Testimonials | CRU SMU Steel Summit 2024

Testimonials

It was a good conference and well worth the time

Eric Ford, Commodity Manager, CCM

Do not miss this opportunity, only once per year!

David Byungin Im, Director of Sales, Dongbu USA

Time well spent!

Mark Riley, Sales Manager, Metal One America

It was a great conference. Very informational.

Jonathan Stein, Strategic Sourcing Program Manager, Mueller Company

This was my first time attending the SMU Steel Summit conference. Right away it was easy to see why this conference continues to set attendance records year after year. From the depth of quality speakers to the networking opportunities to the convenience of the airport/hotel/convention center, this conference seems tough to beat. I especially enjoyed listening to the economist''s presentations as they were engaging and entertaining; a far cry from my Econ 101 professor. I hope to be back next year!

Greg Wheeland, Sourcing & Commodity Analyst, Overhead Door Corp

From steel production, to distribution, to end user, the SMU Steel Summit is a "who''s who" for our industry.

Kevin, President, Richardson

Excellent

Seok Won Lee, President, Dongbu USA, Inc.

This conference has speakers with both great content and personality.

Mark Altimier, Assistant General Manager, MISA

The best conference in the industry brings together people and opinions from up, down, and sideways in the supply chain.

Michael Shea, VP Sales & Marketing, State Steel

The Steel Summit is a well attended event by steel producers, service centers, and end users serving all major markets. It is a great opportunity to network and get a true pulse of the different markets.

Kurt Russell, President, Precoat Metals

Best of its kind

Rene Zuazua, Assistant Sales Manager, Okaya USA

The facilities are excellent, the schedule and content are relevant, the networking is excellent.

Augie Neff, General Manager, Southwest, Majestic Steel USA

The conference was well organized, timely, and informative.

Bri Binnie, VP Business Development, B.L. Duke River Transport

Best steel industry conference available today. I like how it brings all levels (mills, service centers, end users, logistics, finance) together in one place.

Chad Gossard, Corporate Sales Manager, McNeilus Steel, Inc

Great summit.

Parthasarathi Lakshmanan, Global Steel Procurement Manager, Caterpillar Inc.

Great content and networking at an overall reasonable cost.

Michael Garvey, CFO, Alliance Steel LLC

Good conference at multiple levels.

Michael Hegedus, Vice President Supply Chain Management and Procurement, Trinity Industries

Very convenient and informational conference

Brad Goranson, EVP, Steel Technologies

Informative and a great place to meet steel vendors.

Mark Ramirez,, Purchasing Mgr, Clark Dietrich Building Systems

Great conference !

Bill Wilson, CEO, Metal Resources Holdings LLC

An event with content and value for everyone!

Leonel Garza, Sales Director, Ternium

SMU gives us an amazing amount of information. 3 days and worth every minute.

Lee Ann Trueblood, Vice President Plate Products, LB Steel

Excellent conference covering the critical topics of steel demand and the legislative consequences of a change in governmental administration.

Ronald Totsch, Director of Production and Planning, Steel Ventures LLC dba EXLTUBE

Conveniently located conference with broad range of participants and presenters. Great source of information and networking

Paige O'Kelley, Enterprise Account Manager, Nucor

Great event. Very well organized. First class.

Lain McInnis, Manager, Taylor Steel Inc.

A great event!

Joel Gullickson,, Global Category Manager, Johnson Controls

Great conference for those both new or experienced in the steel industry. Great agenda, speakers, and networking. The spirit of the event was divers, open, direct and collaborative (questions from the audience). I loved it!

Jeff Crowhurst, Purchasing Manager, HMT

Excellent Conference

Christopher Loding, President, Jensen Bridge

A great conference and opportunity to connect with other professionals who work directly in or peripheral to the steel industry. Extremely informative and up to date information!

Ryan Martin, Director of Business Development, Ryder System, Inc.

Great steel conference for pertinent information and networking

Mike Barker, CFO & VP Purchasing, Ram Steel Framing

Well organized and well attended conference.

Robin Davies, President, Northstar Bluescopesteel

The conference is an invaluable 3 days worth of networking combined with continued steel and economical education that is conveniently located and thoroughly planned.

Sadie Kelosky, Territory Manager, Magic Steel

The conference is massive in terms of attendance and a great way to see everyone in a short period of time.

Connor McMenamin, President, Chemcoaters

SMU was a great conference, more than expected in speaker quality and content. Good location in ATL to hold event.

David Bush, Sr. Commodity Manager, Oshkosh

I have attended this conference for 4 consecutive years and find it to be of tremendous value.

Chris Errington, Director of Sales, CareGo Tek Inc

Great conference with substantive content geared to current steel business and a good opportunity to meet with clients.

