Built With A-State
Hosted by Todd Shields, Built with A-State is the definitive tactical guide for industry leaders looking to partner with Arkansas State University. This series provides a transparent "user manual" for engagement, detailing everything from the CREST program to faculty collaboration models. By removing academic jargon, we simplify the process for organizations to access university resources and scale their regional impact.
Built With A-State
Workforce Continuum: How Nucor Partners with A-State With Zach Moon
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Northeast Arkansas didn’t just attract a few big employers; it quietly became one of the most important steel corridors in the country. I’m Todd Shields, Chancellor at Arkansas State University, and I sit down with Zach Moon, Vice President at Nucor Yamato, to talk about how Mississippi County transformed into the largest steel manufacturing county in the US and what that means for families who want great careers without leaving home.
Zach walks through his own path from starting in the melt shop in 1998 to leading teams in South Carolina, Mexico, Kentucky, Alabama, California, and back home to Arkansas. Along the way, we dig into what makes modern steelmaking different than the old stereotypes: “green steel” powered by recycling, electric arc furnaces, and a culture where the best innovation often comes from the people closest to the process. We also unpack why steel is never just “steel,” from structural beams to sheet steel, with specialized chemistry, testing, and end uses, including data centers.
We keep coming back to a practical idea: a workforce continuum. From entry-level training to upskilling, safety engineering, ergonomics, lab-ready testing skills, internships, and applied research, we want education to stay aligned with what the industry actually needs. If you care about workforce development, manufacturing jobs, supply chain and logistics, or building stronger university-industry partnerships in Arkansas, this conversation is for you.
Subscribe, share this with someone exploring careers in modern manufacturing, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. @arkansasstatemedianetwork
0:00 - Welcome And Zach’s Career Path
0:43 - Mississippi County’s Steel Boom
4:16 - Partnering with ANC and the Crest Center
5:12 - Building A Workforce Continuum Together
8:29 - Tech Shifts and Constant Learning
9:48 - Safety Culture And Health Partnerships
11:05 - Closing the Skill Gap in Metallurgy
12:11 - Ken Iverson And Pay For Performance
14:36 - Ownership and Trust in the Shop Floor
15:38 - Green Steel Recycling And Innovation
18:08 - How Scrap Metal Becomes Infrastructure
19:08 - Steel Products, Data Centers, and Logistics
24:08 - Real-World Labs, Internships, and Hiring
28:48 - Career Advice And Local Opportunity
33:13 - Reflecting on the 30-Year Journey
34:01 - Closing Thanks And Subscribe
Welcome And Zach’s Career Path
SPEAKER_00Hello, welcome. I'm Todd Shields and Chancellor here at Arkansas State University. And today we are we are fortunate to have with us Vice President Zach Moon of Nucore Yamato. And we're so glad you're here. Zach, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. Pleasure is mine. I'd love to today talk a little bit about the steel industry and NuCor, and then a little bit about our partnerships and where we see all that kind of going. But why don't we start with you just telling a little bit about your career journey because it's been it, I know it's a fascinating one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't know how fascinating, but I'm happy to it was to be to talk about it. I was uh I was born and raised in the area just about 20 miles north of Blavo, Arkansas, and went to college in St. Louis and came back um and went to work at New Korea Mato, Todd, in gosh, 1998. That's awesome. So I started in operations in the melt shop there, uh, right out of college. I graduated college in May of '98 and I started um started at the middle in July. Uh I was at New Koreamato for 17 years. Um done almost every job in the melt shop during that time. Yeah. Uh all in operations. And then after 17 years, uh I transferred to our facility in South Carolina, Newcore Berkeley. And it's just outside of Charleston, South Carolina. I was there for uh three or four years. Yeah, three or four years. Yeah. Um, ended up becoming a department manager there, and then transferred to Mexico in 2019. I spent about three years at a joint venture project that we have in Leon, Guanajuato, in Mexico from 19 until kind of late 21 as a general manager there. So got a chance to live internationally. Family came down with me intermittently and some travel back and forth. It was a really cool experience. But um, after that, I came back to the U.S. uh again, late 21 or so, and I was in uh a facility we have in Kentucky, split time between Kentucky and Alabama for uh about six months, and then ended up going to California. So I was in Southern California at an acquisition we made there beginning in uh early 22 of California Steel Industries. Uh we another joint venture partnership uh that's located in Fontana, California, was there for about three years and then transferred back to New Koryamato about two years ago, uh back home, got a chance to come back home to the home mill and uh really been enjoying that. So we're glad you're back home. Yeah, well, it's been a lot of fun. My wife and I are back in the area. We love the area, we're from the area, uh, all the stuff that goes with. We still have family in the area. So I've been back here at New Koryamato for about
Mississippi County’s Steel Boom
SPEAKER_01two years, and it's been uh kind of been a whirlwind, but it's been a blast.
SPEAKER_00That's well, we're glad to have you back home. We really are and when you've gotten back, there's been a lot of changes here at A State that I'm sure. Um, and you know, one of our big goals is to really try to align ourselves with industries. Uh huh. Um, lots of industries, but in particular with the steel industry here. Um, you know, I don't let's tell talk to our viewers a little bit about how Mississippi County itself has just really become the steel capital of America. I tell people we're the steelers now, and they say, no, we're not. Well, we got sort of that's right.
SPEAKER_01It's it's it's funny to think about, but now Mississippi County, I mean, when I started in 1998, it was evolving from a cotton field into a into a steel mill or two. And uh now it's the largest steel manufacturing county in the U.S., which is quite a change over the steel capital of America. Yeah, yeah. Less than 30 or so years since I started. It's it's crazy. Wow. Uh, but there's so many opportunities now in the steel industry in Mississippi County with A State. We partner with you guys and ANC on a lot of stuff. And uh there's some really, really good opportunities that y'all have partnered with us on to make sure that people in this area who weren't want to work in the steel industry can stay in the area, have really good, meaningful jobs, take care of their families for uh a long time to come. And my family has certainly benefited from that.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Well, and you mentioned ANC. Let's talk about that a little bit too, because with we're partnering, A State's partnering with them with our new Crest Center. Uh-huh. Um, and we know that they've done so much for you all. Let's talk a little bit about them as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they've been a longstanding partner as as well. And uh, we've done a lot of stuff, you know, with them because they're so local to us, right? They're just across town in Blyval. And uh we've had programs with them for a long time. But I think where the real opportunities may lie, at least for Northeast Arkansas, for the steel industry, for the people in the area. And by the way, that's that's one of the reasons I love being home, is just the the quality of people that live in in northeast Arkansas is uh is really good. Yeah. Um, but partnering with ANC has been kind of a long-standing tradition. How do we expand that more so that ANC, A State, and and Nucore in the steel industry is kind of a seamless experience for people who want to either move here or have grown up here or live here. So I think they're a unique opportunity.
SPEAKER_00Right. Absolutely. You know, we talk a lot about, I talk a lot about regionalism and northeast Arkansas in particular as a region. Um, and I'm seeing that happening more and more. Um, even when I'm watch TV, I see them talking about Northeast Arkansas, and
Building A Workforce Continuum Together
SPEAKER_00I see industry, and hear industry talking about that too. And I wonder how you look at that um and then how you see the region changing and growing. Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_01I I think we have to find ways for us to lift each other up and make this region uh even more attractive than it already is. Right. And some of that is really just capitalizing and taking advantage of the potential partnerships and the great stuff that's already going on and getting that message out to really tell the story of Northeast Arkansas as a region is a great place to live, work, do business, raise a family, get an education, further your career. All of those opportunities exist here. And I think when we lift each other up and use each other uh, you know, as a resource that we both are, it's uh the opportunities are are really big.
SPEAKER_00I agree. Um, and you know, your career path kind of demonstrates this what I'm calling the workforce continuum. Um and you know, Crest, we're partnering with ANC and then Arkansas State University Newport um with different training uh programs designed to help people be really successful in their job. But then, you know, there are other needs too, and your career kind of shows that progression too. Um and wondering what you think about that idea of like we hear a lot about workforce development, but I like to look at it as there's a continuum of needs, you know, from you know, something that's just your entry-level job that you may be starting from high school, right? All the way to, you know, advanced research, applied research that you need to just stay at the cutting edge of steel so that American steel continue to flourish.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a couple of important things come to my mind when we talk about education and our workforce and our business and how A State and that whole uh workforce continuum can help complement that. Um, obviously we need folks trained, right? We need people who are ready to enter the workforce and are ready to go to work and not just do, you know, the entry-level jobs are great, but maybe maybe you want a skill along the way. And right coming to the workforce with that is is one way that we can partner and uh continue to develop that workplace, continuum to steal your to steal your words. Yeah, no, please, yeah, take it. Say it everywhere. But the other one is, you know, we have opportunities too, Todd, to get people into our workforce who then still need to be educated. Right. Or develop for us skill. Yeah. Or one of the things we talk about a lot at Newcore is continual development.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Right.
SPEAKER_01And we all have the we're we're all charged with that too. No matter what role you're in, what job you're in, what skill you have, right? You can always do something to better yourself. Right. You know, that betters everyone. You talk about Northeast Arkansas, it betters the area. We talk about Newcore, it better Newcore, it makes a state better, it makes the NC better. So there are opportunities for us to continue to develop, no matter what role we're in, and and uh evolve up that continuum.
SPEAKER_00Right, exactly. And you know, I maybe jumping a little bit here, but to tie it back to the development. I mean, I'm I'm finding myself doing the same situation with advances in technology and artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, just constantly learning more and more about that. And you know, I didn't think when I was 35 that I'd still be going, oh my, this is come something completely new. And now it's every six months. There's something brand new to learn. And faster than ever. And faster than ever, yeah, exactly. I don't I think it's about speed up even more, don't you?
SPEAKER_01I I couldn't agree. It feels like it is, yeah. Right. It does to me. Right. I agree with you. I uh I started at Newcore like I said, right out of college, but I finished a master's after I had been at Newcore for about nine or ten years, right? So just thinking about how we continue to uh to develop and and grow is important for our business. Right, right.
SPEAKER_00Well, and you know, when we were talking about different areas of your needs, you know, some things like occupational therapy or and and physical therapy and things like that were things we didn't even think about. Right. Um, and I don't know if you'd talk a little bit about that because it's just the the number of areas where people could where the A state can partner with you in a real industry type partnership, not like I'm not a brochure, right, but a real partnership. I don't know if you can talk to me a little about some of the things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I love that you mentioned
Safety Culture And Health Partnerships
SPEAKER_01the uh you know, the occupational therapy or physical therapy side of it because we are so focused on safety and the health and well-being of our team. That's really Todd, that's when we know we're succeeding, right? Yeah, we we run a business and we have uh obligations there to stakeholders, but really our main priority is to take care of the safety, health, and well-being of our teammates and looking for opportunities to partner there. Yep, really, really important. Nucor has been on a journey. We've had Nucor as the corporation has had uh eight straight years of the I and I rate in our industry getting lower each year. Is that right? So it's been really exciting. And then Nucore Yamato specifically, we had our lowest I and I rate ever last year. Wow. So congratulations. Thank you. We're can we're continuing to grow, but we have to continue to expand our thinking about how do we prevent stuff in the workforce. And some of that stuff can be partnered with, right? Whether it's uh uh occupational therapy or different programs or safety engineers, or how do we continue to ergonomics and how do we make sure that somebody doesn't even get to the place where they need the therapy to be careful? Correct, right? Yeah. And us being able to have this collaborative spirit relationship and brainstorm those things so that we can help each other get better.
