Aida Nechifor, First Female General Director of LIBERTY Galati
LIBERTY Steel Group has appointed Aida Nechifor as the General Director of its LIBERTY Galati plant in Romania. Aida, who has worked at the plant for more than 20 years, is the first woman to lead the plant in its 55-year history as well as being the first woman to lead any major Romanian steel plant.
She will also have management responsibility for LIBERTY Skopje, a downstream site in North Macedonia.
Aida, who was previously the plant’s Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Management Committee since December 2018, joined the Galati steelworks in 2001. She initially joined as an economist before leading teams across sales, accounting, financial reporting, planning and analysis functions. She is a graduate of the Economic and Business Administration Faculty of ‘Alexandru Ioan Cuza’ University in Iasi.
Aida Nechifor is a certified accountant, member of CECCAR (The Body of Chartered Certified Accountants and Licensed Accountants of Romania).
Prasanta Kumar Mishra, who was appointed the plant’s interim General Manager in February 2021, has been appointed the new Executive Director of LIBERTY Galati. In that role, Prasanta will continue to work closely with Aida to steer the operational and the technical aspects of the plant’s production activity and will lead on the preparation of the key strategic development projects, such as the plant’s new electric arc furnace, DRI plant and MI.DA mini-mill.
“I am very happy to appoint Aida to this important role as I believe she can and will be a shining inspiration for the development of Galati and for the Romanian steel industry more widely. Since the beginning of the year she, supported by Prasanta, has calmly and effectively led the Galati team to deliver consistently excellent results. I believe she can now lead the team to continue its drive to improve the plant’s production levels up to 3.0 million tons of steel a year, from around 2.0 million last year, as well as accelerate the plant’s ambitious plans to become carbon neutral by 2030,” Paramjit Kahlon, CEO Primary Steel and Integrated Mining of LIBERTY Steel Group, said.
LIBERTY Galati, located in South-East Romania, is the largest integrated steel plant in the country and leader in manufacturing metallurgical products, with a current production capacity of 2 million tons of steel as well as the ability to increase that output in the future.
The Galati Steel Plant produces a wide range of quality flat products (plates, coils, galvanized sheets & coils, and organic coated products) as well as welded tubular products and supplies, for customers across Romania, the Balkans and elsewhere in Europe. The products produced are used in shipbuilding, construction, pressure vessels, automotive and other industries. Its welded tubular products are used for transporting oil, gases, and other fluids.
LIBERTY Galati has around 5,600 employees and 2,000 contractors, making it the biggest employer in Eastern Romania. The topmost priority for the Galati Steel Plant is to ensure a safe work environment for those employees and contractors.
The unit focuses on continuously improving the quality of products and services offered to its customers, protecting the environment, and encouraging young people to join the local team.
LIBERTY Galati is actively involved in community development activities through the long-term sponsorship of local medical and educational projects.