Bob Martin, Director, Mitsui

This was my sixth straight year of attending the SMU Steel Summit. It has been interesting to see how the conference has grown. I think John has done an excellent job of getting speakers that provide valuable analysis and insight on the steel industry and the economy along with good representation of speakers across the different stages of the supply chain. I look forward to next year.

Darren DeMange, Global Category Manager, Crown Equipment

Great conference with industry experts Great networking event and professionally run

Scott O'Neil, VP Ferrous Trading, PADNOS Recycling

The SMU Steel Summit is a great conference providing attendees detailed information and opinions from a wide variety of industry leaders.

David Devine, President, Tubular USA

If you attend one steel conference, attend SMU.

Will Ernst, GM, Ryerson

Well worth the money and time to attend this conference. Invaluable information was shared by speakers and participants.

Mark Putnam, Director Strategic Sourcing, Lennox International

The SMU conference is the best venue and relevant content in the steel industry. It is a great opportunity to network and be exposed to matters that are directly relevant to purchasing of steel.

Dimitri Grammatikakis, Commodities Leader, Honda of America Manufacturing

Knowledge is power. The SMU Steel Summit is a "must attend" annual conference for any company in the steel market space. Great for networking and for up-to-date market intelligence.

Thomas Kahler, Sales, Vision Metals

Great conference to get valuable information on steel price trends, detail information on big picture when it comes to manufacturing needs and steel sector capacity.

Gurcan Kocdag, Sr. VP, Manufacturing & Supply, AGI

This was a great opportunity for networking and learning about the future state of steel pricing and capacity.

Bill Theado, VP of Purchasing, Phoenix Stamping Group

A must attend event for individuals with any exposure to steel.

Timothy Conrad, Director Global Steel Sourcing, Emerson Electric Co.

Once again SMU Steel Summit raised the bar. Great event and very professional. Speakers and topics addressed key focal points in the steel industry. Networking was top notch; top personnel in the steel industry were all in attendance.

Chris Shipp, Vice President Supply Chain, Priefert Manufacturing Co. Inc.

Very well ran conference. Very effective speakers and well attended.

Ed, VP Commercial, Slish

The best speakers assembled in one conference.

Blake Caldwell, Director Supply Chain, Railroad Friction Products

Good speakers and good networking opportunity

Glenn MacKay, VP and General Manager, Amico Canada

Not a better place to get relevant information and network with professionals within our industry.

Joe Wilson, VP of Building Products, Liberty Steel Products

SMU is very informative on current issues pertaining to the steel market and I would recommend to others who need up to date information on the overall market

Rob Beauregard, Director, Purchasing, Vicwest Building Products

This conference is the heartbeat of the North American Steel industry. You will find some of the most incredible speakers with the right balance of integrity, passion, knowledge, and devotion all coming together in support an industry they truly believe in.

Malvina Major, Marketing Manager - Business Development, RPM Rollformed Metal Products Ltd.

The place to go to network

Mark Nucci, Vice President Carbon Procurement, Samuel

Well organized, good speaker content and relaxed atmosphere

John Maclean, VP Service Centers, Russel Metals

SMU is the premier event in the steel industry. Great opportunity to engage with customers, prospects, and suppliers while hearing experts assess and project the state of our industry and the economy in general.

David Smith, Sr VP, Commercial, Coilplus

A very thorough and thoughtful conference, presenting interesting topics from very effective speakers, while also providing for ample breaks and networking events. Clearly the superior metals conference in our time, and the attendance reflects that.

Andre Marshall, President, Crunch Risk, LLC

SMU was a wonderful conference for those new to the industry as well as those with 30 years experience. It was never boring and full of relevant information that I plan to use until next year''s conference.

Greg Schilligo, NA Strategic Sourcing Manager - Steel, Emerson Electric

It was a good conference

John Tucci, , Universal Steel

The place to be if you are in the Steel Industry!

Brandy Davis, Sales Operations Manager, Big River Steel

Excellent format of debates with multiple sides views and discussions

Marcelo Araujo, Managing Director, AMS Steelinvest

The SMU steel summit is a very worthwhile event - a good place to invest your time and a very reasonable amount of money

Patrick Murley, CEO, Material Sciences Corp

Well worth the cost and time. This conference brought the top speakers, suppliers and consumers all into the same room. To reproduce it, you''d have to travel across the world visiting suppliers, customers and top economist to get the same result.

Thomas Mihelcic, Sales Consultant, National Galvanizing

The SMU Summit has consistently provided perspectives from a variety of entities that are related to the steel industry including mills, processors, and distributors. Economic experts and government officials also bring valuable insight on geo-political and global issues impacting trade.

