ArcelorMittal announces new executive lineup for Americas segment

ArcelorMittal announced Wednesday that Lou Schorsch, senior executive vice president, member of the Group Management Board and CEO of ArcelorMittal Americas will retire from the company, effective end of February 2016. Schorsch joined the company in 2003 as CEO of Ispat Inland.

Going forward it has been decided to structure the Americas business with dedicated leadership for four distinct business areas.

Jim Baske will be chief executive of ArcelorMittal Nafta Flat Rolled, with responsibility for all other operations in NAFTA, excluding US but including AM/NS Calvert. John Brett, currently executive vice president finance, planning and procurement for ArcelorMittal USA, will be appointed chief executive of ArcelorMittal USA effective January 1, 2016. Andy Harshaw, the current CEO of ArcelorMittal USA, is retiring but will stay with the company until March 31, 2016 to assist with the leadership transition.

In South America, Jefferson de Paula and Benjamin Baptista will continue as CEO South America Long and CEO South America Flat respectively.

All four will report to group chairman and CEO, Lakshmi N. Mittal.

Brian Aranha, currently vice president global automotive and commercial coordination, will assume leadership responsibilities for Schorsch's additional roles of strategy, CTO, R&D, CCM and global automotive, also reporting to Mr. Mittal. He will be supported by David Clarke as head of strategy and CTO, Greg Ludkovksy as head of R&D and Brad Davey as head of global automotive.

Separately Robrecht Himpe, currently executive vice president and CTO of ArcelorMittal, will be appointed chief executive of AM/NS Calvert, working closely with AM/NS Calvert president Chris Richards and the rest of the Calvert team to accelerate the ramp-up of this important asset.

The new executive officers are as follows:

Davinder Chugh Senior executive vice president, CEO of Africa and the CIS
Brian Aranha Executive vice president, head of strategy, CTO, R&D, CCM and global automotive
Jim Baske Executive vice president, CEO ArcelorMittal Nafta Flat Rolled
Henri Blaffart Executive vice president, group head of HR and corporate services
Jefferson de Paula Executive vice president, CEO of ArcelorMittal South America Long
Geert van Poelvoorde Executive vice president, CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe Flat
Simon Wandke Executive vice president, CEO of ArcelorMittal Mining

The CEO office and executive officers will be further supported by the group management committee, which meets regularly to discuss the key strategic issues affecting the company. The following executives are also appointed to the management committee:

Jose Manual Arias CEO of BD South West, ArcelorMittal Europe Flat
John Brett CEO ArcelorMittal USA
Genuino Christino Vice president, head of group finance
Daniel Fairclough Vice president, corporate finance and head of investor relations
Paramjit Kahlon CEO ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih