Meet The MidWest Team


Dan Rusnak, Level Line Operator

If you happen to be passing Dan Rusnak’s home in Madison this summer, you may see him working in his garden where he grows corn, tomatoes, asparagus, peppers and other fruits and vegetables.

Growing up, his parents always had a garden that supplied his family with fresh fruits and vegetables in the summer and Dan likes carrying on the tradition.

Dan grew up in Painesville in Lake County, Ohio, and graduated from Riverside High School. After high school he worked for a company for 6 months that converted vans for people with special needs then he came to MidWest. MidWest  has been fortunate to have Dan as an employee for over 36 years. He has had numerous jobs in the union - from crane operator, bander, steel sample cutter, machine helper  to machine operator. He prides himself in being able to operate all of MidWest's levelers.  When he became a machine operator for the new Leveltek Stretch Leveling System, he felt proud that he would be a part of the future of the Company.

Dan has seen many changes at MidWest over the years. He values the Company’s concern in taking care of its union employees. He has seen the warehouse expand to 200,000 square feet with upgraded state of the art equipment. Knowing that MidWest has invested so much in its company gives Dan a great sense of security. He appreciates the opportunities MidWest has given him and has never had a desire to change companies.

Dan has been married for over 27 years to Cheryl who also grew up in Lake County. They have 3 children and 3 grandchildren. They are fortunate that their immediate families also live in Lake County.  

Besides gardening Dan enjoys fishing on Lake Erie with his wife in his 26 foot boat. He always comes back with either walleye or perch. When they are not on their boat or in their garden, they will often be enjoying Geneva on the Lake.

Lynn Clark, Purchasing Manager

Approximately 37 years ago, Lynn Clark, a young mother of three became part of MidWest Materials’ family, (MWM). Although she left Midwest for a few years to be home with her children and then again when her husband was transferred to her hometown of    Philadelphia,   she was always happy to return. Before she was married, Lynn had graduated from Endicott Jr. College as a medical assistant and worked for the American Diabetes Association.  However, when her husband was transferred to Cleveland as a sales rep for Diamond Shamrock, she looked for a job near her home.  Her neighbor worked for MWM and recommended she contact the steel company.  Although she had three young children she was confident that she could make the necessary arrangements for her children to enable her to start a new career. She began as an assistant to the Steel Bar manager and learned all aspects of that business.  She actually at one time ran the bar steel warehouse and participated in union negotiations. As time went on, she became involved in selling bar steel.  One of her biggest challenges was to be a female in basically a male dominated industry.  Purchasing Agents were reluctant to give a female their steel requirements.  Lynn presently is Steel Purchasing Manager at MWM and is involved in working with the sales department to buy the steel for its customers.  Her experience in all aspects of the business gives her a great understanding of the various buyers’ needs.

In Lynn’s spare time she loves to sew and does craft projects.   She is an excellent cook and often shares her baked goods with the office employees.  However she is planning to give up her free time on Saturdays to volunteer at Rainbow Children’s Hospital reading and playing with the children who are patients.  She also held many board positions as well as mentoring other women in the AWMI (Association of Women in the Metal Industries) and participates in the ASD (American Steel Distributor’s) meetings.

Lynn states that she been lucky to work at MWM as her fellow employees are always willing to teach and share with her their knowledge.  She has seen so many changes over the years –from a paper, dictaphone industry to a computer, email world.    One of her biggest challenges today is to keep up with the times to stay current in this world that changes with the speed of lightning.

 

Bonnie Lette, Accounts Payable Manager

What a treasure MidWest has in employee Bonnie Lette.  36 years ago she started at MidWest as a billing and inventory clerk.  She had her associate’s degree in accounting from Kent State and previously had worked at the First National Bank of Burton (now part of Huntington Bank) and their various branches and then worked at Hawkins Ambulance Service taking care of their bookkeeping and payroll.

Bonnie was with  MidWest as it  began its journey into computers—entering punch cards on IBM 026, the dial data entry system for the system 32, 34 and then the IBM AS400.  She helped with the transition to our pc network and continues in her free time at home working with her husband developing websites and trouble shooting on computer problems.

Besides presently working in the accounts payable department, she is involved in booking company travel and developing numerous customer data bases for MidWest events.

Although Bonnie was born in Uniontown, PA, her family moved to Thompson, Ohio when she was in the third grade and has continued to live in this same community with her husband, Wayne.  They purchased a 110 year old post and beam house that had one time been a post office with the postmaster living in the rest of the house.

Growing up, Bonnie loved horses.   She belonged in 4-H where she won ribbons for reining and riding at the state level.   She also enjoys sewing and cakemaking.  She often is asked to make wedding cakes as well as cakes for other occasions.  She and her husband are also involved with model trains.  Besides attending the various model train conventions, they have an n scale –1 to 160th to scale layout of model trains in their basement.

Besides enjoying her work at MidWest, Bonnie loves the family atmosphere and fondly remembers Joseph Koppelman’s stories.  (One of the founders of MidWest Materials.)

 

Mark Chabot, Director of Operations    

It was MidWest's lucky day when Mark applied for a job in 1978.  He left a structural steel manufacturer in Cleveland in which he was driving over two hours a day, to work in Perry, Ohio for our company which is practically in his backyard. Mark is married with 3 wonderful children and 4 adorable grandchildren. Born in Painesville, Ohio he has lived most of his life in Lake County. He loves to play golf and cards in his spare time.

Mark started at MidWest as a general laborer. As he always wanted to learn more, he consequently learned to run all the steel processing machinery. In 1992, he was proud to be asked to join MidWest's management team and currently directs all warehouse operations. Mark's knowledge of steel as well as his understanding of steel processing equipment makes Mark an invaluable resource to our company.


Contact Us

For more information, please contact us at 800-321-4143 or request a quote.