SPEAKER_00Well, and I wanted to thank the folks that we met with that were kind enough to even say, here, if there was a metallurgy degree, here's the kind of thing that we're really looking for that we're not finding. And you know, that's the type of partnership that we really want to have where we're like here, maybe we're where we maybe where we start, but then six months from now, hey, we need to tweak something because things have changed, or in a year from now I need to change. I mean, that's that's the kind of you know, organic partnership that I think that can grow because what you'll need a year from now, five years from now, will be very different than what we're doing. And if we're what I think higher education should be doing is listening to what you need and making sure we're providing and making sure that the people that were sending your way, the workforce pipeline, they're ready to succeed. But then upskilling people that are there too uh will be changing. So yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_01And I I think uh to me that just sounds attractive.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Not just to people maybe who were born and raised in this area, like like me, but it's also attractive to people maybe outside of the area who bring a different, mm-hmm, different perspective to make us even more diverse. But uh we we certainly have some opportunities to capitalize on.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely,
Ken Iverson And Pay For Performance
SPEAKER_00absolutely. Look, let me switch gears a little bit, if you don't mind. And let's talk a little bit about Ken Iverson. Uh-huh. Um, not only was he an incredible leader and you know, CEO, and but he really kind of developed a management philosophy, if I could say that. I mean, would you expound on that? You know, because I don't know a lot of the people that are watching understand that. And yeah, when you tipped me off to some of this, I did a lot of reading and I'm like, wow, this guy's really fascinating.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think uh just first recommending the book Plane Talk. It's a fascinating, uh sort of easy, short read, and it'll do a better job of explaining anything about Mr. Iverson than than I can, but I'll I'll certainly try. It's fun to talk about. We think about Mr. Ken Iverson as being the founding father of Newcore Corporation. Yes. He kind of came into uh came into Nuclear Corporation at the time. It wasn't even Nucore yet when Mr. Iverson joined, and he was a general manager in in Darlington at one of our facilities. Anyway, he became kind of our founding father as the company evolved into Newcore Corporation and certainly grown since he was, you know, the founding father. Some of those principles that he instilled are still very much alive in our culture.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Such as You have a very strong work culture with the world. We do have a strong culture. Yeah. Um, but some of the things that make it strong are just pay for performance, for example, right? Our teammates are paid well. Right. And we take a lot of pride in that, but you're also paid on production bonus, which is what we earn, or ROA. So you're paid for how you perform. Yeah. And when it's designed well and done right, when Newcore does well, our team does well. Right. And when uh Nucor doesn't do all that well, we share that pain across whether it's executives or teammates or management or whatever that is. So that's one of the concepts that our company was certainly found on and lives on in our culture today. We even wear, he insisted if you read Plane Talk, you'll see this. He insisted that everyone wears the same color hard hat. It's newcore green, right? There's no there's not a different color hard hat for management or supervision or our team. Like the people who drive our company forward, Todd, they're the teammates. And that's what this built with A State thing is really for, right? It's for the betterment of our teammates, which makes us in turn better and kind of a rising tide lifts off. I need to get a green hard hat, don't I? That's not a problem.
SPEAKER_00That's not a problem. I can that I can take care of it. I need to get that. That I can take care of it. Well, you know, and when I was there, it was, you know, I could every almost everywhere I went, I could see the values that that you all hold, and they're seem to be everywhere. It's just as not only do people already know them, but they're just reinforced all the time. And I just I love that. Something that I really would like to, you know, duplicate here at A State, honestly.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's one of the reasons we love for you to visit. Yeah. Because it's one thing for me to sit on a podcast or in a chair and talk about them, or we can put them on a poster on the wall. Right. But when you come to our meals and you talk to the people who really make our engine go, rather the teammates who make steel every day and fix the equipment that we tear up and do all the stuff, that's our real culture. Yes. And we want you to be able to feel that because a part of it, even though we say it and we talk about ownership and trust and integrity and teamwork, we want you to be able to feel that when you go out on our shop floor. You definitely do. Because that's what uh that's what's really happening. Yeah, it's really do. Yeah, we love love having you.
SPEAKER_00We'll get you that green hard hat, but it just I'll tell you you get you too. Will we maybe take the show on the road and make wait till wait till the it gets real summer, it gets around July and August, we'll take a tour, we'll get the real experience. Yeah, that'd be great. You know, I'd love that. Be careful, we'll put you to work. Yeah, well, hey, I yeah, I'd love it. There were some things that I was watching that were fascinating. Um I would love to do that, actually, to be honest. Yeah, yeah, and we would love to have you. So uh yeah, open door, obviously. Thank you very much.
