Donald McNeeley is the Executive Chairman of Chicago Tube and Iron Company, a steel distribution and engineered fabrication company founded in 1914, headquartered in Chicago with ten subsidiaries. Founded upon sound free-market principles, they have achieved 108 years of consecutive profitability, a record unmatched in the United States Steel Industry. In 2011, Dr. McNeeley was the architect of a merger of his company with Olympic Steel, Inc. The combined forces of $2.0 billion in sales and 34 locations positions them as one of the top 10 in the nation.
Dr. McNeeley is also a clinical professor at Northwestern University where he teaches in the graduate program at the prestigious McCormick School of Engineering. He also writes a quarterly column on the political and economic landscape for The Wholesaler Magazine.
Dr. McNeeley is a graduate of the Harvard Business School. In addition, the University of Wisconsin, Benedictine University, and George William College. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics, an MBA, an MS in Management and Organizational Behavior as well as a BA in Business.
Directorships include Affiliated Distributors Inc., in Wayne, PA. In addition, Saulsbury Industries in Odessa, Texas; Vail Rubber Works Inc. in St. Joseph, Michigan. He is Management Trustee of the Pipefitters’ Union Local 597. He is a former Director of the Committee for Monetary Research in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Olympic Steel in Cleveland, OH. He has been featured in many industry and business publications, including the Wall Street Journal. He was a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He was recognized as the ASA Executive of the Year, Metal Center News’ Man of the Year, and has been featured as an industry thought leader in Forward Magazine.
He defends capitalism on the basis of what it funds, specifically job creation, and charity. In that regard, as chairman of the MSCI, Dr. McNeeley introduced a scholarship program, which, to date, has granted $9 million in financial assistance to children of steel distribution employees. In addition, Dr. McNeeley received the Philanthropy Award from La Rabida Children’s Hospital in Chicago, for his $3.6 million donation, the largest donation in their 110-year history.
As testament to his competitive nature, Don has completed 82 marathons, including a five-time finisher of the renowned Boston Marathon, 7 Olympic distance triathlons, and in a test of endurance, he once completed 6 marathons in 6 weeks.
In speaking with Don, he is most proud of hailing from a working class family of modest means with seven siblings. Part of his childhood was featured in a publication entitled Limbo, White Collar Dreams with Blue Collar Roots. It is said that he has the unique ability to make political and economic complexities easily understood.
