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Ipsco Unveils New Senior Management Team

07/20/2007 - Ipsco announces the appointment of its new senior management team following completion of the company’s acquisition by SSAB Svenskt Stal AB.

Ipsco Inc. announced the appointment of its new senior management team, which will work out of the Division headquarters in Lisle, Ill. The announcement follows completion of the company’s acquisition by SSAB Svenskt Stal AB.
 
Leading the team will be John Tulloch, who has been appointed President of Ipsco Inc. In his new position, Tulloch will be responsible for managing all existing Ipsco businesses, as a Division of SSAB Svenskt Stal AB. In addition, Tulloch will also be Executive Vice President Ipsco Division of SSAB and a member of SSAB's Group Management. Tulloch joined Ipsco in 1977 and has had senior positions in both the steel and pipe businesses, most recently as Executive Vice President, Steel and Chief Commercial Officer.
 
The Ipsco Senior Management team (all of whom will be located in Lisle) reporting to John Tulloch includes Vicki Avril, Senior Vice President—Tubular, who will have responsibility for all of Ipsco's tubular business in the U.S. and Canada. This will include both welded and seamless operations inclusive of Koppel Steel and also the Ultra organization. "We are very pleased that Vicki has taken on a business unit operational role after a successful career as CFO at several organizations including 23 years in the steel industry," said Tulloch. Ms. Avril has been at Ipsco since May 2004.
 
David Britten has been named Senior Vice President—Steel, with responsibility for Ipsco's steel business in North America inclusive of the steel mills and coil processing lines. In his 22-year career with Ipsco, Mr. Britten has progressed through positions in product development, quality assurance, operations, including heading the overall tubular business. Most recently he was Ipsco's Vice President, Corporate Development.
 
The company also named Steve Hansen Vice President and Chief Technical Officer. Dr. Hansen joined Ipsco in 2003 following a career in the integrated sector of the steel business. Until this appointment, Mr. Hansen was Director, Technical Services for Ipsco's steel division. In his new role, he will have responsibility for Ipsco's technical services organization, the R&D Centre and Frontier Pipe Research Unit, environmental affairs and the company's successful Six Sigma program.
 
Michele Klebuc-Simes has been named Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. In her new role, Ms. Klebuc-Simes will be responsible for the corporate legal function at Ipsco, as well as the  Communication, Trade Policy, and Government Relations functions. She joined Ipsco in 2001 and recently was admitted to the Illinois Bar, in addition to her Canadian credentials
 
Also part of the new management team, Greg Maindonald will serve as Vice President, Operations Services. In his new role, Mr. Maindonald will continue to be responsible for Ipsco's corporate Logistics and Procurement functions as well as the General Scrap Partnership. He joined Ipsco in 1974 and has had a series of positions, including time spent in primary operations, inventory and production planning, sales administration, purchasing, traffic and information technology.
 
The company also named Phil Marusarz Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He formerly served as the Corporate Controller at Ipsco. In his new role, he will be responsible for the Ipsco division's accounting and     financial management functions. He joined Ipsco in 2001 as Treasurer, following senior financial positions in both public and private companies.
 
Also named as part of the new management team is Ray Rarey, who will serve as Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Mr. Rarey continues in his prior role as Chief HR Officer responsible for all HR functions. In addition, the Safety function will now report to him. Mr. Rarey joined Ipsco in 2000 following senior positions with a number of U.S.-based manufacturing companies.
 
The company also named Tim Wensits Vice President and Chief Information Officer. Wensits joined Ipsco earlier in 2007 in the newly created role of Chief Information Officer and will continue this responsibility. His career covers nearly 26 years in the IT industry in both the USA and Australia. In addition, Tim has also been named Chief Information Officer of SSAB with overall responsibility for IT throughout the SSAB corporation.
 
"I am excited about the depth of knowledge and continuing experience this management team brings to Ipsco within the SSAB organization and am very enthusiastic about the future of the business," Tulloch said. "Ipsco
has had a long and very successful 51-year record of innovation, growth and change and we expect that to continue as a division of SSAB."
 
David Sutherland, formerly President and CEO, Joseph Russo, formerly Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, and Leslie Lederer, formerly Corporate Counsel, have all retired from Ipsco. Peter MacPhail, formerly Vice President of Primary Operations and President Ipsco Saskatchewan Inc. will be retiring in the near future.
 
Ipsco operates in North America as a division of SSAB and is a leading low-cost producer of energy tubulars and steel plate in that region with an annual liquid steelmaking capacity of 4.3 million tons. Ipsco also operates four steel mills, eleven pipe mills, nine product finishing facilities, and nine scrap processing centers in 25 geographic locations across the United States and Canada. Ipsco's pipe mills produce a wide range of seamless and welded energy tubular products including oil & gas well casing and tubing, line pipe, drill pipe, large-diameter transmission pipe, standard pipe and hollow structurals. Ipsco also manufactures premium connections for oil and natural gas drilling and production under its ULTRA(TM) brand name.