Steel Mills

Two Promotions at Worthington

Written by Tim Triplett


Worthington Industries, Inc., has promoted Jeff Klingler to president of Steel Processing and Eric Smolenski to president of Pressure Cylinders.

“Jeff and Eric are both proven leaders at Worthington; they will be excellent additions to our executive team,” said John McConnell, Chairman and CEO.  “Jeff has a deep knowledge of our Steel business and has led our hot rolled value-add SBU to record results as its general manager.  He is excited to take on this expanded role.” McConnell added, “Eric has done an excellent job driving transformation and innovation in our industrial products business in Cylinders over the last two years. His experience in various leadership roles throughout our company has prepared him well to lead our Cylinders business.”

Klingler, 47, joined Worthington in 1992 at the company’s Porter, Ind., facility working on the production floor.  After two years, he transitioned to inside sales and later became a sales territory manager for eight years and two years as inside sales manager. In 2008, he left Worthington to become vice president of sales, marketing and procurement for Banner Services Corp. In 2014, he returned to Worthington leading the creation of Steel’s supply chain solutions SBU. In 2016, he was named general manager of Steel’s hot rolled value-add SBU and in 2018 added cold rolled strip to his responsibilities.

Smolenski, 49, was named general manager of the industrial products SBU in Pressure Cylinders in February 2017 and led the oil and gas equipment business for the two years prior. He joined Worthington in 1994 working in numerous capacities including accounting, finance, human resources and information technology. Smolenski served as vice president of human resources from 2006 to 2012 and chief information officer from 2012 to 2014. 

Based in Columbus, Ohio, Worthington Industries is a global diversified metals manufacturer and processor with 2018 fiscal year net sales of $3.6 billion. 

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