Green Steel Recycling And Innovation
SPEAKER_00Um, let's talk a little bit about innovation. Okay. Um, you know, we hear a lot about uh steel mills, and I I'll be honest with you. When I when I first moved to A-State, my incorrect vision of a steel mill was you know, the movie Rudy and you know, things that I had seen before, and what I had visited Pittsburgh when I was younger and that kind of thing. And so I was envisioning, you know, the smokestacks and I was envisioning coal and I was envisioning things like that. But the it's really a green industry now. Um, and I don't know if you could comment on that and then maybe what you think some more innovation may be happening, if that's planned, that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and just on the you know, the green steel initiative and how clean it is. We're the largest recycler in North America. We recycle more, use metal than anyone else in in North America. So it's uh kind of a circular process. We use scrap, we produce steel, the scrap that comes out of it, we put back in our process and melt more steel. So um recycling is a part of who we've always been, not a kind of not kind of a new trend to you know on a sustainability train. It's great kind of what we do to run our business. Now that forces you to innovate in that area and other areas as well. And I tell you, the way we think about innovation, Todd, is uh the innovators on our team are the people who make steel. Yes. And usually the best ideas come from the people who are closest to the process, from not from my office or from you know, us sitting in a conference room. Right. Usually it's the team that tells you, hey, I think I can do this better. Exactly. Yeah. If this seems easier, can we do it like this? And we we very much have a culture of when it's done right, let's try it. Now we gotta make sure we don't get hurt. And you know, if you're not gonna tear everything up, right? If you have an idea, we encourage and empower our team to try those ideas. Right. And a lot of the stuff that works really well now has come from that spirit in our culture. So it's really important to our teams to have that empire. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, it occurred to me that, you know, my realization about the changes in steel production. Uh, there may be a lot of our people that are watching that don't really understand all that too. But you may explain a little bit like how the barges are coming up the Mississippi and how that even changes, like from digging iron ore and combustion engine.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we're we're using recycled scrap metal. So you think about refrigerators or cars or washing machines or whatever is made of metal, it goes into different grades, and we uh we purchase that raw material, we segregate it. It's a it's a pretty specific uh chemistry mix that we use to make different grades of steel. Um but there's there's certainly some science behind it. Yeah, sure. So we take that scrap, we melt it in an art furnace, we turn it into liquid, and then we cast it into the shapes and then finish it into the stuff that builds uh roads and and bridges, right? Buildings, stadiums, hospitals, data centers. Yes. And we do it in a green way so that uh it meets the needs of our customers.
SPEAKER_00It's fantastic. I mean, the other thing that was so fascinating to me was that when I think of steel, I mean I'm not very sophisticated steel, you know, but then there's there's so many different types of products and who
Steel Products Data Centers And Logistics
SPEAKER_00you're selling to, you know, and you talked about the mixes and then the the hardness of the steel, and is it gonna be in heat or cold or what's it gonna do? You talk a little bit about that because or maybe what your niche is and that kind of thing, because it's just something that it was so fascinating to me to be realized, yeah, we use steel everywhere, but it's not all made the same way.
SPEAKER_01That's right. And and you think about uh just say kind of on the theme of innovation, one of the one of the end uses that all of Newcore products go into is a data center. Okay. Nucore can now produce about 95% of the steel and components that go into a data center we produce as a company. Wow. Now, all that's produced differently, right? It's different grades, it's different forms. We produce structural steel at Newcore Yamato, which is an I-beam, or if you see a truck going down the road with a load of beams, good chance it came from Nucore Yamato. Wow. Right next door, Newcore Hickman produces sheet steel, and it's in coiled form. So if you see a truck with a big coil on it, maybe it came from from Newcore Hickman, but that may be going into an automobile interest or into an appliance. So those take different grades. It makes different chemistry requirements, different strength requirements, right? Um, but different applications for different products across Newcore.
SPEAKER_00And so there's a lot of supply chain and then trucking industry, the barges I mentioned, but then the railroads too. I mean, a lot of downstream processing businesses that's uh can you talk a little bit about that too?
