Personnel Notes

Harris appoints new president

Richard “DJ” VanDeusen has been hired as the president of The Harris Waste Management Group Inc., a subsidiary of Avis Industrial Corp., headquartered in Upland, Indiana. He will be responsible for all aspects of the operation and management of Harris and its global product and service offerings.

VanDeusen spent 20 years with General Electric and eight years with Atlanta-based WestRock, gaining executive leadership experience in operations, supply chain and finance. Most recently, he was the vice president of finance at Altisource Portfolio Solutions in Atlanta.

Gregory King, president and CEO of Avis, says, “We are pleased to have such a gifted leader and someone with a deep background in the recycling industry join the Avis team and lead the charge at Harris.”

VanDeusen replaces King, who was promoted to his current position with Avis in October of last year.

VanDeusen holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Siena College in Loudonville, New York, and is a graduate of the General Electric Financial Management Program.

Cordele, Georgia-based Harris has been a supplier to the recycling industry for 130 years, manufacturing ferrous and nonferrous processing equipment. The company’s products include balers, compactors, conveyors, shears and shredders that are sold worldwide. Harris has manufacturing facilities in Cordele and Baxley, Georgia, with an additional office in Tewkesbury, United Kingdom.

Avis Industrial is the parent company of nine wholly owned subsidiaries: AI International Inc., Louisville, Kentucky; The American Baler Co., Bellevue, Ohio; Crankshaft Machine Co., Jackson, Michigan; Edgerton Forge Inc., Edgerton, Ohio; The Harris Waste Management Group; James Steel & Tube Co., Madison Heights, Michigan; Pacific Forge Inc., Fontana, California; Peninsular Cylinder Co. Inc., Roseville, Michigan; and Sellick Equipment Ltd., Harrow, Ontario.

Alter names senior vice president, chief financial officer

Scrap metals processing company Alter Trading Corp., St. Louis, promoted Lisa Walden to the position of senior vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) Jan. 3. She previously served as the company’s interim CFO and continues to report to Jay Robinovitz, Alter president and CEO, following her promotion.

In a news release announcing Walden’s promotion, Alter says it is a strategic step to support the extension of the company’s growth strategy and to advance its succession planning. The company adds that it seeks to develop successors to its executive leadership positions from within.

Walden joined Alter in 2011. Before taking the interim CFO position, she served as senior vice president of finance and treasury. Alter says Walden has built an exceptional and professional finance team during her tenure, providing strong support to its operations and decisional support to senior management.

“Lisa has been a driving force in our growth and development over the past nine years,” Robinovitz says. “She has supported everything from our regional finance structure to our dynamic inventory process to our creative acquisition teams, all while developing a professional, operationally focused financial support team. I am so pleased that she has accepted the position as CFO.”

Founded in 1898, Alter is a privately owned, fifth-generation scrap processing and trading company and is ISO 9001 and 14001 certified. The company employs 1,325 people and operates 70 metal recycling facilities and seven trading offices in eight states, along with its representative sales office in Hong Kong.

AISI names Kevin Dempsey president, CEO

The board of directors for the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) has named Kevin Dempsey AISI president and CEO. Dempsey had been serving as interim president and CEO since June 2020, when he was appointed to succeed Thomas J. Gibson. Prior to that, Dempsey served as AISI’s senior vice president for public policy and general counsel since 2009.

“At a time when we are challenged not only by the global pandemic but by unfair trade practices and massive global steel overcapacity, the AISI member companies have the utmost confidence in Kevin’s leadership and expertise,” says John Brett, chairman of AISI and president and CEO of ArcelorMittal USA.

Before joining AISI, Dempsey was a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf, a global law firm. He has also served on Capitol Hill as counsel to Sen. John C. Danforth.

DJJ names new president

Cincinnati-based David J. Joseph Co. (DJJ) has promoted Mark Schaefer to president of the scrap recycling firm. He succeeds Craig Feldman, who remains an executive vice president of DJJ’s parent company Nucor Corp., based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Since joining DJJ in 1985, Schaefer has served in a variety of roles, including brokerage representative and district manager in the ferrous trading business; vice president of logistic services; president of the U-Pull & Pay auto salvage business unit; and executive vice president of the DJJ recycling and brokerage groups. He was appointed Nucor general manager in 2013 and then vice president in 2014.

Schaefer is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and earned his MBA from Denver University.

Founded in 1885, DJJ describes itself as one of the largest scrap brokers and processors in the United States. DJJ operates six regional scrap recycling companies in the U.S., contributing to a network of more than 60 facilities. The company also operates 12 self-serve used auto parts stores and 12 domestic and international ferrous and nonferrous scrap brokerage offices that trade scrap as well as ferro-alloys and specialty pig iron.