STELCO - Key Persons


Alan Kestenbaum - CEO, Chairman

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Executive Chairman
Alan Kestenbaum has an extensive investing and operating experience in the natural resources sectors as well as a successful track record in turnarounds and restructurings. He currently is employed by Stelco Holdings Inc, a Canadian integrated steel mill (TSX:STLC ), and currently serves as its Executive Chairman where he is responsible for strategic direction and growth initiatives, and was its Chief Executive Officer from July 2017 to February 2019. Mr. Kestenbaum founded Bedrock Industries in 2015 in partnership with Lindsay Goldberg, where he is its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and is responsible for setting the vision, strategy, investment objectives and providing direction to achieve the strategic objectives of the company. He was also the Executive Chairman and founder of Globe Specialty Metals and was the former Executive Chairman of Ferroglobe PLC (NASDAQ: GSM). Prior to forming Globe Specialty Metals, Mr. Kestenbaum founded Marco International, a leading international metals trader and investor, and led its expansion in North America and around the globe. Prior to founding Marco International, he was employed by Glencore and then Philipp Brothers. In 2019 he became a minority owner and limited partner of the Atlanta Falcons. He has a BA in Economics from Yeshiva University and has been involved in numerous educational and communal boards.

Daryl Wilson

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Leader
  • Member of the Audit Committee
Daryl Wilson is a versatile leader with more than 35 years of progressive industrial management experience in environmental technology, operations, manufacturing, human resources, product development, and organisational change developed in world class organisations, including Dofasco, Toyota, and Zenon Environmental. Mr. Wilson is currently the Executive Director of the Hydrogen Council and a director of ESS, Inc. In addition, from 2006 to 2019, Mr. Wilson served as CEO of Hydrogenics, a publicly listed leading provider of advanced hydrogen solutions. Mr. Wilson also served on the board of ATS Automation from 2009 to 2019 and is a certified corporate director. Mr. Wilson holds a B.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto and received his MBA from McMaster University.

Heather Ross

Job Titles:
  • Lead Director
  • Member of the Audit Committee
  • Member of the Compensation Committee
  • Member of the Governance and Nominating Committee
  • Lead Director of the Board
Heather Ross is the Lead Director of the Board. She is an ICD.D designated director who currently acts as an independent director of the Information Services Corporation (Governance and Nominating Committee), and Atlantic Packaging (Chair of the Governance and Nominating Advisory Committee). She previously sat on the Boards of the RSA Canada (Chair, Conduct Review & Human Resources Committee, Nomination & Governance Committee), the Museum of Contemporary Art - Toronto, and TD Meloche Monnex. With a corporate career that spanned close to thirty-three years, she is a senior executive who has worked in the banking (TD Bank Group) and technology (IBM Canada Ltd. and Lenovo Canada) sectors leading significant mandates across both Canada and the US. With a track record of success across a diversity of roles, including President and General Manager of Lenovo Canada Ltd, and CIO, TD Bank Group, and most recently, Senior Vice President, Operations at TD Canada Trust, she has built high levels of functional experience across a multitude of disciplines including strategy, transformation, governance, acquisition/divestiture, P&L, marketing, sales, technology, operations, and digital/RPA. She currently resides in Toronto, holds an honours degree in commerce from Queen's University, and is functional in both English and French.

Indira Samarasekera

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Chairman of the Board / Lead Independent Director / Committee Chair
  • Senior Advisor at the Law Firm of Bennett Jones LLP
Indira Samarasekera is a senior advisor at the law firm of Bennett Jones LLP, and a corporate director. Dr. Samarasekera was President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Alberta from 2005 to 2015 and prior to that, the Vice President, Research at the University of British Columbia from 2000 to 2005. She is a member of the Trilateral Commission. Dr. Samarasekera holds a B.Sc. (in mechanical engineering) from the University of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), an M.Sc. (in mechanical engineering) from the University of California, as a Hayes Fulbright Scholar, and a Ph.D. (in metallurgical engineering) from the University of British Columbia. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Samarasekera is a current member of the boards of directors of Magna International Inc., TC Energy Corporation and Intact Financial Corporation and a former member of the board of directors of The Bank of Nova Scotia.

