welcome to bets on the future where we highlight the various career paths and the electrifying Metals World from the vehicle you ride in to the bridge holding it up metals are everywhere why not in your career too I’m Jennifer Betts a Metals industry veteran with almost 20 years experience here to highlight these incredible career paths As Told by the women who are living them today’s guest has made meaningful impacts as part of her three-decade career in the metals industry from Machinery used in growing our communities to the appliances and equipment used in our homes Sarah Morin moves metal into all facets of our everyday lives join me as we discuss her career her experiences and her work at Ryerson one of the largest metal service centers in North America kicking this off is uh where are you at currently I am strangely enough I am at my alma mater Purdue University um checking on my daughter who’s also here so yes um part of me um appreciates that you know I I have family member that went to Purdue as well although I went to Indiana so um it’s gonna be my new

bestie I it’s you know they have a lovely business school there or management school I think is what they call it um but I just I had to go to IU um the business school so I I respect Purdue is a very hard challenging school so congratulations to your daughter uh you must be very proud I am I am yep she’s got a year and a half left so she graduates December 2024. that’s fantastic and I have I have to ask because a lot of what this podcast is about is introducing new folks into the industry is there any chance that she’s headed towards the metals industry well straight no well I say no now yes I say no now because you you don’t know right so she started off in the engineering track got into the biomedical engineering program and then she decided to switch you’re never going to believe what she switched to and she is thriving she’s got an internship this summer she’s got good prospects um sales and selling management I love that you can do anything with that exactly she is targeting um either medical equipment or pharmaceutical sales

you know though so so next summer she’s eyeing an internship with Eli Lily so oh that’s huge sales internship with Eli Lily they have it and they recruit heavily here so you know we’ll see I actually have uh someone that I know in my neighborhood and just for reference for people that are listening watching on this we’re basically on different coasts at this point you know you’re in the midwest currently I’m uh out on the west coast out of LA and crazy enough yeah one of my neighbors works for Eli Lilly like got moved out here because you know she’s had a great career in that in that world I mean you really can go anywhere in that world and my husband is in the biomedical field so partially biased as well on that so keep that duly noted he works for Amgen hence why we’re out in California that’s where they’re heading um let’s talk more right yes yes absolutely um but those are kind of two completely different fields from the metals industry and biomedical even though there’s a lot of metals that go into there’s going to be potentially a lot

of metal in there yeah yes yes uh but we’ve decided on this podcast to kind of uh you know spoof a little bit of another podcast where basically if there’s somebody out there that is completely unrelated you know how do we explain this industry and so we’re going to use my husband so at any point in this in interview that there is something that you use um in acronym um a technical word something along those lines an industry Association that you and I know um I might hold up my hand and say hey can you explain it for my husband who’s in the biomedical field that is more or less unrelated to what we do I totally understand sometimes I get all these acronyms confused myself after 26 years it’s still like what is that well I want to get into how did you even find it like did you go to school was this a family Connection Friends like how did this happen um by happenstance as I’m sure a lot of other folks in the metals industry um I graduated from Purdue with a Hospitality management background I work for a restaurant

I opened two restaurants I work for high-end hotels like the Drake and and Marriotts and um and then I happened to move to Northwest Indiana um and then was um the hotel that I worked for had Dale Carnegie courses in our hotel and the deal was we gave them a break in the rate they allowed one of our managers to take the course I mean back then in the early 90s that was a twelve hundred dollar course for 12 um weeks basically wow so it was all that held at our hotel and because of where I was in Northwest Indiana apparently U.S steel had a deal to send all their managers to that course and um not knowing and I know that you know the region steel because I mostly grew up in West Lafayette um I had no idea that there was even an option but I met my then would be husband now ex-husband at that class and it was actually him that got helped me get into the steel industry because his best one of his best friends was leaving the inside Sales Group with us steel plate

