November 8, 2006 — Intermet Corp. has named Jeffrey Mihalic as its new president and CEO, continuing a management and organizational makeover initiated in March. At that time, directors of the cast-metal components group, now headquartered in Fort Worth, TX, replaced former chairman and CEO Gary Ruff with two representatives of Q Investments: Gil West, who was named interim chief executive officer; and Mihalic, who was named interim president.
Now, Mihalic takes responsibility for all of Intermet's domestic and international operations. In a statement, the directors indicated that, "Jeff has earned the support and confidence of the board and the investors based upon his performance during Intermet's turnaround. As such, we are extremely pleased that Jeff has agreed to take on this additional responsibility, and feel that his leadership and vision will continue to strengthen Intermet's commitment to our customers and employees."
The company produces more than 700,00 tons per year of cast-metal components for automakers, commercial vehicle manufacturers, and various industrial markets, and employs approximately 4,500 at 15 operations in the U.S. and Europe. It emerged from a year-long bankruptcy reorganization last November. In May, Intermet reorganized its operations by scaling down the corporate staff and assigning more financial and operational control to five manufacturing groups: the Domestic Ferrous Group; the Die Casting Group; the Monroe City Group; the PCPC (Pressure Counter Pressure Casting) Group; and the Europe Group. The strategy was to “embed” customer account contacts, and engineering and design activities within the respective business groups.
Mihalic has over 28 years' experience in the manufacturing sector. Before joining Q Investments, he had senior leadership positions at Bombardier Aerospace and United Airlines. He brings with him a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado, and a M.B.A. from the University of Puget Sound.