Jay Rojek, Executive Director, Blue Bird Corp

Very informative allowing companies to make better decisions.

Frank Conciatori, VP Account Development, Samuel Automotive

Would recommend attending this conference.

Orlando Tesolin, Sales and Marketing Manager, Nucor

Very smart economic speakers

Stephen Miller, Raw Materials Manager, Steelinvest Ltd.

My company keeps coming back to the SMU conference year after year as it is a wonderful networking tool. The speakers provide a lot of insight as we head into negotiating season - the timing of the conference is perfect.

Lori Clark, General Manager-Marketing & Quality Control, Ohio Coatings Company

Great opportunity to connect with fellow professionals in the steel industry and to get a real time update of issues facing the industry, and both short and long term outlooks.

Ryan Martin, Director of Business Development, Ryder System, Inc.

A very informative and great Conference

Robert J. Mateer, President, Global Steel Solutions llc

This was a very informative meeting. SMU gave plenty of time for networking and for me being new to my role was so important.

Matt Madrigal, Merchandising Manager, L&W Supply

The timing, content and ability to meet and interact with people from across the industry in one place makes the SMU Steel Summit the place to be. John Packard does a fabulous job putting this together.

Ira Kreft, Senior Vice President, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

The SMU annual conference brings the entire metal industry supply chain together, in one place, and for several days. The opportunity to gather expert analysis, supply chain conditions, global economic impact on the industry, and speed network is unlike any other annual industry opportunity.

Jeff Fain, Reibus International, Reibus International

Excellent conference content that helps identify and prioritize key business strategies to optimize performance.

Frank Kos, VP Supply Chain, Valmont

SMU provides a combination of excellent agenda content to sufficient networking opportunities to benefit my company. The world of steel is international and conferences like SMU provides the event to bring together global steel concerns with service centers and distributors, and attracts customers to make this a true supply chain event.

Andrew Pappas, Managing Director, BMO Harris Bank

A great and growing conference with useful, specific data from knowledgeable and creditable speakers.

Stephen Schober, President and CEO, Metal Supermarkets

SMU is the best conference in the industry. It''s well worth the money and time to attend. The information that is shared is from the smartest and most influential people in the industry

Earnest Jones jr, Regional Sales Manager, Pacesetter steel

Great speakers, great content, great conference!

Tom Pendolino, Senior Manager Raw Materials, FCA

The diversity of the SMU membership is invaluable. Having the ability to network with the entire manufacturing supply chain - from steel mill to end user and everyone in between - in one room, is invaluable.

Chad Wolf, General Manager, McNeilus Steel

Clearly the leading North American Ferrous Metals conference of the year.

Adam Mammon, Broker, Ocean Solutions LLC

The Atlanta steel summit is the finest steel event that I have attended globally. It is great to hear the opinions of recognised industry professionals and the networking opportunities are excellent. What really sets this event apart from others however is the app, which allows you to view the agenda, attendee list, exhibitor list and much more. In addition to this you can set your own agenda via the in app calendar and you can message other attendees to organise meetings. Truly revolutionary.

Dan Handley, Steel Trader, Easteel SA

SMU is always is sources of future steel anticipation, information for decision makers.

Ahmed Al-Ameen, Sales Manager, UNICOIL

Just wanted to say great conference over the last few days. I think it was one of the best. The speakers were all excellent and certainly held my attention during the entire time. I thought it was all well planned and well balanced. I am looking forward to next year.

Bob Holt, President, ThyssenKrupp USA

I think it is the most important steel conference in North America, here we have all our suppliers, competitors, and customers.

Gisbert Ruhl, CEO, Klockner & Co SE

Coming to this conference is an absolute ‘no brainer’ for us, you’ve got 900 of the top industry execs. . . . It’s a fantastic set up and great opportunity for us to network with key decision-makers.

John Armstrong, CEO, Reibus

I have been attending the conference since the inception of SMU. Every year the conference gets better and better, more speakers, they know the lay of the land, know exactly what they are talking about, they provide recommendations on forward years, as well as economic policy additions. Plus, the venue is outstanding!

Jeffery Bush, Director of Sales, U.S Steel Corporation

The 2018 conference is amazing, the buzz is incredible - the amount of people here and the content is rich. I particularly enjoyed the last panel I listened to, that was a phenomenal set of speakers.

Dr Alan Beaulieu, President and Principal, IRL Economics

The networking is second to none from any conference I have been to before, I’ll be here for years to come.

Mitchell Boggess, Purchasing, Mueller Inc

What’s also great is to get a broad spectrum of the industry supply chain represented, this allows for the diversity of thought and opinion.

