March 28, 2006 -- Directors of Intermet Corp. have replace chairman and CEO Gary Ruff with two representatives of Q Investments, a Fort Worth, TX-based private equity group with a stake in the Troy, MI, producer of automotive castings. Gil West has been named interim chief executive officer, and Jeff Mihalic has been named interim president, effective immediately
Ruff, who joined Intermet in 1999 and became chairman and CEO in 2004, has resigned from the company. "Gary Ruff is a highly respected technical expert and has guided Intermet through some demanding times," said West. "We appreciate his dedication and the leadership he has shown through his years of service and wish him well in his future endeavors."
Before joining Q Investments, West held senior leadership positions at TIMCO Aviation Services, Northwest Airlines, and United Airlines. Mihalic held senior positions at Bombardier Aerospace and United Airlines.
Of the change in leadership, West stated: "We look forward to the challenges and to working with the talented employees of Intermet to help improve the performance for our investors and to continue the company's focus on quality and service to our customers."
Mihalic stated: "We are excited about the opportunity to further empower our plant-level operations by providing them with the necessary resources to be successful. We also want to assure our customers that production will continue unabated during this transition."
Intermet is a global manufacturer of powertrain, chassis/suspension and structural cast components for automotive, commercial-vehicle, and industrial customers.