Former CEO of Nucor and Author of American Made: Why Making Things Will Return Us to Greatness
Dan joined Nucor Corporation in November 1982 as Plant Metallurgist and Manager of Quality Control for Nucor Steel in Plymouth, Utah. In March 1991, Dan became General Manager of the Nucor-Yamato joint venture in Blytheville, Arkansas and became Vice President in January 1992. Dan became Executive Vice President of Nucor Corporation in September 1999, and in September 2000 he was elected President and Chief Executive Officer. Dan was elected Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors in June 2001, and Chairman of the Board in 2006. From January 2013-January 2014 he served as Executive Chairman. He presently serves as Chairman Emeritus (effective January 2014.) Dan served as Nucor’s CEO longer than anyone since company founder, Ken Iverson. Under Dan’s leadership, Nucor delivered dramatic growth in profits and shareholder returns. From September 2000 through the end of 2012, Nucor completed over 50 acquisitions for a total investment of $6.5 billion, and Nucor’s total shareholder return growth was 720%, which is almost four times greater than the total return of the S&P Steel Group Index and twenty-eight times greater than the S&P 500’s total return. In addition to this impressive record of profitable growth, Dan proved himself an effective champion for domestic manufacturing and rules-based, rules-enforced free trade.
Dan was appointed to the United States Manufacturing Council in 2008 by then-U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, and served on the board until 2011. Dan also served on the boards of the National Association of Manufacturers and the World Steel Association on the Executive Committee. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Duke Energy Corporation and continues to represent Nucor on the US Council on Competitiveness and the Coalition for a Prosperous America(CPA)
Many of the nation’s leading business authorities recognized Nucor’s exceptional performance under Dan’s leadership. In 2005, BusinessWeek magazine ranked Nucor the nation’s No. 1 Company, based on sales growth and return on investment. In the coming years, Nucor made three additional appearances on the BusinessWeek 50 list. In 2008, Dan received theCharlotte Business Journal’s sixth annual “Business Person of the Year” award. The Harvard Business Review included Dan in its 2010 top 100 list of The Best Performing CEOs in the World. Institutional Investor named Dan to the 2012 All-America Executive Team and the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) in January 2012 awarded Dan the prestigious Robert P. Stupp Award for Leadership Excellence, noting that “[The award] gives special recognition to individuals who have provided unparalleled leadership in the steel construction industry. Recently Dan received the prestigious 2013 “Citizens of the Carolinas” award by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.
Dan was named to IndustryWeek magazine’s Manufacturing Hall of Fame in 2011 where he was one of ten members selected for the year. In describing the inductees for 2011, IndustryWeek said, “This year’s inductees have made names for themselves by challenging the established norms of their organizations, their industries and their world.” In selecting Dan IndustryWeek cited the return to shareholders during his time as CEO, his commitment to Nucor employees, his “shepherding the company through a period of unprecedented growth as well as the harrowing recession of the late 2000s (during which Nucor hewed to its no-layoff philosophy),” and his work to keep trade issues at the forefront of U.S. public policy. The magazine described DiMicco as “a leading voice for U.S. manufacturing and the nation’s steel industry,” especially for his criticism of China’s trade practices.
Dan is always quick to note that “None of these honors would have been possible without the tremendous work of my thousands of Nucor teammates.”
Dan graduated from Brown University in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials Science. He graduated with a Master of Science Degree in Metallurgy and Materials Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975.
http://www.dandimicco.com/blog
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/11/27/an-interview-with-nucor-ceo-dan-dimicco.aspx
On the show, Dan spoke about the history of Nucor in investing heavily electric arc furnace “minimill” steel production, as opposed to massive integrated mills operating blast furnaces – this was a radical change at the time, only able to produce low margin, lower quality products. Through constant innovation, Nucor was able to constantly improve their ability to produce higher and higher quality steel and steel products and rapidly decreasing cost, leading them to become the largest steel and steel products producer in the U.S. by volume.
In addition, he discussed his new book American Made, and the way he sees the future of the United States as a resurgence of manufacturing. He feels that a nation must have a strong manufacturing component of GDP in order to sustain wealth creation. The loss in U.S. share of world manufacturing comes primarily from illegal trading practices and currency manipulation from other nations that the U.S. government did not actively pursue, according to DiMicco. His book is harshly critical of U.S. government policy with regard to trade policy.
