Gamesa employs 900 workers nationwide, including 800 in Pennsylvania, where it is headquartered and operates two U.S. manufacturing centers — a blades plant in Ebensburg and a nacelles facility in Fairless Hills. The company has development offices in Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Minn.; and Austin, Texas.
“We are pleased to welcome onboard Mr. Matthys given his background. His nomination takes place at a promising and challenging moment in wind development, and we look forward to keeping Gamesa USA in the lead under his guidance,” said Gamesa Executive Chairman Jorge Calvet.
Mr. Matthys joined Gamesa in July 2009 initially heading up North America wind turbine sales operations after two decades in the steel industry and most recently with ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel producer. Metal components make up nearly 90 percent of the weight and over one-third of the value of a modern wind turbine.
From May 2005 through 2008, Mr. Matthys was CEO and country manager of Arcelor China and later of ArcelorMittal China. After the 2002 merger between Arbed, Usinor, and Aceralia, Mr. Matthys took up responsibilities in international distribution and in 2003 joined the Arcelor distribution sector’s executive committee, where he was responsible for Arcelor Projects, a global specialized supplier to large and complex infrastructure, construction, and off-shore projects in civil engineering domains. During this period, Mr. Matthys was named chairman of Parsippany, N.J.-based Skyline Steel LLC, one of the leading companies of the Arcelor Projects group. He managed its restructuring beginning in 2003. That same year, he became CEO of Arcelor’s worldwide international sales network.
“I am excited to be leading Gamesa’s North American manufacturing and development operations at this critical juncture as we transition to a green energy and carbon-free economy. I intend to focus on building Gamesa’s winning team geared for excellence through results in quality, service, and impact,” Mr. Matthys said.
Mr. Matthys, 49, has strong ties to Pennsylvania. He conducted his doctorate research at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, just 90 miles west of Gamesa’s Ebensburg blades facility. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Ghent in Belgium, where he retains an affiliation as a professor focusing on strategy and industrial management. He holds master’s degrees in civil engineering and industrial management.
Gamesa’s North American Fairless Hills and Ebensburg plants are completing a re-engineering process to prepare for the company’s new G-90 model wind turbine deployment in 2010. In this context, former Gamesa USA non-executive chairman, Julius Steiner, departed the company this past September. During his two years tenure, Mr. Steiner contributed heavily to Gamesa’s North American expansion and national profile. One of Gamesa USA’s executives, Rashid Abdul, has also departed the company having worked to diversify Gamesa’s technical infrastructure and quality production.
Gamesa specializes in sustainable energy technologies, mainly wind power. Gamesa is the market leader in Spain and is positioned among the most important wind generator manufacturers in the world.
With an international workforce of some 7,000 employees, including 900 in the United States, Gamesa has installed over 16,000 megawatts of its main product lines in 20 countries over four continents. Gamesa has built or sold nearly 2,000 megawatts in wind turbines in the United States since 2003.
Total production amounts to more than 5.45 million tons of petroleum equivalent per year and prevents the emission into the atmosphere of more than 34 million tons of carbon dioxide year, helping to reduce the harmful effects of global warming.
Headquartered in Spain, Gamesa is publicly traded on the Spanish stock exchange and included among others in the Dow Jones and FTSE4GOOD sustainability indexes. Gamesa also has production centers in Europe, China and the United States.
