Fred Steele retires after 44 years in steel; Kim James is named general manager of Valley Joist.

You might say Fred Steele is aptly named — he has worked in the steel industry for the past 44 years, the last 17 as general manager of EBSCO"s Valley Joist plant in Fort Payne, Ala. He started his career as a management trainee in CECO Corporation"s building products division near Chicago, progressing to superintendent before transferring to their Romeoville, Ill., joist plant in 1972, and then later to their New Columbia, Penn., joist plant where he served as plant manager and installed a successful productivity sharing system that overcame strong union resistance. "We later transformed that plant from an automated resistance welding method to all in-line production as we have here at Valley Joist," Steele said.

When CECO sold off several divisions in 1986, Steele and other investors bought New Columbia. They were forced to sell when the recession of 1990 squeezed them for working capital. About a year later, Steele met Jim Stephens, EBSCO president at the time, who brought him the challenge of helping Valley Joist emerge from a recession. In 1993, Steele moved from Pennsylvania to Alabama with his wife and two sons. "Since then, the great people at Valley Joist have tried to make me look good, but it"s a tough task," he joked.

Steele retired effective Nov. 1, 2010, and was succeeded by Valley Joist - West General Manager Kim James, who joined EBSCO when Valley Joist expanded out West during 1996 - 1997. It was the opening of Valley Joist - West that prompted Steele to recruit James, whom he had worked with at New Columbia when she served as controller. "As a controller, she also learned the steel business and developed into an astute buyer of steel, as well as gaining the confidence and respect of shop employees," Steele said. "When we decided to build and expand into new Western territory where there was little competition and room for product growth as the East was saturated with capacity, I looked at people within the industry and found none more dedicated and interested than Kim. It was a terrific opportunity to start her from the ground up as I knew that she was totally honest, a quick study, hard worker and extremely dependable. She has proven to be so and much more," Steele said.

When James was named general manager of Valley Joist - West in 1997, she became the first woman in the industry to hold that position at a steel joist plant. "I remember when Fred first called and said that Valley Joist was expanding to the West and that he was confident that I could handle the responsibility of general manager. We worked closely together for several months in Fort Payne preparing a game plan for the plant," James said. "Fred really provided the support and encouragement that I needed to develop a management style that fit the West Coast market. To now be selected general manager for both plants is quite an honor for me as much as it is a tribute to Fred for inspiring me to excel. I truly