2022 begins with a new CEO appointment at thyssenkrupp Materials UK. The Executive Board of the holding company thyssenkrupp Materials Services has appointed Chief Operating OfficerBilly Kingsbury to succeed as CEO of the company. Billy Kingsbury succeeds Terry Sargeant, who previously led the business of thyssenkrupp Materials UK as CEO and is now taking on the lead of Steelbuy Exchange, a marketplace for materials that was launched by thyssenkrupp Materials Services last year.
Billy Kingsbury has already played a decisive role in the further strategic development of thyssenkrupp Materials UK, a leading materials supplier and supply chain solutions provider, in the past 12 months. This includes merging the aerospace and the materials division of thyssenkrupp Materials Services that previously operated more independently in the UK market, adopting and implementing the “Materials as a Service” strategy, and entering new markets such as metal additive manufacturing.
Billy Kingsbury has over 20 years of experience in the UK metals distribution sector, including 15 years at thyssenkrupp Materials UK. He became a National Product Manager for Stainless Steel, where he developed extensive knowledge of the steel market and was responsible for both the sales and purchasing strategy. He has advanced in the business through roles such as a Director of Vetchberry Coil Processing division and Commercial Director of the Materials business to now lead the combined Materials and Aerospace business. As a thought leader, Billy focuses on driving customer-centricity and sustainability throughout the company.
Detlef Schotten, CEO of the Western Europe operating unit of thyssenkrupp Materials Services, states: “The business is part of the global thyssenkrupp Materials Services, present in over 30 countries – with around 380 locations, and it is currently going through a rapid transformation of digitalisation and sustainability. With Billy we have someone with a global mindset and vast industry experience to accelerate thyssenkruppMaterials UK into the future, enabling it to become the trusted supply chain partner of choiceand carrying on the excellent work of Terry over the past decade.”
Reflecting on the current focus and future of the company, Billy Kingsbury says: “Looking at the opportunities that lay ahead of us in both the near and long-term future, it’s a great honour for me to be leading our company as a CEO. We have gone through a great number of changes during the past 12 months, with the Covid pandemic forcing us to re-evaluate our UK business and find a sustainable solution for the future. Bringing our two businesses together enabled us to leverage some of our expertise both from the logistics point of view as well as in terms of technical skills. The combination has made our company a much stronger business now, providing a wide range of services, unrivalled in the sector. We can say today that the move was a major success story and I am looking forward to sharing more in the coming years by leading the thyssenkrupp Materials UK team to success.
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