Aida Nechifor was appointed general manager of the Steel Plant in Galati, the first woman to lead the company in its 55-year history, Agerpres reports. The group owned by billionaire Sanjeev Gupta, who also owns the Romanian plant, faces major financial problems worldwide, but the management of Liberty Steel Galati announces as targets the increase of the production level to 3 million tons of steel per year, from about 2 million last year, as well as the assumed plan for the Galati unit to become carbon neutral by 2030.
Aida Nechifor, who was previously the CFO of the plant and a member of the Management Committee since December 2018, joined the company in 2001. Initially, she worked as an economist, before leading teams in sales, accounting, financial reporting, planning, and analysis. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Economic Administration and Business of the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi. Her role will also include leadership responsibilities at the Skopje plant, a unit in northern Macedonia.
Prasanta Kumar Mishra, who had been appointed interim general manager in February 2021, was appointed executive director of the Galati plant.
“I am pleased to attribute this important role to Aida because I believe that she can and will be an extraordinary inspiration for the development of Galaţi and for the Romanian steel industry, on a larger scale. From the beginning of the year, she, with the support of Prasanta, led the team from Galaţi calmly and efficiently to obtain, constantly, excellent results. I believe she can now coordinate the team to continue efforts to increase production levels to 3 million tonnes of steel per year from about 2 million last year, as well as to accelerate the plant’s ambitious plans to become carbon neutral until in 2030,” said Paramjit Kahlon, CEO of Primary Steel and Integrated Mining, LIBERTY Steel Group.
The position of general manager of the plant became vacant after the former manager, Bogdan Grecu, retired from office in January, following the launch of a criminal investigation case against him by the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA).