Chris Gionti of Steel Dynamics Structural & Rail, Columbia City and Steve Knitter of Geiger & Peters, Inc. from Indianapolis; have been elected as two of seven new board members to the national American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) board of directors.
“AISC certainly faced a challenge replacing seven board members, but we were very fortunate to have found such an accomplished and talented slate of industry leaders to join the board for 2017,” said David Zalesne, president of Owen Steel Company, Inc., Columbia, SC, and chair of the 2015-2016 AISC committee on director nominations. “The scope of their experience in technical, commercial and marketing areas will serve the structural steel industry well, and will enable the Board to remain proactive in addressing the issues fabricators face.”
Gionti is the general manager for the Steel Dynamics Structural and Rail Division in Columbia City, IN. He joined the company nearly 20 years ago as a plant mechanical engineer at its Butler Flat Roll Facility and was responsible for various capital projects throughout the plant. In 2003 he was promoted to rolling mill manager of the newly acquired Engineered Bar Products Division in Pittsboro, IN, and was involved in the design, modification and startup of this brownfield site. In 2015 he was promoted to operations manager at the Techs Division in Pittsburgh. He started his career with North Star Steel where he held various positions of increasing responsibility in engineering, construction and startup at multiple facilities. He was also involved in the engineering, construction, startup and operation of Birmingham Steel in Memphis. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
Knitter has spent the last 20 years of his career in the steel industry working in engineering, manufacturing, project management, estimating and finance, and he became president of Geiger & Peters in 2010. He began his career in manufacturing as a robotics engineer for Motorola setting up and supporting automated cell phone circuit board assembly lines before transitioning into structural steel. He is currently a member of the Central Fabricators Association Board of Directors, the Modern Steel Construction Advisory Panel and the Indiana Subcontractors Association Governance Committee. Previously he served as president of the Indiana Fabricators Association and participated on the AISC Future Leaders Planning Committee. He was also a speaker at the 2016 NASCC: The Steel Conference and 2015 AISC Future Leaders Conference. He is a member of the Indiana Subcontractor Association, Metro Indianapolis Coalition for Construction Safety, Indiana Fabricators Association, the American Welding Society and AISC. He earned his bachelor’s degree in computer integrated manufacturing technology from Purdue University.
The other new AISC directors include: Timothy Hanenburg of Cives Steel Company, Alpharetta, GA.; Hugh McCaffrey of Southern New Jersey Steel Co., Inc., Vineland, NJ.; Matt Smith of L&M Industrial Fabrication, Tangent, OR.; Richard Phillips of Veritas Steel LLC, Lisle, Ill.; and Gary Stein of Triple-S Steel Supply & Subsidiaries, Houston.
“With a full and diverse complement of 27 members representing fabricators, producers and service centers, the AISC Board is uniquely positioned to support the important work of the companies and people engaged in the American structural steel industry,” said Zalesne.