SPEAKER_01Because all that was fascinating and new to me, too. Yeah, so uh a lot of the jobs that we do, the most matter of fact, probably um we produce the raw steel and we produce the beam that goes into the building, but that's not a finished product and ready for uh erection.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We have a very important fabricator customer base that we do business with that takes the steel that we produce and then adds components or cuts the length or uh just adds whatever the drawings need to get to make the steel ready for construction. So there's a lot of businesses that um come with the steel industry that you may not initially think about. And some of the stuff that goes into a building, we produce the the raw beam, but there's a lot of work and handling been done to get right to get it to a product.
SPEAKER_00And then a lot of supply chain and you know, trucking industries that go along with like getting that steel beam to where the fabricators are or where they're building, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we ship about from New Korea Mato steel, we ship uh well, last year we shipped about 1.7 million tons of steel. Oh my goodness. So I I mean I've put that in terms of like trucks. How many that's a that's a great question. We'd have to back into the math. Yeah. There's uh there's 70 percent of the house. Of our about 70% of our product now, 60 to 70, leaves our facility by truck, and that's 20 tons of truckload. Wow. So you can you can do the math in your spare time. You definitely have hundreds of plant every day. Yeah, that's amazing. Of how many trucks, and it doesn't count the rail, right? The rest of it goes by rail. Some of that is trucked to the rail cars at transload facilities. So there's a whole uh whole world out there. It is logistics and fabrication and uh service centers and all the stuff that goes into getting material to uh to industry.
SPEAKER_00That's fascinating. That is fascinating. Yeah, I was talking to um a company just maybe a couple of weeks ago that did, you know, they did prefabricated steel buildings and uh aluminum steel and 10 buildings and that kind of thing. And they were just like, yeah, we really need to get plugged in with new core. And I'm like, well, I know who to talk to, you know. Um, but yeah, I just I'm surprised now that I think about steel all the time, I see it everywhere. Right. Whereas before, I don't think I ever even really thought about it, but now I see it everywhere. Um, and I see the trucks and I see the beams on rail cars going by, and I see it going right to it's funny why powering.
SPEAKER_01We do the same thing. Yeah, we're driving down the interstate, and she she now knows like how to identify our beams on a truck. Oh man, she's ahead of me then from the show. Yama, she knows like how they're tagged and which ones are in here. Yeah, that's great. She'll see a truckload and just say, Thank you, Lord, we appreciate it. Yeah, exactly. Those beams came from New Corey Mama.
SPEAKER_00That's great. That's great. Yeah, it's not just you, we do the same thing. Well, I mean, it's just fascinating because now that I've learned so much about it, I mean, it's almost like my eyes are open. I can see it everywhere, and I'm thinking, well, yeah, of course, steel is really kind of the foundation of everything that we're building, you know, from like you said, appliances to big buildings and bridges and everything that we use.
SPEAKER_01It's really important to our, it's certainly important to this region's economy. It's important to the state's economy, it's important to America's economy. Yes. And, you know, you zoom out a little bit. It's it's an important, important thing across the cross.
SPEAKER_00It really is, across around the world, right? Exactly. Yeah. Um, so one of the things that we're trying to do is really make sure that the labs that we build aren't just, you know, labs that are theoretical
Real-World Labs Internships And Hiring
SPEAKER_00or in an ivory tower, but they're labs that, you know, are exactly like what the kids would be using or people upskilling on. Um, and again, going back to our partnership that's real, not just a brochure. But so talk a little bit about like how important that type of partnership is for your workforce development and and people joining with the skills they need to succeed.
SPEAKER_01Sure, yeah. Especially around the labs, you can imagine there's a lot of testing that goes on with our finished product. And trust commerce uh require certain grades or certain uh tensile strengths be met or Sharpie tests, and there's a there's a breadth of that, but it's also pretty specific to the steel industry. Yeah. So the more that we can have uh maybe an education or teammates aware of what it takes, and it's uh, to your point, more of an exact replica, right? Not in generalities, but that's something that could benefit the industry in in Mississippi County for sure.
