Dallas executive Kimberly Fields to take reins at ATI

ATI will have new leadership July 1.

Kimberly Fields will assume the role of CEO to replace Robert Wetherbee, head of the specialty metals company since 2018.

Fields of Dallas has served the past two years as chief operating officer and was named president in 2023.

“I’m honored to succeed Bob as ATI’s next CEO,” Fields said. “Collaboratively, we’ve built a team that is aligned, disciplined and focused on execution to deliver extraordinary solutions to our customers’ most difficult challenges.”

Fields also will serve on the board of directors, effective immediately.

She joined ATI in 2019 as executive vice president of ATI’s Flat Rolled Products group. She previously served as group president for industrial and energy at IDEX Corp. and has held commercial, manufacturing and strategic leadership positions at EVRAZ and GE.

Fields earned a bachelor’s degree in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Just last month, she was on hand as ATI unveiled a $65 million expansion to its Vandergrift plant with a Bright Anneal Line.

The expansion at the plant off Lincoln Avenue shifts production there from standard stainless steel to specialized alloys for a global market, with Fields and other leaders calling it a long-term investment to secure jobs.

Employment at the plant is at 250 — a 20% increase since work began in 2020.

“This expansion unlocked the capabilities of ATI’s Specialty Rolled Products business,” Fields said. “It’s another way for ATI to meet the tremendous demand for specialty materials serving aerospace and defense.”

The new line comes less than 10 years after ATI completed a $1.6 billion hot strip mill in Harrison and Brackenridge. Construction on that project began in 2011 and created a state-of-the-art mill for specialty alloys. It has five furnaces and produces the steel for ATI’s Flat Rolled Products division.

Under Wetherbee’s leadership since 2018, ATI transformed to become an aerospace and defense leader. He said the company is well-positioned and on a clear path to $5 billion in revenue by 2027.

He will take the role of executive chairman of the board.

“We have the capabilities, and the team is aligned to deliver,” Wetherbee said. “Kim is ready to lead this organization. Her demonstrated operational and commercial success makes her proven to perform.”