Features

Former USS exec Jaycox joins AutoZone

Written by Laura Miller


Former U.S. Steel executive Kenneth Jaycox is moving from steel to the automotive parts industry.

Jaycox has joined AutoZone Inc. as senior vice president of commercial customer satisfaction. He will report to Tom Newbern, chief operating officer of customer satisfaction.

Jaycox served as chief commercial officer and SVP of USS from 2020 until leaving the company in June. Before joining USS, he was VP of transformation for Sysco Corp., and held various other leadership roles in commercial sales, customer engagement, business strategy, procurement, marketing, and operations.

“We are very excited to have Ken join AutoZone. He has exceptional business acumen, is a proven professional sales leader and brings a wealth of invaluable experience to the role. Ken is well-suited to continue serving our customers and driving accelerated sales growth for many years to come,” commented Phil Daniele, AutoZone’s president and CEO, customer satisfaction.

AutoZone, based in Memphis, Tenn., is a retailer and distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories. It has over 6,300 stores in the US, 760 in Mexico, and 100 in Brazil. In its 2023 fiscal year, it posted record net income of $2.5 billion on net sales of nearly $17.5 billion.

Laura Miller

Read more from Laura Miller

Latest in Features

Final Thoughts

Even before the news about Mexico, I didn’t want to overstate the magnitude of the change in momentum. As far as we could tell, there hadn’t been a frenzy of new ordering following President Trump’s announcement of 50% Section 232 tariffs. But higher tariffs had unquestionably raised prices for imports, which typically provide the floor for domestic pricing. We’d heard, for example, that prices below $800 per short ton for hot-rolled (HR) coil were gone from the domestic market – even for larger buyers.