Spencer Blue Announced as President of Freedom Metals

Freedom Metals, Inc., a leader in the scrap metal industry since its inception in 1983, recently announced that Spencer Blue would succeed his father, Bruce Blue, as president of the company.

Spencer Blue has worked in many capacities with Freedom Metals. As a young man, he worked in the scrap yard, and following his graduation from George Washington University, subsequent work in New York with Bear Stearns and then as a credit derivative specialist and junior trader with Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, CT, Blue returned to Louisville in 2005 to work with the family business.

“I am confident in Spencer’s abilities and leadership skills necessary to continue to move our company in the right direction,” says Bruce Blue, CEO and founder of Freedom Metals. “Spencer will make sure that the company is focused on providing a safe, steady and enjoyable place to work, as well as providing long-term opportunities for our employees.”

In Spencer Blue’s seven years of management with Freedom Metals, he has been instrumental in growing the ferrous (or steel) side of the business. He went outside of Kentucky to find ferrous industry partners, with whom Freedom Metals could develop buying and selling relationships, which enabled Freedom Metals to diversify and stabilize its business.

Spencer Blue also helped Freedom Metals improve internal operations and efficiencies by upgrading technologies and building necessary infrastructure.

With two scrap yard locations in Kentucky, the Blues started a third operation in Winchester, KY, in 2010. This year, Freedom Metals added a fourth scrap yard by acquiring Bates Iron/Metal and founded Blue Alloys, which enabled them to enter the stainless steel scrap market.

“The growth that we have experienced in the last five to six years has been tremendous,” says Spencer Blue. “I look forward to building on my father’s vision for the company by continuing to hire good people, providing an excellent work environment, and opening several additional locations in the next 10 years.”

Spencer Blue is also looking to implement programs within the company that will help develop diverse leadership and build connections in the Hispanic community in Louisville and beyond.

Freedom Metals’ growth has been recognized nationally with its recent selection as No. 61 in the Inner City 100, a list of the fastest-growing inner-city companies in the United States compiled by Fortune Magazine and The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. Bruce Blue recently received the 2012 Ernst & Young LLC Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Industrial Products category (see story, page 4). Freedom Metals also regularly ranks in the Inc. 5,000 fastest growing companies list and Business First’s Fast 50 list.

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