U. S. Steel Appoints Anton Lukac and Richard M. Efkeman to Executive Positions

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer John H. Goodish today announced three management appointments: Richard M. Efkeman has been named vice president-worldwide marketing; Anton Lukac has been named vice president-engineering & technology; and Thomas Kelly has been named general manager-blast furnace engineering & technology. Efkeman and Lukac will report to Goodish. Kelly will report to Lukac. The moves are effective March 1.

"While the responsibilities of the marketing and engineering and technology organizations are dramatically different, they share two important duties: anticipating what our customers' needs will be both now and in the future and ensuring that we are prepared to meet them," explained Goodish. "The experience and expertise that Rick, Anton and Tom bring to their new positions will aid our efforts to remain on the leading edge of our industry's product trends and process technologies."

Efkeman, 58, will assume responsibility for all marketing activities across the company, including pricing, market research and strategies, and trade issues.

Efkeman joined U. S. Steel in 1971 as a service correspondent in the company's Baltimore sales office. He progressed through a series of positions in the commercial organization before advancing in 1983 to manager in the marketing department, where he spent the next eight years overseeing marketing activities across a range of products. In 1991, he was named director-mill marketing and business planning for sheet products. He advanced to director- industry marketing for sheet products in 1993.

In 1996, Efkeman was promoted to general manager of tin mill products and was responsible for the product's sales and marketing activities. Three years later, he was named director-raw materials planning, procurement, distribution and sales. He advanced to his current position, general manager-marketing, in 2003, and in this role has managed pricing, marketing strategies, trade issues and commercial market research for the company's North American flat-rolled products.

A native of Chambersburg, Pa., Efkeman graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He earned a master's degree in business administration from Loyola College in Baltimore in 1974.

Efkeman will continue to work at U. S. Steel's corporate headquarters.

Lukac, 47, will replace Anthony R. Bridge, who was appointed to the new position of vice president-operations, East earlier today. In his new position, Lukac will be responsible for research and development activities at the company's Research and Technology Center in Munhall, Pa., Automotive Center in Troy, Mich., and research facility in Kosice, Slovakia. He will also oversee engineering, coke battery assessment, reliability and rehabilitation, and blast furnace engineering and technology activities across the company.

Lukac began his steelmaking career at VSZ a.s. in 1982 as a technologist in the cold rolling mill. Over the next 16 years, he progressed through increasingly responsible positions in a variety of departments, eventually serving as vice president of technology for VSZ.

When U. S. Steel Kosice (USSK) was created in November 2000, Lukac was named vice president of strategic implementation and reported directly to USSK's president. In that position, he was responsible for USSK's pipe and radiator operations while managing 18 USSK domestic and foreign subsidiaries and supporting regional development through USSK's Economic Development Center. In July 2003, Lukac moved with his family to the Pittsburgh area when he was appointed plant manager of U. S. Steel's Clairton Plant, a coke making facility in Clairton, Pa. In December 2006, he was named plant manager of Mon Valley Works' Edgar Thomson Plant, a primary steelmaking facility in Braddock, Pa. He assumed his current role, general manager-Mon Valley Works, in January 2007 and has been responsible for overseeing operations at all four Mon Valley Works facilities: the Edgar Thomson Plant; the Irvin Plant (finishing) in West Mifflin, Pa.; the Clairton Plant; and the Fairless Plant (galvanizing) near Philadelphia.

Lukac, who is a native of Martin in the Slovak Republic, graduated from Technical University in Kosice, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in 1982. He will be based at U. S. Steel's corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh.

Kelly, 52, replaces Ralph Corrente, who was named plant manager-primary operations at Gary Works in Gary, Ind. Kelly will be responsible for the technological development, operation and maintenance of blast furnaces across the company. He began his career at U. S. Steel in 1978 as a laborer at Gary Works. He was promoted through supervisory positions in steel production, iron making and casting before transferring to Fairfield Works in Fairfield, Ala., in 1990 to serve as a shift manager in casting. In 1996, Kelly moved back to Gary Works when he was advanced to division manager-steel production and casting. Over the next six years, he progressed through similar roles in iron production and at the hot strip mill.

In 2002, Kelly was named vice president and managing director at U. S. Steel Kosice, the company's steelmaking operation in the Slovak Republic. When U. S. Steel completed its purchase of Serbian steelmaker Sartid a.d. in 2003, Kelly was named president and general director of the newly formed U. S. Steel Serbia. In 2005, Kelly returned to the United States and Gary Works to serve as plant manager-primary operations. He advanced to his most recent position, plant manager of Gary Works' Midwest Plant, a finishing facility in Portage, Ind., in September 2006.

Kelly, his wife, Sanja, and their two sons will relocate to the Pittsburgh area.

For more information about U. S. Steel, visit http://www.ussteel.com/.

SOURCE: United States Steel Corporation

CONTACT: John Armstrong, +1-412-433-6792, or Erin DiPietro,
+1-412-433-6845, both of United States Steel Corporation

Web site: http://www.ussteel.com/

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