Michael Mueller

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Member of the Audit Committee
  • Member of the Compensation Committee
  • Member of the Governance and Nominating Committee
Michael Mueller is a former global leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Private Company Services/Middle Market Practice and a former member of PwC's Global Audit Leadership Team, Global Advisory Leadership Team and the Global Markets Council. His previous positions with the firm also included National Managing Partner for Canada and Senior Relationship Partner for a number of the firm's most significant clients. He is also a Chartered Professional Accountant, and a Chartered Business Valuator. Mr. Mueller currently acts as a member of the board of directors for the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority and completed his tenure as a member of the management advisory board of the Odette School of Business at the University of Windsor at the end of 2019. Michael Mueller has significant experience in financial management and accounting, having led global organizations through complex matters such as restructuring work across industry and government. He also has extensive board experience, notably as the chairman and member of the board of Smart Technologies Inc. from 2010 to 2016, and as a member of the board of Hydro One Inc. from 2007 to 2014. Mr. Mueller is from Windsor, Ontario, and holds an honours degree in commerce and received an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Windsor.

Michael W. Dees

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Member of the Compensation Committee
  • Member of the Governance and Nominating Committee
  • Member of Our Board
Michael W. Dees has served as a member of our Board since September 25, 2017. Mr. Dees has been with Lindsay Goldberg since 2004, serving as a Principal before becoming a Partner in 2009. Previously, he worked at Morgan Stanley in the private equity and real estate private equity groups in New York and Tokyo. He earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, where he was a George F. Baker Scholar, and his B.A. in Economics from Harvard College. Mr. Dees currently serves as a director of Odfjell Terminals BV, Paccor, Schur Flexibles GmbH, Creation Technologies LP, Liveo Research GmbH and Bedrock Industries. He has previously served as the director of various private and public companies, including VDM Metals, Bell Nursery Holdings LLC, Crane & Co. Inc., Woodspring Hotels Holdings LLC, Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (f/k/a Aviv REIT, Inc.), Klöckner & Co SE, Rosetta LLC, Dealer Tire Holdings LLC, and Atlas Packaging.

Monty Baker

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Member of the Audit Committee
  • Member of the Compensation Committee
  • Member of the Governance and Nominating Committee
  • Retired Partner from PricewaterhouseCoopers
Monty Baker is a retired partner from PricewaterhouseCoopers ("PwC"), where he held various senior roles, including as the Canadian leader for the PwC Canada Management Consulting group. He also served on PwC's partnership board and was a member of the Global PwC Consulting Advisory Board from 1999 to 2002 at which time he moved to IBM. Until his retirement in 2011, he was the Vice President, Global BTO HR Solutions at IBM where he was responsible for overall strategy, sales, marketing and the delivery for Human Resource Outsourcing. Mr. Baker is a graduate of the University of Toronto and a Chartered Professional Accountant. He received his chartered director designation from The Directors College in 2013. Currently, Mr. Baker is a director of the OMERS Administrative Corporation where he is Chair of the Human Resources Committee and serves as a member of the Audit and Actuarial Committee. Also he is on the Board of Trustees for Slate Office REIT where he is the Chair of the Audit Committee as well on the Governance committee.

Paul Scherzer - CFO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Financial Officer
Paul Scherzer has been our Chief Financial Officer since March 2020. Mr. Scherzer spent close to 25 years as a metals and mining investment banker focusing primarily on the steel and metals industries, including over 17 years with Credit Suisse in New York and Toronto where he was Head of Americas Metals & Mining in the investment banking department. More recently, he headed the Industrial Materials & Services team in the investment banking group of BNP Paribas in New York. He has been involved with some of the most significant North American and cross-border steel-related transactions over the last 25 years and brings a wealth of steel industry, M&A and capital markets knowledge to Stelco. Mr. Scherzer, who was born and raised in Montreal, attended the University of Western Ontario's Ivey Business School, from which he graduated in 1995 with a B.A. in Honours Business Administration, with distinction.

Sujit Sanyal - COO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Operating Officer
  • Senior Executive
Sujit Sanyal has been our Chief Operating Officer since September 2017. Mr. Sanyal is an accomplished senior executive with more than 38 years of management and leadership distinctions in the steel industry. He has a track record of success in achieving revenue, profit and business growth objectives through strategic planning, budgeting, cost and financial control and capital project execution. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Sanyal was the President and Chief Executive Officer of ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada located in Contrecoeur, Quebec. He has held various positions, including General Manager, VP (Operations), and Chief Operating Officer at ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada. Mr. Sanyal holds a Master of Technology degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and completed the Executive Management program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.