News
Corporate
March 2014
38
William (Bill) Avise took over as president
of the Wire Association International on 1
st
January.
Mr Avise will serve as chairman of the
board of directors, and 60
th
president
of the 84-year-old association, which is
headquartered in Guilford, Connecticut, USA.
He has been at the forefront of an on-going
association-wide initiative to increase WAI
membership.
“Being a member of the WAI is one of the
best ways to support our industry,” said
Mr Avise. “With the new website and more
webinars having an operations focus, the
value of being a WAI member has improved
significantly.
“In addition to WAI members having access
to thousands of technical/operations
papers, the networking opportunities with other wire industry
peers are invaluable.”
A WAI member since 1993, he has been actively involved in
the organisation’s leadership through his participation on
the executive committee; as a member, and later co-chair, of
the conference programming committee; and as executive
committee liaison to both the paper awards and member
relations committees.
He has also contributed to the American
Wire Producers Association (AWPA) since
1994, serving as the organisation’s
operations committee chairman from 1999
to 2004.
Mr Avise currently holds the position
of president of the Wire Group and
vice-president of Leggett & Platt. His career
in the industry started in August 1970 at
Union Wire Rope (Armco) in Kansas City,
Missouri, USA.
From 1970 to 1975, he worked as a wire
drawer while attending college at Central
Missouri State University.
After graduating with a BS degree in
business in 1975, he became a shift
supervisor and progressively worked up to
the position of operations manager.
In 1988 he accepted the position of plant manager with Leggett
& Platt at the Merit Steel facility in Kouts, Indiana.
Following a promotion to vice-president of operations, he
relocated to Carthage, Missouri, and became president of the
Wire Group in 2009.
Wire Association International – USA
Website
:
Avise takes over asWAI president
▲
▲
NewWAI president Bill Avise
