President and COO Holman Head will retire from O’Neal Industries at the end of the month. Head has spent 40 years with the Birmingham, Ala.-based company.
A native of Montgomery, Ala., Head joined O’Neal Steel in 1980 after two years with Vulcan Materials. Head held a number of different roles with the company, including sales, marketing, supply chain and product development, taking on positions of increasing responsibility.
With the formation of ONI in 2009, which served as the parent company of O’Neal Steel and a growing number of affiliate companies, Head became executive vice president, then later was named president and COO. He will continue to serve as a member of the ONI board of directors.
“Throughout his career, Holman has been an impact player, contributing immensely to the success of our businesses,” said Craft O’Neal, chairman and CEO of ONI. “He has earned tremendous admiration and respect for his leadership across our organization, industry, and community. It has been both an honor and pleasure to work with Holman.”
In addition to his leadership and many achievements at O’Neal Steel and O’Neal Industries, Head has chaired the Metals Service Center Institute, the industry trade association. He has also contributed in countless ways to numerous other charitable and philanthropic causes and is currently serving on the board of directors of the United Way of Central Alabama.
In conjunction with Head’s retirement, ONI has promoted two employees to executive vice president positions: Stephen Armstrong and Tom Kennard.
In addition to their responsibilities at ONI, the presidents of O’Neal Steel, O’Neal Manufacturing Services and Leeco Steel will report to Armstrong, while the presidents of TW Metals, United Performance Metals and G&L Tube will report to Kennard.
Armstrong has served as president of O’Neal Steel since 2006. “Stephen’s broad experiences across multiple facets of business, strategic mindset, financial acumen, communicative and collaborative style, and focus on utilization of cutting edge technologies, position him well for continued success in his new role,” said Craft O’Neal.
Kennard joined ONI in 2006 when the company acquired Aerospace International Materials, becoming president of UPM in 2008 when AIM merged with Ferguson Metals. In 2017, he led the combination of Aerodyne Alloys, Plus Ten Stainless and Vulcanium Materials into UPM.