility in the U.K., magnet manufacturing in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the planned acquisition of the Pela Ema mine in Brazil, and the Round Top deposit in Texas. Customers include the aerospace and defense, energy, data center and other industrial sectors.
The merger with Serra Verde is expected to close by the end of August. The proxy statement for the stockholder vote is under review by the SEC.
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