Philip Bell, President, Steel Manufacturer Association

We haven’t had a conference where you can get this level of networking and relationship building going – so it has been great for us!

Mel Kirk, CTO, Dedicated Transportation Solutions, Ryder Systems INC.

The networking at the Steel Market Summit Conference is outstanding.

Paul Lowey, President, Steel Research Associations LCC

Potential customers here and existing customers here. I look at the attendee list, I think the conference has jumped 20-25% vs last year. I probably find 60 right off the back of this list and do the highlighter exercise and say I’ve got to go see all these people.

Scott Hanna, , Akzo Nobel

This is my third time speaking at the steel market update conference, and I love it! It’s a great audience and I’ve seen it grow over the years since I first spoke here. Rebecca Brewster

Rebecca Brewster, President & COO, American Transportation Research Institute

The reason I like this conference is its focused-on buyers. And If you have to buy steel, this is the best conference to come to. It also focuses on the service centers and steel mills but there are a lot of buyers here and the information is very practical.

John Anton, Senior Principal Economist, IHS Market

There are also quite a lot of domestic steel companies who may disagree with each other fundamentally on polices involving trade. But we can have an open and honest discussion about it in a conference where all views are heard, and all views are respected

Lewis Leibowitz, Attorney, The Law Office of Lewis E. Leibowitz

The newsletter gives me perspective from inside that I don’t get from anywhere else. I get the statistics from lots of places – but the inside review comes from the newsletter.

Dr. Alan Beaulieu, President and Principal, ITR economics

I love reading the newsletter, I think it is interesting because the price trends and memento indicator, pulse of where the markets are going, we find that super helpful.

Lisa Reisman, Co-founder & Executive Editor, Metalminer

I feel like the conference has become more balanced over the years, and what I mean by that is I think it has got a broader range of perspectives and diversity. It is important for people to hear all sides to an issue.

Lisa Reisman, Co-founder & Executive Editor, Metalminer

Over 1,000 Industry peers, sharing the challenges facing the steel industry. Educational andmotivational Thank you John for creating this platform.

Mary Jo Vella, Vice President - Sales, Fulton County Processing

SMU provides excellent networking opportunitiescombined with industry-leading speakers andcontent. It is one of the most well-organized events I''ve attended.

Robert Cloninger, Director of Supplier Development, HSM

Excellent use of time and resource to attend the SMU Steel Summit!

Kurt Fowler, Sales & Marketing Manager, NLMK

I think the SMU is the most relevant information source available in the market.

Mark Hightower, Sales Manager, Feralloy Corp

The Steel Summit continues to impress participants with the amount of industry leaders attending. This year''s panel brought dynamic speakers willing to share their point of view regardless of how controversial.

Stephen Corby, Commercial Manager, Kinder Morgan

I have been traveling to the SMU conference for several years and enjoy the time spent with our CEO and VP of Purchasing. This coupled with the fact that all three of us have networking opportunities in our own pockets of the business in one place and we can share these connections with each. All in all, this makes for some very productive days away from the office. Not to mention the knowledge that we all gain from the various speakers, panels etc. We will always find a way to fill some seats at this event.

Cindy Amyx, Sales | Marketing, Matandy Steel

Intriguing, provocative and insightful speakers.

John Reid, President & CEO, Russel Metals

Extremely well done, informative event, from a very knowledgeable yet diversified perspective.

Sean McCaughan, Purchasing Manager, Vest Inc.

SMU Steel Summit is one of the best conference around the steel industry in the US. All our expectations were met - great speakers with valuable insights and perfect networking opportunities.

Smilen Hadzhikostov, Head of Growth, XOM Materials

Excellent content, excellent speakers, and well organized. First class event!

Larry Morell, Director, Mitsui & Co USA

Very strong agenda which examined the key issues facing the industry. Large and diverse set of attendees contributed greatly to the discussion. Look forward to coming back next year and seeing how things have changed!

Maureen Lesak, Managing Director, Bank of America

If you are in the steel business--a must attend event.

Steve Hassebrock, Chief Corporate Strategy Office, American Metals Supply Co., Inc.

A very well organised conference, covering most burning topics of the steel industry today and bringing together a plethora of buyers and sellers under one roof, this SMU is an event I would love to attend every year.

Sadashiv Shetty, General Manager - Commercial, Al Ghurair Iron & Steel LLC

Excellent conference!

Jeff Keiner, EVP, Metal Master

I loved it!

Aaron Reynolds, Global Commodity Leader - Metals and Chemicals, Masonite

Great speakers and very valuable content; provided excellent insights into the current and future state of the Steel Industry and the overall Economy!

Sujoy Sen, Director - Purchasing, Carlisle Construction Materials