SMS announces executive hire, promotion

Burnham, Illinois-based Scrap Metal Services LLC (SMS) has announced the formation of a new management board, the naming of a new CEO and the hiring of a new chief financial officer (CFO).

A letter from Rick and Jeffry Gertler, who co-founded the company in 2005, says the moves are being made by SMS as it addresses succession planning and other strategic issues, and also points to SMS as having “grown to the target level needed to support these changes.”

Jeffry Gertler will serve as chairman of the newly formed board and Rick Gertler as co-chairman. “While we will not be involved in the day-to-day operations, we are opening a new SMS office in Chicago and will still continue to support SMS as we move to the next level in the planned growth cycle,” the Gertlers write in their letter.

Stepping in to day-to-day leadership roles will be Jeremy Kirchin as SMS’ new CEO and Keith Rhodes as its new CFO.

“Jeremy and Keith are experienced professionals [who] will manage all day-to-day responsibilities and direct company performance,” say the Gertlers. “We are excited at the prospect of the expertise and experience that both bring to the table that will ensure our continued success, as well as a culture of trust and accountability.”

According to his LinkedIn profile, Kirchin has been working for SMS since late 2016. His previous work experience includes more than a decade spent with Pennsylvania-based mill services firm Harsco Corp. and one of its subsidiaries.

New CFO Rhodes, according to his LinkedIn profile, has previously served as CFO at St. Louis-based Alter Trading Corp. and as CEO at Brownsville, Texas-based ship dismantling firm ESCO Marine Inc.

The Gertlers state that though the management structure of SMS has changed, “There has been no change in ownership and SMS remains a stable, viable and growing company.” They add, “In a very short time, SMS has grown from a small family business to an international corporate enterprise.”

In 2018, the company increased its presence in the international market by opening its first full-service steel mill service operation in Genk, Belgium, and was awarded a long-term slag handling contract with JSW Steel’s electric arc furnace (EAF) operation in Mingo Junction, Ohio.