Dan DiMicco is a leading figure in the US manufacturing and steel industry, with almost 40 years of experience. Dan has used his wealth of experience to govern and successfully grow a number of companies, whilst also advising in public office with the aim of growing US manufacturing. Dan presently serves on the Coalition for a Prosperous America as Chairman, and he is also on the USTR Advisory Committee for Trade Policy & Negotiation-ACTPN.
Dan has served as CEO of Nucor, the largest steel manufacturer in the United States through its most successful period. During his time as CEO, Dan was instrumental in the substantial growth in profits and shareholder returns. From September 2000 through to the end of 2012, Nucor completed over 50 acquisitions for a total investment of $6.5 billion. In the same period Dan secured 720% shareholder returns, an incredible four times more than the total return of the S&P Steel Group Index.
Many of the nation’s foremost business groups have recognised Dan DiMicco’s outstanding leadership at Nucor. In 2005, BusinessWeek magazine ranked Nucor as the United States’ No.1 Company, based on sales growth and return on investment. Over the next few years, Nucor appeared on the BusinessWeek 50 list three further times. In 2008, Dan was awarded the Charlotte Business Journal’s sixth annual “Business Person of the Year” award, and was inducted into the North Carolina Business Hall of Fame. In 2010, The Harvard Business Review included Dan in its top 100 Best Performing CEOs in the World.
Dan was named to IndustryWeek magazine’s Manufacturing Hall of Fame in 2011 – in selecting Dan, IndustryWeek cited the return to shareholders during his time as CEO, his commitment to Nucor employees, his “shepherding the company through a period of unprecedented growth as well as the harrowing recession of the late 2000s (during which Nucor hewed to its no-layoff philosophy),” and his work to keep trade issues at the forefront of US public policy. The magazine described DiMicco as “a leading voice for US manufacturing and the nation’s steel industry,” especially for his criticism of China’s trade practices.
Institutional Investor named Dan to the 2012 All-America Executive Team, and, in January 2012, the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) awarded Dan the prestigious Robert P. Stupp Award for Leadership Excellence. Dan received the notable 2013 “Citizens of the Carolinas” award by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Charlotte Business Journal.
Dan is always quick to note that “none of these honors would have been possible without the tremendous work of my thousands of Nucor teammates.”
Throughout his esteemed career, Dan DiMicco has proven himself an invaluable champion of domestic manufacturing, as well as rules-based, rules-enforced free trade. His unrelenting work expanding US manufacturing resulted in his appointment to the United States Manufacturing Council in 2008. This prestigious position was awarded to Dan by the then-U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez. Dan held this position until 2011. Dan served on a number of other important public boards, such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the World Steel Association on the Executive Committee. Dan has also held more political roles including his time as Senior Trade Advisor and Economic Advisor to the Trump Campaign and Team Leader for the USTR Transition Team for President Trump.
Prior to his impressive career in business, Dan DiMicco graduated from Brown University in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials Science. He went on to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania with a Master of Science Degree in Metallurgy and Materials Science in 1975.
Dan is the author of two books: the first, American Made: Why Making Things Will Return Us to Greatness takes an in-depth look at the hidden costs of outsourcing and, along the way, Dan shares the lessons he’s learned about good leadership, crisis management, and the true meaning of innovation, and maps the road back to robust economic growth, middle-class prosperity, and American competitiveness. The second, Steeling America’s Future, is a powerful work, advocating for returning manufacturing industries to a position of prominence in the American economic system.