Personnel notes

Queen City Recycling owner receives SBA honor

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Washington, has named Michelle Coffino, the owner and CEO of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Queen City Metal Recycling & Salvage, North Carolina Small Business Person of the Year for 2017.

A March 2017 letter from the SBA to Coffino cites her “hard work, innovative ideas and dedication to [her] employees and community” that helped Coffino “build an outstanding business that has strengthened” the North Carolina economy.

In April 2016, Coffino was named one of Charlotte’s 50 most influential women by The Mecklenburg Times.

The SBA credits Coffino for giving back to the community through the Second Chance employment program, scholarships to underprivileged children and charitable donations through Queen City’s Recycling Metal to Recycle Lives event.

URR adds to management team

Unlimited Recycling Resources (URR), Chino Hills, California, has hired baler industry veteran Randy Gibson for the newly created role of vice president of sales and marketing.

URR says Gibson brings product, application and market experience to the company. For nearly 20 years he has worked with users and distributors of baling equipment.

“We are excited to have someone of Randy’s caliber joining URR,” says Dan Gregory, a URR founder. “Randy will help us continue to develop our installation base, but importantly he will also grow our distribution network.”

Gibson is based in Waycross, Georgia, and represents URR nationwide.

Gibson says URR represents “some of the best built and best engineered products available in today’s recycling industry. Many features included on the G-Baler line are not available on any domestically produced baler. Likewise, the Strautmann equipment is highly innovative and holds the potential for tremendous savings for many equipment operators.”

Lefort America expands team

West Palm Beach, Florida-based Lefort America, a division of the Gosselies, Belgium-based Lefort Group, has announced a number of new hires to its sales and marketing team.

Darrus Wagner, based in New Jersey, has been named regional sales/dealer support manager for the Northeast. He has previous experience working for One Steel and Stonerock Shipping.

Jesse Nasianceno, based in Florida, has become regional sales/dealer support manager for the Southeast. Nasianceno has more than 20 years of experience in the industry and has worked with Harris, Marathon Equipment and Imabe Balers.

David Proler, based in Texas, serves as regional sales/dealer support manager for the Southwest. Proler has 28 years of experience in the industry and comes from a family that is well-known in the metals recycling industry. He previously worked for Proler International and Sims Metal Management.

Jeff Kurtz, based in Illinois, has been named regional sales/dealer support manager for the Midwest. He has worked in various capacities with Caterpillar Inc. for the past 17 years.

Serge Paradis, based in Florida, has been hired as logistics and sales coordinator for the U.S. and Canada. He has more than 30 years of experience in heavy equipment and logistics. He coordinates international and domestic shipping and ground transportation for the company and is responsible for Canada-based prospects and customers.

Christopher Pugh, based in Florida, is the company’s new support manager for the Lefort product line and is responsible for technical support, parts and commissioning of new installations. He comes from the Lefort factory in Belgium and has 10 years of technical and support experience.

Steve Weinberg, based in Florida, has been named national director of sales and marketing. He is responsible for developing and managing the company’s regional sales force and digital and social marketing initiatives. Weinberg has more than 25 years of experience in sales and marketing.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity of further developing the Lefort America/Caterpillar dealer network and increasing the Lefort product line market share in North America,” Weinberg says.

Weima adds to sales staff

Weima America, a Fort Mill, South Carolina-based manufacturer of size-reduction equipment for the wood, paper and plastic industries, has announced that Neil Poissant has joined the company in the position of briquette sales coordinator. Poissant has 25 years of engineering experience.

“I’m excited to join the Weima team,” Poissant says. “I enjoy the process of finding specific solutions to help customers reach their goals. It’s very rewarding.”

In related news, Weima America is expanding its Fort Mill headquarters. The company has acquired a 24,000-square-foot building and an additional 2 acres next to its original facility and will construct a building on the site.

The new building will house the company’s technical department’s offices, a newly upgraded parts warehouse and manufacturing shop. The existing building will house Weima’s accounting, marketing, sales and administrative departments.

Weima offers custom briquetting machinery for the wood, paper, metals and biomass industries.

Alcoa streamlines business

Alcoa Corp., New York City, has announced plans to consolidate its business units to reduce complexity and streamline operations. Alcoa says its aluminum smelting, cast products and rolled products businesses, along with the majority of its energy segment assets, were combined into a new Alcoa Aluminum business unit. With the consolidation, Alcoa operates three business units: Alcoa Bauxite, Alcoa Alumina and Alcoa Aluminum.

Tim Reyes, president of Alcoa Cast Products, which produces differentiated aluminum products, has been named president of the new Alcoa Aluminum business unit.

“Tim has a strong track record of commercial, operational and strategic success that makes him ideally suited to head the new Aluminum business unit,” says Aloca CEO Roy Harvey. Reyes’ customer focus and operational and commercial background are assets in his new role, he adds.

With the restructuring, Martin Briere, president of the Aluminum business unit since 2014 and with Alcoa from 2007, leaves the company.