SPEAKER_00Right, right. Well, and we were talking too about internship programs and things like that, so that people are getting real skills at what they're doing. And that may be somebody that is doing actual work on you know, on the floor, or um, or it could be an accounting that's saying, hey, accounting in the steel industry is very different than accounting in other corporate accounts.
SPEAKER_01That just translates into real employment employment opportunities for folks in this area, right? It's it just becomes more important. Right. So the more that we can help and have input into those programs and work together, uh well, that's one of the things that you know you know we're committed to.
SPEAKER_00Um we want to make sure that we're aligning everything. And you know, what my eyes are continually open to whether it's supply chain or it's transportation or whether it's health, um, you know, whether it's medical or um occupational therapy, or you know, whether it's sales or marketing, um, accounting, that it's just it's very unique to that industry. And the more that we are aligning the curriculum to what you need, the more likely it is you succeed and we succeed in the whole region does. Agreed.
SPEAKER_01I think it's just you know, it really important that we keep uh keep the alignment and keep the brainstorming going. And how do we drive this even farther? I think about working with Dr. Hegel at ANC and your and uh been great to us and how do we better align Newcore to to help each other. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00I'm with you. The I feel like that, you know, the more that we all work together, the more that everybody benefits, you know, and you know, I want to be able to look at parents and tell them, you know, hey, if your kid comes to ANC or if your kid comes through Crest Center or goes through A State, any of the programs, not only were they going to be safe, they're gonna get a fantastic degree, but we're gonna make sure that the industry they want to go into, we're giving them the skills that they need and fill in some of those gaps because we're listening to you and putting in what it is you're telling us that we need. Some great stuff going on in Northeast Arkansas. It's a really great opportunity helping us partner with you and help drive this full. Oh, thank you. I mean, I it's I mean, the opportunities are here because you guys are here. I mean, it's fantastic. I mean, we could we could do the traditional higher education model of, well, here's a curriculum and we've passed accreditation, right? And then here's a degree, go good luck. I don't want to do that. I really want to say, you know, here's a better way. Yeah, there's here's your accreditation. This is what we need to have to be accredited, so you have your degree. But then what are the gaps that you need to be really successful in a really lucrative field? Makes perfect sense. And you know, I think a lot of people, even Arkansas, I've lived in Arkansas since 1994 and did not realize how many opportunities there are in Northeast Arkansas, how many different opportunities there are that are just really rewarding uh and well-paying, great careers. Um, and that just really do span the spectrum. Right. Just it, you know, it's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01And then doors that it can open, just you know, and I'm uh being biased toward Newcore here, obviously. Sure. Uh, we have 33,000 teammates and facilities in maybe 40 states now. 33,000? Wow. So once you're you can provide an education and get in at a you know at a level maybe in northeast Arkansas, and who knows where that goes, right? Right. So those opportunities, just think about my career. I never thought I would be in South Carolina, Mexico, Kentucky, Alabama, California, back to Arkansas. Right. That's fantastic. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um those opportunities exist. So if you were if you were talking to our class, which by the way, thank you for coming to our entrepreneurial class this you know recently.
Career Advice And Local Opportunity
SPEAKER_00Um if you were to give some students some advice that you wish you were you had had when you were 21 years old, what what what advice would you give them? And that's a good one. Uh God, where did I start?
SPEAKER_01I was I was thinking when I walked in, like it's been longer than I realized since I've been like to go back that much.
