Women in Steel Conference Steel Industry Keynote Speaker Candidates

Nicki Taylor, Vice President & General Manager, Nucor Tubular Products

Nicki Taylor is vice president and general manager at Nucor Tubular Products. In her role, she leads the Nucor Tubular Products facilities in Kentucky, Georgia and Indiana. She began her career with Nucor in 2002 as a crane operator at Nucor Steel–Decatur LLC, where she held various leadership positions within material handling, including shift and day supervisor. In 2013, she was promoted to material handling manager at Nucor Steel–Indiana. At the beginning of 2018, Taylor joined Nucor Tubular Products as division manager at its Chicago, Ill., USA, location, where she also assisted in the acquisition of Nucor Tubular Products Madison by onboarding and leading this new Nucor team. In 2020, she became division manager at Nucor Tubular Products – North located in Marseilles, Ill. Taylor was then promoted to general manager in 2021 and vice president in 2023. She received a B.S. degree from Indiana University. She enjoys various hobbies and treasures time with friends and family.

Carolee Vanicek, Vice President of Manufacturing, Metallus Inc.

As the Vice President of Manufacturing, Carolee is responsible for providing strategic leadership, management and overall direction to ensure all manufacturing plants deliver operating plan results and long-term strategic priorities. She leads the organization to consistently meet customer needs, including the on-time delivery of high-quality products, while tightly managing operating costs and inventory levels and ensuring employee safety.

Carolee joined, then, Timken in 1996 as a steel business associate and has held various positions of increasing responsibility, including Senior Process Improvement Engineer, Area Manager – Gambrinus Steel Plant, Unit Manager – Harrison Steel Plant Finishing, Unit Manager – Harrison Steel Plant Refiner and Cast, Manager – Gambrinus Steel Plant Processing, Product Manager - Tube Based Products and Director – Tube Manufacturing.

Carolee holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University and a master’s degree in business administration from Malone University.

Cathy Waddell, Vice President, Nucor Corporation

Cathy joined Nucor in 1991 as an Intern at Nucor-Yamato Steel Company and became a Sales Clerk in 1992 before moving on to Bloomyard Crane Operator and then Production Scheduler in 1994. She transferred to Nucor Steel Hertford County in 2001 as a Cost Accountant and then moved on to Nucor Steel Decatur in 2004, where she was a Financial Analyst, a Purchasing Supervisor, a Process Analyst and eventually Accounting Supervisor. Cathy became Controller of Vulcraft Alabama in 2015.

In 2018, Cathy was named Controller of Nucor Steel Gallatin, and, in 2023 took on the additional short-term role of Interim Material Handling Manager there. She also worked with the NBT team in support of the Bradenburg start-up. She was named to her current position in June 2024.
Cathy holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree from Lyon College in Batesville, AR.

Cathy is married to Wes, and they have two daughters, Claudia and Zoë.