Natural Resources >> CEO Interviews >> December 1, 1998

Curtis H. Barnette – Bethlehem Steel Corporation (bs)

CURTIS H. BARNETTE is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bethlehem Steel Corporation (1992). Prior to that he served as Senior Vice President and Director for six years (1986-1992) and as General Counsel and Secretary for 15 years (1977-1992). He joined Bethlehem as an Attorney in 1967. Mr. Barnette, a native of West Virginia, was educated at West Virginia University (1956) and was a Fulbright Scholar in International Law at the University of Manchester, England (1956-1957). He is a graduate of Yale Law School (J.D. 1962) and the Harvard University Business School (AMP 1975). He has received honorary degrees from West Virginia University, LL.D. 1995, Allentown College, LL.D. 1996, and the University of Charleston, LL.D. 1998. He served two years (1957-1959) as a Counter Intelligence Officers in Germany and continued in the Army Intelligence Corps Reserves as a Major until 1967. He was a lecturer at the University of Maryland in Germany (1957-1959), and was in the private practice of law and a law tutor at the Yale Law School (1962-1967). Mr. Barnette is a member of the President's Trade Advisory Committee (ACTPN), appointed by President Bush in 1989 and 1991, and by President Clinton in 1994 and 1997. President Reagan appointed him to the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States (1988) and Secretary Dole named him to the Coal Commission in 1990. He has testified frequently before Congressional Committees, and has written and spoken extensively about various corporate, litigation, international trade, corporate governance and related matters. Mr. Barnette is immediate past Chairman and a Director of the American Iron and Steel Institute, and a past Chairman and a Director of the International Iron and Steel Institute. He is a Director of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, a Trustee of Lehigh University, a member of the Policy Committee of the Business Roundtable and of the Business Council. Mr. Barnette is a Director and past Chairman and a Director, National Museum of Industrial History. In addition, he is a member of the Executive Committee of the Business ' Higher Education Forum. Among his past activities, he served as President of the Association of General Counsel, Chairman of the American Society of Corporate Secretaries, a member of the Legal Advisory Committee of the New York Stock Exchange, and of the Council of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association. Mr. Barnette is married, and he and his wife Joanne (Harner), have two sons, Kevin and James. Profile
TWST: Give us a background summary on Bethlehem Steel.

Mr. Barnette: Our company was founded in 1904 and we think of Bethlehem

over the years, and we think of it today, as the company that