In 2000 the company opened the Amherstdale, WV lab and named Tom Jeffrey as its manager.
A lab at the Coal Creek mine, WYO was also re- opened with Barb Kari as manager. Melissa Wrigley and Tanya Reynolds were also managers at some time.
With the award of the national contract with Arch Coal in 2000, three new labs were added to the western operations. Jim McElfresh was appointed manager (later Greg Jewkes) of one of these new labs in Salina, Utah. This lab operated through 2015 until Arch sold off the Utah assets to Bowie Resources and the lab was awarded to a different operator.
Bob Kaufman was manager for another one of these new labs located in Somerset, Colo for Mountain Coal’s West Elk mine. Later managers included Steve Woods and Jane Kuta who is the current manager of the facility.
And the the third lab was established in Helper, Utah at the Skyline mine with Scott Rossetto as manager. The lab operated out of the mine until 2009 at which time a facility was built in Huntington, Utah to service this mine as well as provide support to the Salina , Utah operation.
Todd Stallard leaves the company to open a new family business called Mountain Greeneries. After three years the business was liquidated and Todd returned to Std Labs as Corporate Director of New Business Development and Marketing.
A satellite lab was created in Kenova, WV and was supervised out of the Catlettsburg, KY lab.
Vicki DeHart replaces Sharon as the Charleston lab manager.
A lab at Fola, WV was opened managed by Al Taylor. This lab was closed in 2002.
This same year Brenda Briley left the Van Buren, AR tab to become manager of a joint venture with Tradet Laboratories owned by Bill Kalb. This venture was terminated the following year as there was not enough synergy between the two firms to justify further joint operation.
And in 2000 a lab was established in Skyline, Utah with Scott Rossetto as manager. Other managers included Greg Jewkes, Lois Stofko and Mikel Kulow.
Most importantly, this year of 2000 marked a real change in leadership of Std Labs as the company hired Rick Flesher as its new president. He replaced Troy Stallard who retained the title of Chief Executive Officer. Rick had been the Corporate Quality Control Officer for Ashland Coal Company for a number of years and was very familiar with Std Labs’ personnel, procedures and practices. He attended Arizona State and Marshall Universities and earned a degree in chemistry.
Rick Flesher’s arrival crafted a change in managerial duties as he became responsible for all operations in the parent company as well as the corporate staff. The Chairman of the Board retained management of the partnerships and focused on shareholder and diversification issues.
The addition of Rick to the company added greatly to its growth and stability.