Schnitzer Steel taps into new CEO’s Bechtel experience

Schnitzer Steel taps into new CEO’s Bechtel experience

John D. Carter, Schnitzer Steel’s new CEO, has a lot of experience under his belt - just none in the steel industry. Still, Schnitzer Steel feels that Carter will be the best person to fill the hastily departed shoes of former chief executive Robert Phillip. The transportation consultant has spent most of his career managing virtually every business aspect at the global engineering, construction, energy conglomerate Bechtel Corporation. On May 19, Carter became the first non-family chief executive of Schnitzer Steel, a company running self-service auto parts stores, a steel mill, and a multimillion-dollar scrap export business to China and Southeast Asia. In his first interview as CEO Mr. Carter said, “I’ve been dealing with the Chinese since the 1970s. It’s not like this is something that’s dramatically different. I haven’t had any specific (steel industry) experience, but I’ve had a lot of general experience that applies.” Regardless, Mr. Carter assumes control with a full plate of issues to dig into. He will have to use his experience to contend with several serious issues facing the company. Topping his to-do list: declining scrap metal prices; a board investigation into Schnitzer Steel’s practice of paying commissions to Asian scrap buyers; labor unrest at the company’s McMinnville steel mill; the recent divorce of its joint venture with New York metals recycler Hugo Neu Corp; and the subsequent merger of two top rivals – Hugo New and Australia-based Sims Group. Schnitzer Steel, based in Portland, Oregon, is one of the nation’s largest recyclers of ferrous metals, a leading recycler of used and recycled auto parts, and a manufacturer of finished steel products. The company, with its joint venture partners, currently processes over 4.9 million tons of recycled metals a year.