The company, which reported a loss of $22.8 million in its second quarter, has faced challenges with the weak demand in the global steel market. In the past year, about 80 employees in Northeast Ohio have lost their jobs. The company has about 2,400 employees and just last week named new executive leadership to the helm.
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio - GrafTech International, a global manufacturer based in the Cleveland area and recently acquired by Brookfield Asset Management, has new executives in place.
The maker of graphite electrodes for steel making and heat management graphite sheets for electronics, moved from its long-time headquarters in Parma to a smaller location in Independence this past February.
The company, which reported a loss of $22.8 million in its second quarter, has faced challenges with the weak demand in the global steel market. In the past year, about 80 employees in Northeast Ohio have lost their jobs. The company has about 2,400 employees.
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Joel Hawthorne, CEO of GrafTech Joel Hawthorne, chief executive officer of GrafTech, is optimistic about the investment from Brookfield, a Canadian-based, global alternative asset manager and private equity investor.
"With the benefits of the investment by Brookfield, we remain focused on leveraging the core competencies that GrafTech has built over the past 129 years and executing a strategy that will allow GrafTech to manage through the current difficult industry challenges," he said in a statement.
Since the acquisition was complete in August, two other personnel changes were announced last week. Quinn Coburn, 51, who had been interim chief financial officer since April, is now in that role permanently and also serves as treasurer. And Jeff Dutton, joins GrafTech team in a newly created position of chief operating officer, and vice president, reporting to the CEO. Dutton, 52, had been senior vice president at Brookfield Asset Management Inc. for the last two years. BAM is GrafTech's new parent company.
