SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Mark Fedor
President and Chief Executive Officer
Morgan EngineeringMark Fedor earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Akron. After earning his degree, he joined the team at Morgan. He added his professional engineer’s license (P.E.) in 1997 and an associate’s degree in electrical engineering. Fedor joined Steel Dynamics Inc. in 2001 at the Columbia City Structural and Rail greenfield site as plant mechanical engineer, involved with all aspects of construction, commissioning and reliability. In 2005, Fedor had the opportunity to purchase Morgan Engineering and return home to his roots. Now, with more than 30 years of experience in the steel industry, he uses his expertise to help Morgan’s customers solve their production pain points by adapting the latest innovations in manufacturing and automation to the harsh production environments of the steel industry. Fedor has been a member of the AIST Cranes Technology Committee and its subcommittees for the past 25 years. He is past AISTech Conference Planning Committee chair and past member of the Conference Steering Committee. Fedor serves on the board at the University of Mount Union, the Regional Trustee Board of Huntington National Bank, and local and regional economic development boards.

Traci Forrester
Executive Vice President
Environmental and Sustainability, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

Traci Forrester is executive vice president, environmental and sustainability of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. She is responsible for the environmental affairs and sustainability functions. Previously, Forrester was executive vice president, business development, whereby she was responsible for developing emerging business opportunities supporting Cleveland-Cliffs’ U.S. domestic market. She began her career at Cleveland-Cliffs in 2004 within the company’s legal department. She was vice president, deputy general counsel and assistant secretary from 2018 to 2019. She was responsible for the company’s compliance with securities laws and financial reporting, execution of strategic transactions and corporate governance matters, including working with the board of directors and its committees. She also coordinated legal services and counsel for the company. Since joining Cliffs as corporate attorney, Forrester has served in various senior management positions within the company’s legal department. She was promoted to group counsel – Asia Pacific Operations in 2011 and oversaw and directed legal services for that business unit in Australia. She also held the role of assistant general counsel – Corporate Affairs and International Operations. Before her tenure with Cliffs, she held an in-house legal counsel position at ABB Inc., a multinational industrial process automation company, as a senior attorney. Forrester earned her J.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University, and her B.A. degree in philosophy from Miami University. Currently, she serves as second vice president of the AIST Board of Directors. She is also a board member of the Cleveland Play House and Friends of Breakthrough Schools.

Liz Hunter
Process Engineer
Nucor Corp.Liz Hunter has over 12 years’ experience in the steel industry serving in various positions at different companies. The majority of her career has been spent with Nucor in cold rolling and galvanizing at Nucor Steel–Berkeley, Nucor-JFE Steel Mexico and Nucor Steel Gallatin, where she currently works as a process engineer. She has a B.S. degree in metallurgical and materials engineering from Colorado School of Mines and an M.B.A. from the University of California at Riverside. She’s been a member of AIST since she was a student and received an AIST Foundation scholarship, and she then immediately got involved as a Young Professional. Hunter has served as a Member Chapter officer, Cold Rolling Technology Committee training co-chair, Cold Rolling Technology Training presenter, and is the current outgoing chair of the Young Professionals Steering Committee.

Jamie Lewis Smith
Chief Executive Officer and Leadership Psychologist
Pixel Leadership GroupJamie Lewis Smith is passionate about making managers suck less by providing simple, science-backed actions to transform them into empowering leaders! Her company, Pixel Leadership Group, offers data-driven coaching that can be applied at scale to turn managers into talent maximizers and foster employee thriving. She has spent her career as a human resources leader, coach, and advisor across private sector, nonprofit and government agencies. She is a contributing member of the Forbes Coaches Council, a published author, and an international speaker on the topics of leadership, assessment and employee retention.

Barry 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.