The Stel Salaried Pensioners Organization wishes to
thank The Hamilton Spectator for permission to post the following article by
Reporter Naomi Powell
published in
the April 19, 2006 edition
By Naomi Powell
The Hamilton Spectator
(Apr 19, 2006)
Stelco's newly minted CEO is wasting little time in shaking
up the steelmaker's management team.
Rodney Mott has named two new senior managers with roots in
U.S.-based International Steel Group and Nucor Steel to head up key areas of
Stelco's business.
In a recent letter to employees, Mott announced the
appointment of Gordon Spelich and Bill McKenzie as vice-presidents of Stelco.
Both men are veterans of Ohio-based ISG, where Mott served as president until
the company was taken over by Mittal Steel in 2005. And both were managers at
North Carolina-based Nucor Steel, where Mott held senior roles before joining
ISG.
"He's putting his stamp on the company," said
Charles Bradford, an analyst with New York-based Soleil Securities.
"If you're going to run a company you want people you
know are good. You don't just stick to existing management."
Neither Mott nor Stelco spokesperson Helen Reeves would
comment on the appointments, which were made less than two weeks after Mott
picked up the reins at Stelco.
They appear to be part of a larger effort by the CEO to
create what he has dubbed a new "flatter management structure." In
another letter to employees, Mott describes this structure as one designed to
return Stelco to profitability and remove layers between employees, customers
and management.
To that end, the company has eliminated the position of
chief operating officer, appointing ex-COO Colin Osborne as Stelco's new
vice-president, strategy and business development.
Osborne, the letter says, will lead the company's corporate
business strategies, capital expenditures and business strategies.
Mott writes that he is also engaging in "a
comprehensive review of compensation and benefits for all salaried employees
with a view to creating the appropriate programs to help us retain and attract
the right people for the new Stelco."
He does not detail what those new programs might entail.
"There is room for all who share in the goal to make
Stelco a revitalized and successful company, who embrace constructive change
and who bring anergy and commitment to our new focus," Mott says in the
letter.
McKenzie will assume the positions of Stelco vice-president
and general manager of Hamilton Steel -- formerly Hilton Works. McKenzie spent
14 years at Nucor Steel and is a former general manager of ISG Weirton.
Spelich, who media reports say worked with Mott on the
startup of Nucor plants in Arkansas and South Carolina before becoming
vice-president of business development at ISG, will become Stelco's
vice-president of purchasing and logistics.
Peter Knocke, a 20-year Stelco veteran, becomes a
vice-president of Stelco and general manager of Lake Erie Steel.
"Stelco has been generally considered the worst managed
company in the steel industry," said Leo Gerard, president of the
international arm of the United Steelworkers of America.
"It'll be interesting to see whether the Stelco culture
gets pushed aside by this new group of management or reinforced."
That culture, Gerard says, is one marked by difficult
relations with the company's unions. Stelco management have a potentially
difficult labour negotiation coming up when Local 1005's contract expires July
31.
npowell@thespec.com
905-526-4620