products and we were already married and then we you know we never saw each other because I was working all these crazy hours so that’s how it started I interviewed with U.S steel it was an open inside sales position the person that interviewed me was I mean he was old then and he started at Homestead Works in Pennsylvania I mean that’s not even that doesn’t even exist anymore so he kept on talking to me and he couldn’t believe that whoever he was talking to was I guess clearly he was impressed because at the end of that interview he was like I definitely want you you know I mean we want to give you an offer we just have to go through all the bureaucratic red tape but kept on asking and what was your background again like like how can you be this smart or how can you even be this you know carrying an interview that he old school steal person would be impressed with so and then the rest is history August of 1996 I started my first inside sales representative position at us Subway products wow and uh for my

husband who’s in biomedical uh just to put in perspective U.S steel at that point which is the United States Steel Corporation probably was the largest if not the largest uh steel manufacturer in North America right in 1996 absolutely they were the largest in North America um and yeah as you we all know that’s not the case today right right some things have happened a lot of things have happened and then and I lived through all that which I think is a Testament of the time and everything that was going on and to be able to survive that um it’s all good well I want to get to current day uh for those who are unfamiliar with you uh just do a quick synopsis of you know who you are what you’re doing and who you’re working for yep so um again Sarah Moran general manager of sales for Ryerson singer um I am and this is a unique situation because uh I’m not only responsible for the sales portion of this but it the singer steal plant for Ryerson is unique so I kind of have Optus that kind of has a dotted

line to me and I’m semi involved in the whole piano you know portion of it which is great because it’s a great stepping stone if I and I know that my path after this is to be a multi-market general manager you know for Ryerson and there’s 12 of them you know throughout the United States so responsible for sales responsible for growing the business responsible for the bottom line obviously um everything that I’ve done throughout my career has certainly prepared me for this not just with a sales portion but the product management portion when I was with our solar middle um and then also you know I was in procurement as a director of black carbon when I left our solar medal to go work for Central Steven wire who has also been acquired by by Ryerson so that path for me has created this almost perfect situation for me to jump into a general manager sales position for this actual location for Ryerson um I love what I do I love the interaction with people and I still get excited by the sale I don’t care how big or small that order is

I get it and we got RT my team our team has it I’m I’m all for it and and so I’m not surprised to hear then that your daughter is going to the sales track um I it might be it might be in in the blood there yes my side definitely uh for those that are unfamiliar with Ryerson and singer Seal can you give a little perspective of I mean they’re they’re large organizations like for you to say that there’s only 12 of essentially you wouldn’t put that into perspective right that’s huge yes so Ryerson is we’ve been around and for a hundred over 180 years started out in Chicago JT Ryerson pedaling metal off of a horse-drawn drawn carriage you know uh and it’s certainly it’s grown from there um we are a service center metal distributor if you look at metal center news it’s a publication and they every year they put together a top 50 list of service centers in the United States we are always and it’s by volume and total number of sales we have always we’ve kind of stuck in that number two but still the top

three with Reliance Ryerson and then Klockner and then the gap between Klockner and Ryerson has also pretty significant but I mean having that being an over six billion dollar company in sales is is a huge magnitude and I am thrilled that I am part of this organization um we have a hundred look Plus locations and still growing in uh the United States Canada and in Mexico those are actual Rye person plants and facilities and also we have underneath that a Ryerson family of companies like Central Steel and Wire like singer steel but now really the operator the plan say Industries apogee and we continue to add to our repertoire um lately we’ve been acquiring facilities that um have abilities and capabilities processing capabilities that we need or use or need for our own use and to diversify our offerings certainly and added processing um again all over the United States depending on where the geographic location is so um you know Ryerson is divided in three regions there’s a president for each region the north um the West which is west southwest and then the East which is Northeast and then Southeast um so

