First Class Graduates from Strategic Metals Management Studies for Next Generation of Metals Industry Leadership
June 26, 2008
First Class Graduates from Strategic Metals Management Studies for Next Generation of Metals Industry Leadership
ST. LOUIS, Missouri, June 26, 2008 – The first student cohort of the Strategic Metals Management course of study – an executive education program designed to train the next generation of metals industry senior leadership – graduated last week in ceremonies held at the Olin Business School at Washington University.
“This is an important milestone for our industry and for the Metals Service Center Institute,” said Norman E. Gottschalk, Jr., MSCI’s chairman and, also, president and chief executive officer of Marmon/Keystone Corporation. “These 28 individuals have completed a rigorous 20-month course of study and are now better prepared for senior management roles than those who have gone before them. I am immensely proud of their accomplishments.”
Strategic Metals Management course of study is offered by MSCI in partnership with the Olin School’s globally recognized executive education program. The 28 graduating students, like members of two additional cohorts who are now in the program, attended five weeks of classes at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center here addressing content modules that include Strategy, Organizations and Shareholder Value; Achieving Market Focus; Driving Operational Excellence; Creating Value and Sustaining Profitable Growth, and Managing and Leading High-Performance Organizations. All content modules are geared specifically to metals industry situations, and all classes, case studies and lectures are suitable for students who work for metals producers, distributors or elsewhere in the metals value chain.
“The mandate we received from our members was to create an executive education course of study that was completely up-to-date, thorough and so engaging that students can apply learning immediately to their own companies,” said M. Robert Weidner, III, MSCI’s president and chief executive officer. “Over the 99 years that MSCI and its predecessors have existed, there have been a number of courses designed for future senior management, but I believe Strategic Metals Management is by far the most comprehensive, realistic and influential program that we have yet devised.”
One measure of SMM’s success is that the third student cohort, which just began its studies, was oversubscribed (40 students) with a waiting list for the fourth class, expected to begin studies in early 2009.
During their studies, the class had an opportunity to hear from such industry leaders as David Hannah, chairman and chief executive officer of Reliance Steel & Aluminum; Edward M. “Bud” Siegel, Jr., chief executive officer of Russel Metals; Michael D. Siegal, chairman and chief executive officer, Olympic Steel; Donald R. McNeeley, president and chief operating officer of Chicago Tube & Iron, whose term as chairman of MSCI’s expired in 2007, and Charles F. Knight, chairman emeritus, Emerson Electric.
“Strategic Metals Management is, by far, the most comprehensive and focused program ever offered by MSCI for executives headed for senior management metal industry roles,” said McNeeley. “This sort of high-level, strategic preparation for senior management is difficult to find, especially for the metals industry. This program ranks with any executive education program offered in any industry. I am delighted by the graduation of this class and look forward to a long series of these events as the years go by. Our industry will be much stronger because of it.”
“It’s at once thrilling and a little sad to let this class go,” said Dr. Samuel Chun, a program lecturer and director, custom programs, for the Olin Business School. “As faculty, we had a terrific experience working with the first cohort of MSCI members and we will miss the learning and interaction. That said, most gratifying for any instructor is witnessing the success of a former student. The inaugural graduating class of the Strategic Metals Management Program came in successful, and, we are sure, will go out to achieve even greater success as they go forward. And with that, we feel absolute delight.”
Founded in 1909, the Metals Service Center Institute has more than 410 members operating from about 1,200 locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere in the world. Together, MSCI members constitute the largest single group of metals purchasers in North America, amounting each year to more than 65 million tons of steel, aluminum, and other metals, with about 300,000 manufacturers and fabricators as customers. MSCI’s membership also includes almost all ferrous and non-ferrous industrial metals producers in North America. Metals service centers inventory and distribute metals and provide first-stage fabrication services.
Contacts:
Jon Kalkwarf, vice president, administration (847) 485-3007 or 773-835-6108
Steve Weiner, Readmore Communications, (847) 485-3011 or 503-646-9108
[Editors: Class List Follows]
Strategic Metals Management
Cohort I – Class List
Service Center Participants
- Brian Foy Bralco Metals, La Mirada, CA
- Lawrence A. Coulson Cd'A Metals, Spokane, WA
- Robert Enright Chicago Tube & Iron Company, Milwaukee, WI
- Jim Farnan Chicago Tube & Iron Company, omeoville, IL
- Mark G. Borland Future Metals, Inc., Tamarac, FL
- Jason D. Brock High Strength Plates & Profiles Inc., Mississauga, ON Canada
- David Cohen Industrial Metal Supply Co., Phoenix, AZ
- John V. Riso Macsteel Service Centers USA, Nashua, NH
- David N. Collignon Marmon/Keystone Canada Inc., Winnipeg, MB Canada
- Lou A. Germano Marmon/Keystone Canada Inc., Burlington, ON Canada
- Damon Harris Marmon/Keystone Corporation, Denver, CO
- Anthony Chiesa Namasco Limited, Burlington, ON Canada
- Steve W. Mallory Olympic Steel, Inc., Plymouth, MN
- Richard T. Marabito Olympic Steel, Inc., Bedford Heights, OH
- Gerald Brockman O'Neal Steel, Inc., Houston, TX
- Holman Head O'Neal Steel, Inc., Birmingham, AL
- Michael S. Palesny Petersen Aluminum Corporation, Elk Grove Village, IL
- Keith Mitchell Samuel Plate Sales, Stoney Creek, ON Canada
- Tom McGrogan Samuel, Son & Co., Ltd., Hamilton, ON Canada
- George Savage TW Metals, Carol Stream, IL
- John White U.S. Alloys, Inc., Houston, TX
Mill Participants
- Robert A. Levey Gallatin Steel Company, Ghent, KY
- Sean P. Keenan IPSCO Ontario, Inc., Scarborough, ON Canada
- Cynthia A. Marks Kaiser Aluminum, London, ON Canada
- Ronald J. Weiss, Jr. Kaiser Aluminum, Spokane, WA
- Larry W. Cox Lone Star Steel Company, Dallas, TX
- Frederick C. Gilbert Novelis Inc., Cleveland, OH
- Andrew M. King Novelis Inc., Cleveland, OH
Student Comments:
“Renewing education in a setting where you’re with peers and the educational experience is tailored to some of the issues that we may be facing, is an opportunity you can’t find elsewhere,” said Richard T. Marabito, a first-cohort student and chief financial officer of Olympic Steel, Inc., in Bedford Heights, Ohio.
“This is not something where you spend a day and take away one or two points,” said Jason Brock, first-cohort student and president of High Strength Plates & Profiles, Inc., in Mississauga, Ontario. “This is something that has the potential to change your company, to change your career and really change your management style.”