Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders presented by Under Armour: Mitch Bennett
During his days in the OHL, Mitch Bennett was best known as a hard-working winger. The man who calls Lindsay, Ontario home was known as a team driven player who would put in the effort wherever it was needed on the ice. These days, the 33-year-old is parlaying that scrappy attitude into a driving force in the world of, well, scrap.
Bennett is a Buyer with Gerdau North America, a steel manufacturer with facilities throughout Canada and the United States. Based out of the Whitby, Ontario plant, Bennett works hand in hand with local scrap metal dealers to find the best buys for material that will be sorted and reconfigured into vital building materials on construction projects throughout the province.
Working with scrap dealers is a concept that takes Bennett back to his start in the business.
“I started as a supervisor in the scrap yard,” Bennett explains. “Scrap (metal) is the biggest contributor to producing steel. Gerdau owns 12 scrap yards which feed the one mill. They typically put you in the scrap yard first to learn the industry and develop pertinent skills.”
You may wonder what postseason training Bennett, who suited up for 111 junior contests with the Barrie Colts and Niagara Ice Dogs from 2008-13, pursued at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology on the path to the world of metal purchasing. It’s not what you’d expect and yet, a classic example of how being in the right place at the right time can put one on an unexpectedly fulfilling career path.
“I majored in Criminality and Justice,” Bennett explains, in a swerve fit for any top-flight Formula One circuit. “My first thought was I wanted to get into policing. My Assistant Coach during freshman year at UOIT was (former NHLer) Rob Whistle. When I was graduating, he called me and asked if I knew anything about scrap metal. Rob is our Commercial Director for North America and (Gerdau) had just bought a yard in my hometown. He got me started and I worked my way up the more I learned.
One thing Bennett quickly learned was the method of production at Gerdau, which varies from traditional mills. As opposed to a standard oxygen blast furnace, which is used to render mostly raw materials derived from the earth into steel, Gerdau employs the use of an electric arc furnace, reducing the facility’s carbon footprint as it allows for the melting of more recycled materials. The primary end product manufactured at the Whitby plant is rebar, used to reinforce structural concrete and multi-purpose steel channels and angle. Bennett’s primary responsibility these days in ensuring the proper amount of material is on site for production needs; a task that requires foresight in an ever-changing market.
“Our production is a general consensus of how the construction sector is doing in Ontario,” Benett points out. “Up to 85 percent of what we manufacture is staying within Canada and is predominantly used within the construction sector.”
But still; policing to scrap metal? Those are two very different passions. What was it that appealed to Bennett as he made a radical change in vocation?
“I liked the idea of growing the (metal) market,” he reflects. “Also, you’re competing against other yards. I like that side of the business. During my time as a supervisor, it allowed me to develop a team environment. As well, I just liked being outside and on my feet all day and being a leader in the yard. I’ve also noticed how much scrap metal is a commodity. A lot of people just sort of brush it off but in reality, it’s the largest contributor towards the production of steel.”
While Bennett is helping send materials to site to aid in the building of his home province, he continues to bring up a cherished family in his own home. This includes his wife Rachel, four-year-old daughter Kennedy and two-year-old son Brooks.
Besides his own family, he remains grateful to the OHL family who were instrumental in helping him get to where he is today.
“I feel blessed to have known (former Ice Dogs Owners) the Burke family to allow me to get into one game as an overager,” Bennett says. “They knew I was going the university route and that one game gave me five years in the league and allowed me to obtain that education money. It played a big role in my ability to get my (post-playing) life started.”
Those days in major junior also instilled the qualities Bennett still exhibits every day with Gerdau as he continues to make a difference in one of the province’s most critical sectors.
“I just think the main thing that’s carried over for me was having the confidence to get started (in the scrap business), he opines. “I find it also me provides a competitive advantage over people who may not have had those same experiences. All of these positives have transitioned over into my professional career.”
Fitting that someone with strong ties to the construction industry would makes use of all the tools in his toolbox.
