Our speaker, Dr. Donald R. McNeeley, is considered a modern day renaissance man: executive, industrialist, philanthropist, educator, economist, and visionary.

Donald McNeeley is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Tube and Iron Company, a steel distribution, fabrication and engineering company founded in 1914, headquartered in Chicago with ten subsidiaries. With a foundation of sound free-market principles, they are celebrating 105 years of consecutive profitability, a record unmatched in the United States steel industry. In 2011, Dr. McNeeley was the architect of a merger of his company with Olympic Steel, Inc. The combined forces of $2.0 billion in sales and 34 locations position them as one of the top 10 in the nation.

As philanthropist, he was acknowledged for his $3.6 million donation to LaRabida Children’s Hospital on Chicago’s Southside – the largest donation in their 110-year history. As chairman of the MSCI, Dr. McNeeley’s legacy was the creation of an industry scholarship fund for sons and daughters of industry employees. To date, that fund has provided over $8 million in direct support for college studies. Further, he was responsible for the development of the Strategic Metals Management Course at Washington University. This program serves to prepare the next generation of industry leaders. He is also involved in the construction of schools and funding of anti-poaching efforts in Zimbabwe, Africa.

As educator, he holds a clinical professorship at Northwestern University in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Mathematics. He teaches the capstone course in the master’s program and also advises doctorial students. Previously at DePaul University he was the recipient of the University’s Best
Teaching Award. He has also guest lectured at a number of prestigious institutions, including the United States Military Academy at West Point.

As economist and visionary, Dr. McNeeley writes a quarterly column in the trade press titled The McNeeley View where he addresses the economic, social, and political trends affecting our industry, and is also featured in industry blogs.

He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, George Williams College, University of Wisconsin, and Benedictine University. He holds a BA in Business, MBA, a Ph.D. in Economics, and a M.S. in Management and Organization Behavior. His academic degrees were with honors.

Dr. McNeeley is often quoted in the trade press, as well as in the Wall Street Journal. It is said that he has the unique ability to make the complex understandable. He is most proud of his Irish Catholic roots of modest means from the Southside of Chicago with working class parents and seven siblings.

In a testament to his competitive nature, Dr. McNeeley has completed 82 marathons, including a five-time finisher of the renowned Boston Marathon, seven Olympic distance triathlons, and in a test of endurance, he once completed six marathons in six weeks.