| Karim AlshurafaPresident, Vollmer America, Inc.
Karim Alshurafa has a bachelor of material science and engineering and a master’s degree in engineering entrepreneurship and innovation from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., Canada. Alshurafa has 16 years of experience in primary steelmaking and secondary steelmaking technology. In 2004, he started as an EAF process engineer at Gerdau Ameristeel Whitby in Canada. He then served as a sales engineer at Heraeus Electro-Nite Co. LLC in steelmaking sensors. He joined SMS group in 2013 as a senior engineer in the steelmaking metallurgy department. Alshurafa currently serves as the general manager of sales and marketing at SMS group Inc. in Pittsburgh, Pa., USA. Alshurafa has held multiple positions within AIST. Currently he is a member of the Electric Steelmaking Technology Committee and is past chair of the Oxygen Steelmaking Technology Committee. He also serves as the vice chair of the Pittsburgh Member Chapter. |
| Andrew S. BissotVice President Engineering, Manufacturing Excellence & Reliability, Metallus Inc.
Andrew Bissot is vice president of engineering, manufacturing excellence and reliability for Metallus Inc., a role he has held since May 2021. Before joining the company, Bissot served in a variety of roles at Outokumpu Stainless. He spent time in the commercial organization managing the responsibilities of pricing, innovation and customer solutions for the Americas division and served in roles responsible for overseeing maintenance, reliability and manufacturing excellence. Prior to Outokumpu, Bissot progressed through multiple layers of leadership responsibilities at United States Steel Corporation in management and support functions within its melting, casting, hot rolling, cold rolling and coating operations. He has a mechanical engineering degree from The University of Alabama and a master’s degree in leadership from Duquesne University. He has also obtained a variety of educational certificates from the University of Notre Dame – Mendoza College of Business, University of Cambridge, and the University of Alabama – Birmingham. Bissot also offers support to the Metrics Committee within the Society of Maintenance and Reliability Professionals and the Competences Review Steering Group for the Institute of Asset Management. |
| Greg J. BrandonVice President of the Southeast Division, CMC
Greg Brandon is vice president of the Southeast Division of CMC. In this role, he oversees operations and commercial functions for steelmaking, recycling and fabrication, including Impact Metals. Brandon started his tenure at CMC in 1998 as an inside sales representative at CMC Steel South Carolina. Since then, he has held a number of roles including inside sales manager, shipping manager and works manager. He relocated to Birmingham, Ala., USA, as the director of operations for CMC Steel Alabama in 2012, before returning to South Carolina in 2018, where he became the director of rebar fabrication, before being appointed director of operations at CMC Steel South Carolina in 2021. He assumed the role of vice president, Southeast Division in April 2022. Brandon earned a bachelor’s degree in management and marketing, followed by an M.B.A. from the University of South Carolina. |
| Nick BucciElectrical Supervisor, Nucor Steel Hertford County
Nick Bucci is an electrical supervisor at Nucor Steel–Hertford County. He began his career with Nucor in 2000 as a caster electrical technician, where he worked for 13 years. He then joined the heat treat and normalizing team, where he became the maintenance supervisor before transferring back to the caster. Prior to his career at Nucor, he spent 12 years in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear reactor operator. Bucci has a B.S. degree in nuclear engineering technology. He has been a member of AIST since 2003, and his most recent role was the chair of the Southeast Member Chapter. He also serves on the industrial advisory board for the foundry program at Georgia Southern University. |
| Stephen CivanichAssistant Vice President, NALCO Water, An Ecolab Company
Stephen Civanich graduated from Indiana University with a B.A. degree in chemistry in 1990. After serving a year as a chemist for Safety Kleen’s recycling facility, he took a sales engineer position with Nalco Water dedicated to the steel industry in 1992. In 1999, he was promoted to district manager and led Nalco’s primary metals team across the geographic Rust Belt. In 2014, Civanich became the assistant vice president for Nalco’s Primary Metals Corporate Accounts for North America. In his nearly 30-year tenure with AIST, Civanich has held multiple officer positions, including chair of the Midwest Member Chapter in 2017. |
| Lawrence F. FabinaProgram Director – Energy, Cleveland-Cliffs Burns Harbor
Lawrence Fabina graduated from Lafayette College with a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering and earned his M.B.A. at the University of Chicago. Upon graduation, he joined Bethlehem Steel Corp. as a management trainee at the then-new Burns Harbor Plant in Indiana. Over his 50-year career in the steel industry, he has held a various managerial positions, ranging from turn supervisor to general manager, in steel production, plate operations and energy management, with over a decade of experience in each area. In 2006, he was appointed manager of continuous improvement and led ArcelorMittal’s USA Energy Reduction Program. Fabina successfully initiated partnerships with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Plants program. Under Fabina’s leadership, ArcelorMittal USA (now Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.) secured over US$35 million in energy-related grants and incentives, achieving more than US$150 million in energy savings through their award-winning energy management program. In 2020, Fabina was recognized by the Association of Energy Engineers as International Energy Manager of the Year for outstanding accomplishments in promoting practices, principles and procedures in energy management. In 2021, he was appointed program director energy by Cleveland-Cliffs. He is a 50-year member of AIST, where he has held numerous positions. Since 2006, Fabina has served as a member of the managing board of directors for the Northwest Indiana Forum. |
| Jeff JoldrichsenVice President of Operations, BlueScope Coated Products
Jeff Joldrichsen started in the steel industry with North Star Steel Beaumont as a management trainee. He worked as a shift meltshop maintenance supervisor and day mechanical supervisor over the electric arc furnaces at the Beaumont mill. Joldrichsen left the steel industry and worked for several years in the float glass industry as a manufacturing engineer. He rejoined the steel industry and started work at North Star BlueScope Steel (formerly known as North Star BHP Steel), where he has held multiple roles, including meltshop maintenance general foreman, caster maintenance manager, hot strip mill operations manager, a secondment as mill manager at New Zealand Steel, caster operations manager, and vice president of operations. Joldrichsen has recently joined BlueScope Coated Products as their vice president of operations over their light-gauge facilities throughout the U.S. He received a B.S.M.E. and his M.B.A. from the University of Toledo and has completed executive leadership courses at the University of Michigan and the University of Melbourne. |
 | Nikhil KulkarniProduct Metallurgist, Steel Dynamics Inc. – Jeffersonville
Nikhil Kulkarni earned his B.S. degree in metallurgy and materials technology in Hyderabad, India. He moved to the U.S. to pursue further studies and earned his M.S. degree in materials sciences from University of North Texas. He then joined Steel Dynamics Inc. – Flat Roll Group Columbus Division as a metallurgical engineer. He has more than 10 years of experience in galvanized, Galvalume® and color-coated steel products. He served as chair of AIST’s Galvanizing Technology Committee from 2020 to 2022. He also has served on the board of directors of the International Zinc Aluminum Association. |
 | Francesco MemoliPresident and Chief Executive Officer of Tenova Inc.
