May 06, 2003

Petersen Aluminum’s Michael F. Petersen to Serve as 2003-2005 Chairman of the Metals Service Center Institute 

SAN DIEGO, California, May 6, 2003 – Michael F. Petersen, president of Petersen Aluminum Corporation of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, has been named chairman of the Metals Service Center Institute for 2003-2005, effective July 1.

Petersen, a past president of the National Association of Aluminum Distributors, has been president of Petersen Aluminum since 1987 and a member of the MSCI Board of Directors and Executive Committee since last year, when the two organizations merged.  He succeeds as MSCI chairman Maurice S. “Sandy” Nelson, Jr., president and chief executive officer of Earle M. Jorgensen Company of Brea, California.

“If anything symbolizes the success of the merger between MSCI and NAAD, it is that Mike Petersen has agreed to accept this leadership role,” Nelson said.  “Metals distributors, no matter what their specialty, must stand together on the important manufacturing and global trade issues of the day.  Mike is exactly the right person to take the reins as we all work together to continue the institute’s turnaround and build a better environment for metals distributors and the entire manufacturing supply chain.”

Petersen was named chairman at the MSCI Annual Meeting here.  He will be supported by four member officers who continue in senior leadership roles.  They include three vice chairmen – William J. Bresnahan, president, Hynes Steel Products Company, Youngstown, Ohio; Bill Jones, president and chief executive officer, O’Neal Steel, Inc., of Birmingham, Alabama, and Donald R. McNeeley, president and chief operating officer, Chicago Tube & Iron Company, Chicago.  G. Thomas McKane, president and chief executive officer of A.M. Castle & Co., Franklin Park, Illinois, continues as treasurer.  All four are also members of the Executive Committee.

Also named to serve on the Executive Committee for the coming year are Wayne K. Bassett, president and chief executive officer of Samuel, Son & Co.; Norman E. Gottschalk, Jr., president of Marmon/Keystone Corporation; David H. Hannah, chief executive officer of Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company; Clifford Kane, president of Kane Steel Company; Stephen E. Makarewicz, president of Ryerson Tull, Inc.’s South Region; Neil McCaffery, executive vice president of Earle M. Jorgensen Company; Richard F. Owen, president, Central Plaines Steel Company; Michael Siegal, chairman and chief executive officer, Olympic Steel, and M. Robert Weidner, III, president and chief executive officer of MSCI.

Retiring as board members are Frank H. Mullen, president of Griggs Steel Company; Carl R. Moulton, assistant vice president, Allegheny Technologies; John H. Roberts, founder of J.H. Roberts Industries; Robert Richardson, owner of Misteelco, and Donald A. Schlatter, chairman of Art Iron, Inc., a member of the institute since 1959 and its treasurer from 1983 to 2001.

“This outstanding group of senior leaders demonstrates the diversity, strength and intellectual capital of MSCI,” Weidner said.  “A year ago Petersen Aluminum was a member of NAAD but not of MSCI.  This year, with Mike Petersen as our next chairman, our unified organization reaps an important benefit of our expanded membership base.”

Weidner said this is among the reasons why in financial terms, MSCI has been successful in FY 2003. “Despite the difficult economic climate, this will be our best year financially in the last seven and our fourth-best year since 1990,” he said.  “MSCI is firmly committed to leading the consolidation and restructuring of the many metals trade associations.  We are dedicated to preserving the heritage of our many constituents while creating a larger, energetic and vibrant metals trade organization.  Mike Petersen symbolizes the rich histories of our past and prospects for an even brighter future.”

Founded in 1907, the Metals Service Center Institute has more than 400 members operating from about 1,200 locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and elsewhere around the world. Together, MSCI members constitute the largest single group of metals purchasers in North America, amounting each year to more than 50 million tons of steel, aluminum and other metals, with about 300,000 manufacturers and fabricators as customers. Metals service centers distribute metals and provide first-stage fabrication services.

Contact: Jon Kalkwarf, 773-867-8760 x105, 773-835-6108 cell