ThyssenKrupp Executive to Speak at UA Sales Banquet

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Bob Holt, vice president of sales and marketing for ThyssenKrupp Steel USA LLC, will deliver the keynote address at the 2010 University of Alabama Spring Sales Banquet April 23 at NorthRiver Yacht Club.

The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The program, coordinated by the sales program in the department of management and marketing at The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce, will recognize graduating students, welcome new students interested in sales, award corporate-sponsored scholarships, and recognize the sales program’s 2010 corporate advisory board.

Holt, a veteran of the steel industry, was appointed to his current position in October 2007. He is responsible for the commercial activities in the carbon steel segment of TK’s new $4.2 billion carbon and stainless flats processing facilities, currently under construction in Calvert, Ala., 30 miles north of Mobile.

Holt graduated from the University Of Chicago Graduate School Of Business and is a retired lieutenant colonel with the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

“We are honored to have Mr. Holt play the feature role in our event,” said Joe Calamusa, associate director of the UA sales program.

The ThyssenKrupp project is believed to be one of the largest private industrial investments in the U.S. over the next decade and is a rare case of job development in the U.S., as many other companies move jobs overseas.  The project will create an estimated 2,700 permanent jobs domestically when it becomes fully operational in 2010.

The title sponsor for the event is Stealth Manufacturing of Monroe, La., a manufacturer of electric utility vehicles.

Calamusa said other event sponsors include the Thomas and Farr Agency, the largest independent insurance agency in northeast Louisiana; Place Properties, a privately-held diversified real estate company, and Sterne, Agee and Leach Inc., a full-service brokerage firm.

Other companies expected to attend include, Enterprise,  Pfizer, Altria, Primerica, E&J Gallo, AFFLINK, Buffalo Rock, Randall-Reilly, Peco Foods, Altec, Coca-Cola United Bottlers, Go-to-Market Solutions, Ironsclad Solutions, JC Penney, Protective Insurance, Motion Industries, Mutual of Omaha, Volunteers of America, Genuine Parts, First Command, Federated Insurance, Eli Lilly, Outback, David Denies, Post Properties, Hewlett Packard, Alabama Power, Montgomery Biscuits, Tom James Co. and Payscape.