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Matthew Yeatman

New position: Vice president, raw materials, Gerdau Ameristeel, Tampa. Previous position: Vice president, Canadian scrap operations, Gerdau Ameristeel, Whitby, Ontario

Matthew Yeatman spends his workdays seeking scrap metal. He negotiates with huge scrap yards and with mom-and-pop junk dealers. Yeatman's company, Gerdau Ameristeel, needs scrap metal - tons of it - to supply raw materials for its mills in the United States and Canada.

"We're a mini-mill operator," Yeatman explained. While many steel mills use iron ore for their raw materials, Gerdau Ameristeel uses scrap metal. Yeatman must find enough iron and steel scrap to supply 11 mills in North America.

The company has 14 scrap metal processing operations. "It's all my responsibility, to look after the internal recycling operations," he said.

Gerdau Ameristeel consumes between 6- and 7-million tons of scrap metal annually, Yeatman said, "which is pretty significant. This is all remanufacturing of onetime manufactured products - recycled and turned back into new steel," he said. "It's a significant recycling function." Much of Gerdau Ameristeel's product is used in construction, automotive, mining and equipment manufacturing.

Yeatman said his job keeps him on the road, visiting mills, recycling operations and suppliers of the recyclable metals.

"Right now, my procurement responsibility is four mills," Yeatman said. With his new position, starting in September, "the change will be that we'll have a North American procurement strategy that we'll execute from Tampa to include all mills as well as recycling. We're changing it from regional to international."

Gerdau Ameristeel has five mills in the South, two in New Jersey, one in Kentucky and three in Canada, Yeatman said. Its administrative offices are in Tampa.

Yeatman grew up in the Toronto area. He began his career in the steel industry there, first with Co-Steel, then with Gerdau Ameristeel when the two merged in 2002. "I've kind of gone through the ranks with Gerdau and its predecessor," he said.

Yeatman said he has held several positions in 19 years with the two companies, many of them in the raw materials division. "It's the exciting end of the business of steel manufacturing," he said. "It's kind of upstream to the steel business yet it's a business on its own. It's the diverse supply chain we have - from very, very small entrepreneurial mom-and-pop operations right through to the bigger auto manufacturing plants."

Negotiating for scrap metal, Yeatman said, takes him "from the guy who has a tow truck . . . to negotiating in the board room of General Motors.

Yeatman said he enjoys the job because he enjoys "the people. It's the entrepreneurial spirit of these people - first- or second- or third-generation who have done marginally well to exceedingly well," he said.

"There are very few steel companies in North America that are actually operating their own scrap processing operation to satisfy their internal needs and also buying from competitors in the scrap business," he said.

Yeatman, 45, said he looks forward to relocating to the Tampa Bay area in September or October. He said he got just a taste of the area during a recent visit before "being chased away by Hurricane Charley. We love the state, particularly the Tampa area."

Yeatman and his wife, Marianne, have three grown children "plus one dog and three cats.

"We're absolutely looking forward to Florida life, whatever that will be," he said.