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Keith headed up the team that established SDI in 1993. He earned an accounting degree from International Business College and a bachelor's in business finance from the University of Saint Francis.
Upon completion of a master's degree in business administration at Indiana University in 1978 Keith received the Wall Street Journal award for academic excellence. He also received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne in 1991.
In 2005 the Association for Iron and Steel Technology name Keith its Steelmaker of the Year. In 1997 BusinessWeek listed Keith and SDI among the top 10 entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial corporations in the United States. In that same year Keith was named winner of the Indiana Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year award. In May 1999 he was named one of the five "Best Undiscovered CEOs" in a feature article in Individual Investor magazine. He's also been listed in Outstanding Young Men of America and the Who's Who World Registry.
Prior to founding SDI Keith worked for Nucor Corp. for 21 years rising from division controller to general manager and then ultimately becoming vice president and general manager of the Nucor’s facility at Crawfordsville Indiana. At Crawfordsville Keith led a team that built and operated the world's first minimill to use thin-slab-casting steelmaking technology.
Keith and colleagues Mark Millett and Dick Teets set out on their own in 1993 to form Steel Dynamics the first new U.S. steel producer in a century to be formed without corporate backing or pre-existing financial credentials. Based on their reputation and a strong business plan they succeeded in raising $370 million in capital to build SDI's flat-roll minimill at Butler Indiana. Constructed in a record 14 months the greenfield mill began production of hot-rolled steel early in 1996 and became profitable in its sixth month of operation.
Under Keith's leadership Steel Dynamics has quickly grown to more than $3 billion in revenues and is one of the most profitable steel companies in the world. | 