Moving Metal

“THE HONOR WAS ALL OURS”

W hen Bert Tenenbaum, then President of Reliance subsidiary Chatham Steel Corpora- tion, heard that Barack Obama was planning to visit Savannah, Georgia, he worked a long chain of professional and political contacts to extend an invita- tion to President Obama to tour the plant. The White House accepted. Shortly after 1:30 p.m. on March 2, 2010, the presidential motorcade pulled up to Chatham’s front door and President Obama walked in. For a fewminutes, he met privately with Tenenbaum; they chatted about healthcare and Chatham’s progressive employee wellness plan. Then, accompanied by Tenenbaum, Chatham Vice President and COO Mike Young, and Plant Supervisor Victor “Vic” Johnson, Obama toured the facility. He went from station to station and spoke with each of Chatham’s 120 employees, including the

night shift workers who had stayed for the special occasion. “How are you? What are you guys working on?” Obama asked. One of them, Senior Operator Kenneth P. Maddox, gave a demonstration of an automatic processing machine. The President was impressed, asking, “You do this all to spec based on this programming?” The tour lasted twenty-five minutes. When it was time to go, Obama told the Chatham team to “keep up the good work!” and rode off to his next venue. He had left a lasting impression. “It was absolutely an honor to have the President of the United States come visit our company,” said Tenenbaum. “It’s something you don’t even put on a list of things you want to do in your life because you never expect it to happen, and I am especially happy for the people who work here. It was an almost surreal experience.” “It seemed as if he felt honored to be invited here,” said Plant Supervisor Vic Johnson. “But the honor was all ours.”

From left: Anthony Murfree, Davinci Mack, President Obama, and Lindsay Hunt.

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