U. S. Steel announces management changes at U. S. Steel Kosice

On Monday, February 23, United States Steel Corporation announced two management changes at its U. S. Steel Kosice subsidiary in the Slovak Republic. Patrick J. Mullarkey has been named vice president-operations. He succeeds Matthew B. Perkins, who was named vice president and general director of U. S. Steel Serbia. Vladimir Jacko has been advanced to vice president-technology, which was Mullarkey's former position. Mullarkey will report to George F. Babcoke, senior vice president-European Operations and president-U. S. Steel Kosice, and Jacko will report to Anton Lukac, vice president-engineering and technology at U. S. Steel. The changes are effective March 1.

"Pat and Vladimir have the knowledge, experience and leadership skills necessary to ensure that our Slovakian facilities continue to be operated safely, effectively and efficiently," said Babcoke. In his new role, Mullarkey, 51, will be responsible for oversight of day-to-day operations at the Slovakian subsidiary's facilities. He began his career in the steel industry with Inland Steel in East Chicago, Ind., in 1981 and moved through a series of supervisory and management positions in the company's iron and steel making operations. In 1994, he joined Raytheon Engineers & Constructors as the lead engineer for the Blast Furnace Reline Division and held that position until joining U. S. Steel in 2000.

Mullarkey's first assignment with U. S. Steel was area manager-operating and maintenance, South blast furnaces at Gary Works in Gary, Ind. After advancing through a series of increasingly responsible managerial positions, he was assigned to the Gary Works' #14 Blast Furnace construction project in 2005. When the project was completed, Mullarkey transferred to Pittsburgh headquarters to serve as director-engineering project development. He assumed his most recent position, vice president-technology at U. S. Steel Kosice, in January 2007.

A native of Chicago, Mullarkey graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. He earned a master's degree in business administration from Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind., in 2004. As vice president-technology, Jacko, 46, and a native of Kosice, will be responsible for engineering activities, research and product technology. He began his professional career as a teacher of electro-technical subjects and joined the former Eastern Slovakian Steelworks in 1996 as a dispatcher at the facility's power plant. Over the next five years, he progressed through a series of increasingly responsible positions before being named deputy director of the power plant in 2001, one year after U. S. Steel had acquired the integrated steelmaking operation. In 2003, he was named general manager-energy for U. S. Steel Kosice and assumed added responsibility for transportation in 2005.

In 2006, Jacko relocated to the United States after being named division manager-utilities, shops and services at U. S. Steel's Fairfield Works, an integrated steelmaking facility in Fairfield, Ala. He returned to Kosice in January 2009 when he advanced to his most recent position, general manager-energy strategies.

Jacko graduated from Technical University in Kosice in 1986 with a master's degree in electrotechnics. He finished post-graduate studies in economics in 1998. In 2002, he earned a master's degree in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. He obtained a doctorate degree from the Mining Faculty, Technical University in Kosice in 2007. Jacko is a former board member of the Association of Metallurgy, Mining and Geology and a former executive committee member in the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry.