The World Steel Association (worldsteel) announces the appointment of Edwin Basson. Subject to the formal approval of the Board in April, he will succeed Ian Christmas as General Director on 1 August 2011.

Edwin Basson (50) is currently Vice President, Commercial Co-ordination, Marketing and Trade Policy, ArcelorMittal. A South African national, Edwin received his PhD in economics from Pretoria University, subsequently becoming an economics lecturer. After a few years in the banking industry, he joined the steel industry in 1994 as Chief Economist at Iscor Ltd. By 1996 he had become a General Manager for the company, looking after coated steel products, and then later flat steel products. He joined Mittal Steel (now ArcelorMittal) in 2004.

The Chairman of worldsteel Hajime Bada said,” We are delighted to welcome Edwin. He has excellent knowledge of the steel industry and of the strategic issues facing us globally. He is already well known to us all from his involvement as a former Chairman of the worldsteel Economics Committee and as ArcelorMittal’s representative on the Living Steel Consortium”. 

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