and then within those three regions there are several multi-markets which is basically three four states each and there’s a multi-market general manager for each of those States and then general manager sales underneath that so it’s a fairly large organization it seems large but really the way we interact and even through all those levels are so close-knit and that’s another thing that’s impressed me about you know my transition from big Steel in the Mills into service centers which people that’s been in this industry have always questioned and like then they say that it’s easier to go from a service center to a male versus a male to a service center and I’m still trying to understand why but whatever you have to eat your Zone because because maybe I used to call on Ryerson actually um and I started that at the end of 03 and 04 with a lot of this consolidation was happening and um so I’ve been familiar with Ryerson throughout and seeing it from the other side and the growth that they have achieved and the expansion and um you know solidifying their Mark here in the United

States and also in Canada and Mexico and we also have facility in China so it’s really impressive and uh they’re publicly traded like I’m just trying to give I mean you did a great job of putting the perspective of Ryerson for somebody that’s not in the industry if you’re in the general public you probably haven’t heard about them right even if you’ve been around 180 years so that’s a talking piece for you know when you’re recruiting and when you’re talking to customers that you know we have all the rumors are gone those people that used to know and I talked to Eddie our CEO about this I’ve I’ve mentioned this before and certainly my managers I we need to reintroduce Ryerson you know because we’ve changed so much we dabble in in every metal if it’s metal I don’t care what shape form you know we’ll we’ll sell it yeah steel aluminum stainless I mean you guys do it every oh yes yes and even dabble in red metals you know a little bit long products flat everything name it so yeah and even if we’ve been around a long time we need to

reintroduce ourselves to to um potential new customers and potential workers especially that absolutely wants to be in I know that you and I have discussed this before it’s it’s okay what’s the deal what’s metal and people take for granted what it’s in it’s in in our everyday lives and everything exactly everything we have and own in our homes are everything everything we see has metal in it yes and yet we don’t think about it as a career many of my friends and family understand I’m in the you know Metals industry not necessarily knowing exactly what I’m doing but I had to share the story with you uh we were recently up in Bend Oregon so not exactly the major Metropolis right uh we have some friends up there we used to live up in the Pacific Northwest and uh one of my girlfriends there texted me the other day she’s like I’m at a book club and there’s this woman here that she’s retired from the steel industry long shot do you know her and it was an executive from Ryerson uh and it was Ellen and that’s what you asked oh yes no

yes I don’t know that name but I bet you she knows Victoria zanuto yes it it was kind of comical because my girlfriend does not work in steel okay she’s very far removed from that uh but she knew that I did and when she was talking to this woman she was talking about the woman was saying if your friend is in steel she’ll know my company yes 100 absolutely I did uh but again my friend who’s not in steel had no idea who she was talking to or what this company was which is such a shame because you have a hundred plus locations you’re you’re I’m gonna say you’re Global like you’re a large company and you do so many cool things to try and attract the Next Generation I would love to see more videos or just things of what you do out there and to translate it into you know the the everyday life of of what your Metal Products go into so interestingly enough our marketing team has done a tremendous job in doing just that so that we could highlight and even in different Snippets a lot of the things

that we do do and um and and in video form we have oh I don’t remember the name I’ll have to get back with you on that but it’s on YouTube so if you just like type in Ryerson videos every video that we’ve done which we you again have used to like show customers um put it on our show pad or um different processes we have in different facilities um it’s it’s all in there it’s all in there and then we also have a segment that we started the company started highlighting some of our folks and it’s called me and in metal in their trajectory of how they came into the industry and what’s kept them here and their experience um and all those little diverse nuances and the people that put Ryerson together is what makes it unique and and how it makes it work and and also for a steel in this Steel company a metal company I’m sorry Metal Company to embrace that kind of diversity and thought and putting that forward word is is ahead of a lot of companies that I’ve come across and I’ve been in through a