Francesco Memoli is the president and chief executive officer of Tenova Inc., a leading original equipment manufacturer (OEM) supplier of sustainable processes and technologies in the metals sector, part of the Tenova Group. He started his professional career in Spain with the automaker Nissan in 1996, but quickly moved to the steel industry, joining the Techint group of companies in 1998. His steelmaking experience begun as a metallurgical engineer in the Tenaris steel plants in Argentina and in Italy, where he was involved with steel scrap and direct reduced iron melting operations. He then moved to the sister company Tenova in Italy covering various roles, from process design to plant commissioning, from technology service to plant sales, before moving to Pittsburgh, Pa., USA, in 2008, with the task of promoting green technologies for the metalmaking sector of North America. Originally from Naples, Italy, Memoli holds an M.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and an M.S. in industrial engineering from Universidad Pontificia Comillas of Madrid (Spain). He is the inventor of seven active patents about ironmaking, electric arc furnace, powder metallurgy, steel slag recycling, and safety. He has published more than 100 articles and papers and has been one of the contributors to the October 2020 “Iron and Steel Technology Roadmap” of the International Energy Agency. |
 | Stephen A. MurphyDirector – General Procurement, Metallus Inc.
Stephen Murphy has been employed with Metallus (formerly TimkenSteel Corp,) for over 18 years. He is currently the director, general procurement. He is responsible for a team of commodity managers and the procurement of consumables, MRO, corporate, CapEx, energy, and plant services. In his previous role, he was the plant manager of a metal recycling facility that was owned and operated by TimkenSteel. He also held the position of unit manager of steel processing in the finishing and the rolling mill departments at TimkenSteel. He also spent four years in thermal neat as the area manager. Murphy holds an M.B.A. from the University of Ashland, and a B.A. degree Baldwin Wallace University, He has been an AIST member since 2013 and he has served on the Northeastern Ohio Member Chapter board for nine years. |
| Barry SchneiderBarry T. Schneider, President and Chief Operating Officer, Steel Dynamics Inc.
Barry Schneider joined Steel Dynamics Inc. in 1995. He began his career with Steel Dynamics as the mechanical engineer for melting and casting during the initial construction and start-up of the Butler Flat Roll Division. Schneider subsequently worked as the plant mechanical engineer for the expansion of the Butler Flat Roll Division in 1998. He then spent time as a casting supervisor before becoming hot strip mill manager in 2000. In 2003, he shifted into processing and finishing and became the cold rolling and coating manager at the Butler Flat Roll Division. In 2007, Schneider was promoted to vice president and general manager of the Engineered Bar Products Division in Pittsboro, Ind., USA. In 2014, he accepted a corporate position as vice president – Bar Products, having responsibilities for the Pittsboro facility as well as the Roanoke, Va., facility. In 2016, he became senior vice president – Flat Roll Steel Group. In this capacity, he had responsibility for all of the flat-rolled divisions of Steel Dynamics: the Butler Division; the Columbus Division; The Techs facilities; the Heartland Division; and the Southwest-Sinton Division. Beginning in March 2023, Schneider was promoted to the role of president and chief operating officer of Steel Dynamics Inc. Prior to joining Steel Dynamics, Schneider held positions in mechanical maintenance in both hot rolling and casting with LTV Steel in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 1990. He also earned a M.S. degree in engineering management from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 2011. In 2019, Schneider earned an executive certificate in technology, operations, and value chain management from the MIT Sloan School of Management. |
 | Thomas C. TonerVice President, Operations, SSAB Americas
Tom Toner is vice president of Operations for SSAB Americas, a position he has held since 2017. In this role, he has leadership responsibility for all operational activities at SSAB’s North American steel plant, including safety, productivity, cost control and quality. In addition, in March 2022 he was appointed as a member of the Transformation Office team (Stockholm, Sweden). Toner joined SSAB (formerly IPSCO) in 1998 as meltshop manager at the company’s mill in Montpelier, Iowa, USA. In 2006, he was named superintendent of Primary Operations. He was given the added responsibility in 2012 of being team leader for the Northern Business Unit (NBU), accountable for the financial performance of the NBU production facilities consisting of the Montpelier, Iowa, operations, and cut-to-length line facilities in Minnesota and Ontario. He also served as general manager of the Iowa operations from 2015 through 2017. Toner holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration (with a concentration in operations management) from the University of Delaware. He is also a graduate of the Strategic Metals Management Program, Olin Graduate School of Business, Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., USA. |