SPEAKER_00You know, I've never really left, right? But still I wish like think back like when I was 21, what would I tell myself? I mean it's probably I'd sit myself down and talk all day. What was it? What was your first one? What would you know? I think that you know, my first one was probably like, you know, don't try to plan everything out because there's gonna be doors opening up all over the place, and just you know, do the best you can of what you write in front of you. Um there was that felt like there was pressure then, but the kids today have so much pressure, right? They see so many things on Instagram and so much more information. They have so much more information that they're like, what do I do? What do I go? What do I, you know, and there's a lot of pressure on them and to figure that out. And you know, my advice is always like do your best at what you've got right now and then see what doors are opening up.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if you agree with all that, but no, I I I do agree actually. And yeah, I think a couple thoughts come to my mind. One is a piece of advice is like, you know, pick a direction. Yeah. It doesn't mean you're gonna be there forever, right? But like commit to a direction for a specific period of time. Yeah. And figure out if that direction works or not. And if it doesn't, you can always pivot. Sure. But I think to your point, with a lot of the information that's available now, you get kind of paralyzed by I don't know which way to go or what to do. Or well, just because you you know you have options, let's narrow zero in on something, let's be really great at it. Kind of the thing you said. Right. Doesn't mean you can't do something different later or pivot. Right. But you know, being able to commit, I think is uh is really important. The other one that comes to mind is kind of what we talked about through this, through this conversation is there are a lot of really good opportunities here. Like learn about those. Go go figure out what what are they and right you know, specific to the steel industry, not everyone in the steel industry is a steel worker. Yes. We need great accountants who turn into controllers, who turn into general managers, we need great commercial people. If you're more interested in that part of them, those opportunities all exist within the steel industry and can turn into a lot of different things. So, you know, just in the spirit of what we're talking about, I think it's really important to understand how many opportunities outside of, you know, just being I would just enter may exist.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I mean, I was just impressed by you know, each one of the mills is really kind of a little city. Um, and if you can think about everything that's in a city, then you know, that's they're there. Those opportunities and the jobs are there. Um, it's just in, you know, you know, you're you're really got a great group of people who happen to be making steel, but they're all different types of employment opportunities.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and to think that you know what the end is at the beginning is probably foolish. Yes, right. Let's just take the next right step. And yeah, and eventually I've been really, really blessed. I mean, just prayers answered after prayers answered, but then you eventually like you you take the next right step and you end up in something that you love. Like I love what I'm doing now, and I love having the opportunities that New Corps afforded me. But if you would ask me on day one in 1998 if I thought it was going to turn out this way, right, I would have looked at you like you had two heads. I had no idea. Do you had do you even remember what you were thinking was gonna happen? Uh I knew so I went to college in St. Louis and I'm from the Blyville area. I knew I wanted to come back home. Yeah. I knew that part. Okay. And they still looked at me like I had two heads because I wanted to do that right there. Right. But I knew about this great company that I knew a lot of people who worked at, and they great humans. Yeah. I knew that it provided them a really good life and living and provided for their family. I wanted to come back and be a part of it. I didn't know what it would turn into. Right. Had no clue, sure. Right. But I went to work every day and tried to do my best and you know, outwork the guy next to you or whatever, whatever that looks like. And it turns into something really, really uh grateful for what it turned into.
SPEAKER_00So you did follow your advice. You kind of had a direction and you really applied yourself to it and stuck with it. And it did go. It didn't feel that way 30 years. Yeah, just I know. I exactly. I can relate to that completely. Yeah, I can relate to that. There are a lot of different turns and sideways movements along the way, but it there was a plan behind it, you know, and it turns out great. So yeah, absolutely. Well, I don't know if there's anything else that you'd like to bring up or anything else you'd like to mention. Uh, feel free if you do.
SPEAKER_01No, just want to let you know how grateful we are for the opportunity to partner with you. Thanks for having us uh and uh making us part of these conversations. Absolutely. Uh, you've been really good at being proactive and uh engaging us for ideas and thoughts and kind of a thought partner as we progress on the journey. So we just appreciate it and look forward to what it turns into.
SPEAKER_00Hey, we're looking forward to it too. And you know, I'm just saying again that we're looking for a real partnership that helps you. It helps our students. You know, I want to be able to tell parents that, you know, hey, this is the place you want to come if you want a really great career because we're gonna train the kids right, keep them safe, and they're gonna be doing really great. You can go home and relax. We we got them. Right. And I want to mean that. I want to know I'm telling the truth. So yeah, that's what we want to be a part of. So yeah, exactly. Sounds great. Thanks. Thanks so much for being here today. Really appreciate it for having me. Thank you.
Closing Thanks And Subscribe
SPEAKER_00Yep. And thanks for everybody that was watching today. Uh asked you to like and subscribe to the web page because that's where all of our material is. Thanks so much. And Zach, thanks again for being here. Sure.