lot of them and I do have to put a plug-in for you for those that are listening or watching this there is one on Sarah if you go to ryerson’s YouTube um to check that out it’s fantastic it’s it’s it’s about five minutes long I want to say yeah right yeah nothing yep five minutes and it was really great perspective on how you got in and just more about your background and I found it really interesting I mean I geek out on that stuff you know me too and it’s also interesting hearing people’s story that’s in this industry um we I was together with some long time former customer former supplier um relationship and but it’s lasted over 20 years you know in the whole time that I’ve been and and we could say we’re still friends now and and even if we’re not on the same products we still relate and talk and I don’t know of any other industry that has that kind of close-knit group where everybody kind of knows a little bit about everybody and and that networking is very very powerful especially when you’re in sales or

in procurement because especially at the time when we had covid and we were all trying to find something that we couldn’t find the number of phone calls I don’t know about you was like hey do you have this hey do you have that oh let me call my old friend from I don’t know when you know what I mean and that’s still that relationship is still there and it’s solid and that knowledge after so many years in experience I think is what’s kept me and I know that if I’m speaking for the rest of the people that have been here more than five ten years will say the same thing it it really is an industry that flies under the radar and it has a lot of really wonderful aspects to it that by doing this by what Ryerson is doing we’re really trying to Showcase to the general public what we’re working on yeah is there anything in your career that you’ve seen that uh was really fascinating or eye-opening to you like seeing some sort of product that went into something else and then you saw it you know when you’re

walking down the street is there anything where that type of connection has has been made and that’s every day if you’re like we’re pretty big we’re into everything I know but see it’s like you said I geek out on that stuff as many and I tell customers especially if I see them for the first time and I’m seeing their process or what they do and what they make as many machine shops and Fab shops and end user manufacturing that I’ve seen I am still blown away at the the magnitude and the and the tenacity that it goes into what people do in big small medium-sized companies do to produce something made out of metal and everything that they have to go through um several cute little stories and even goes back to my my daughter when I was with isg let me explain it’s the company that was put together in the early 2000s from all the bankrupt companies because of or endless economic situation where so basically I see this Bethlehem isg Acme I think that’s it okay yes and so um I was selling to a uh steel plate to Water

Tower fabricators and you don’t think about your water towers look in your townships whether it be like one a one pillar and then a big dome steel tank up top or four-legged ones whatever there’s several companies in the United States that does that and I called on a couple of them and I never realized well one how you make it how you take those big steel plates and bend it a little bit and make it so that it becomes that oval like round or round little spear you know and so that you can extract water from the ground and then have water from a municipality I was flying and landing and when you look out the next time y’all look out you look into the Horizon and see how many water towers there are you know and um and we were flying by from vacation and then my daughter who was probably three or four at the time I’m like Cassie look outside do you see those dude those are water towers I said Mommy sells the steel that goes into that you know what I mean I’m like oh how nerdy could

that be uh well don’t don’t worry I have definitely snapped photos of metal recycling facilities as I’m landing into places because I could see them from the from basically uh the runway uh and and I you know I’m tapping my husband’s shoulder like look look look exactly yeah exactly or if I’m driving down the road and I see a piece of equipment and you know it’s all metal or it’s painted of a specific caterpillar yellow yep you know seeing a case um John Deere Green or the several orange Hues of the different JLG whatever I’m like oh that’s going there oh that’s going there well that’s going there you know I mean it’s a Telltale and we all know what it is right um and then with these new vehicles the EVS you know and um I drove Arabian by the way the other day it’s a truck an electric vehicle truck one of my customers amazing super fast and amazing anywho another geeky thing is that when I pass by a car or or oh someone hit me from the bumper I’m like oh my gosh is my bumper metal it was one

of the first things like no darn it it’s fiberglass why is that fiberglass it used to be metal right yep so it’s those things that we notice and even when you’re like opening your refrigerator or you’re shopping for a refrigerator and like kind of brush polish that’s on a stainless that kind of stuff and one of my friends who used to call on Whirlpool would turn the refrigerator and turn the refrigerator around that she was gonna buy and wanted to see what kind of spangle there was and spangle is the finish on the galvanized metal so you know people in metal certainly looks at the world differently but that’s what makes it unique and continue to be relevant and and that’s what’s going to keep the you know that this industry going another note during covid think about how many friends of yours that lost their jobs that were put on layoffs that didn’t have to go to work and wasn’t going to get paid um there’s a lot a lot a lot a lot of my friends but people in the metals industry we all worked whether it be at home whether we

still went to the plan because it is essential for our existence it this is very much a humble brag but it’s to put in perspective how our industry is always going to be around um I came into the industry before Nucor bought the David J Joseph company um and if people are aware of that timeline that’s around the 2008-2009 time frame which wasn’t ideal for the economy right so I come out of college um in the 2000s and um the Great Recession hit right what happens to my the majority of my friends they get laid off because they’re the the last hired first fired right many people that I knew from business school were let go from college Etc you know what happened to me I got promoted and I moved across the country with a company right yeah when covet hit I had multiple job opportunities come in and I got a different job like it it was never that intent in those certain situations but it’s because metal is always going to be needed correct the population grows we’re going to need more metal the demand will always be there so

this is a career track that once you get experience in it like your experience you can go anywhere like you’ve done that so another thing I think that people don’t understand with steel and metal I think all they see is a manufacturing part or like all the you know the dirty part that’s the bad connotation that goes in with this industry right oh my gosh they’re polluting me no one we’re not especially not in the United States but two every aspect of business from sales marketing accounting supply chain you know operations management procurement and all that and all that skill set is taught in Business Schools and all that and and but people find jobs in in companies that are well one I mean we’re publicly traded so I don’t even know why that’s it’s we are as relevant as Pepsi and Google and any other of those those big companies metal is yes and like you said again to him for us not just to promote but it’s our reality is it’s not going to go anywhere the chair we’re sitting now in it’s like metal everything yes literally everything uh has metal

in it for those that are thinking about getting into the metals industry or thinking about a career change do you have any advice on how to get in anything once you are in for those individuals so the so there has to be an education piece you know um anybody can can can go and on Google or indeed or whatever job search engine of your choice and if you look for a position right don’t ignore a company because you don’t know what it is or it says end something metal in it because and I suggest you know encourage them to give it a try um if they don’t know or unsure Network and find someone in the metal industry to talk it’s worth the conversation definitely and it’s worth a look um there’s a lot of great companies in our industry and we are looking always always looking for good people who are tenacious and creative and diligent and driven um you know it that will always push to improve because that’s what we this industry has had to do to sustain ourselves all this time you know from the very very beginning with someone

forging something with a hammer and you know making whatever it is into the developments it is now technology is going to continue to enhance this um this um this industry and certainly this metal industry that we have today is not your grandfather’s steel industry that’s compressed in the the development and The Innovation and technology that we have today has propelled that to a whole nother level and it’s going to continue to do so we’re always going to continue to find different ways and better ways um to make our metal safely and that’s sustainable for the future and that can adapt and be used for future Technologies like clean energy and EVs and whatever else invention there is space travel you need metal to go do that right yeah so yeah never going to go away it it never will and for those that are interested in the sustainability movement and the environmental movement Metals is going to be a huge part of that right in terms of what you just talked about going into the products to help that that um that front but also from a manufacturing standpoint because steel manufacturing makes about

eight percent of the greenhouse gases globally and we’re working on improving that to make sure that that gets reduced so it’s it really is from job security from a lifelong career from a fulfilling career from I’m sure you have some fantastic hilarious when we’re not recording stories um Adventures we gotta write a book yes no we will we will not hit the record button uh for those conversations uh it really is an incredible career track so I I really appreciate you sharing your your time your experience and and if anybody is out there looking for you find her on LinkedIn Sarah Morin she’s the general manager of sales for Ryerson singer Seal thank you so much absolutely this is fun