NORTH MANCHESTER – Richard P. Teets Jr. will address the graduating classes and receive an honorary degree at Manchester University's commencement ceremonies on May 18.
Teets was a co-founder of Steel Dynamics Inc., based in Fort Wayne. At the time of his retirement in 2016, he was SDI's executive vice president, as well as president and chief operating officer of steel operations.
Keith Busse, Mark Millett and Teets established SDI in 1993, building a high-production electric arc furnace flat-roll mill in Butler. They raised $380 million in capital to build the mill, which began melting scrap for steel coils in 1996. Under their watch, SDI became one of the largest and most diversified domestic steel producers and metals recyclers in the United States, with facilities throughout the U.S. and in Mexico, employing more than 12,000 individuals. Today, SDI is the third largest steelmaker in North America, producing more than 13 million tons of steel annually.
Teets has been on the SDI Board of Directors since it went public in 1996 and is on the boards of Specialty Ceramic Products of Auburn and Precision Wire Technologies of Fort Wayne. He was named Steel Advocate of the Year in 2016 by the American Metal Market magazine. He is a past president of the 10,000-member Association for Iron and Steel Technology and was chairman of the Steel Manufacturers Association.
He was an active member of the Manchester University Board of Trustees for 10 years, serving on the Governance, Institutional Vitality, Academic Affairs and Educational Quality committees. Before joining the board, he served on the President's Leadership Council.
Manchester's graduate and professional commencement exercises will begin at 9 a.m. in Cordier Auditorium at the North Manchester campus. Undergraduate commencement exercises will follow at 11 a.m.