LIBERTY Steel Group appoints Thomas Gangl as CEO of its European business

LIBERTY Steel Group has appointed Thomas Gangl as the Chief Executive Officer of its European business, and confirms Vienna as the location for its European headquarters.

Thomas Gangl will start at LIBERTY on 1 July 2024 and will be responsible for all of LIBERTY’s European plants including its major operations at Galati in Romania, Ostrava in the Czech Republic, Dunaújváros in Hungary, Częstochowa in Poland, and downstream operations in Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and North Macedonia. Together LIBERTY’s European businesses employ 17,000 people.

Thomas Gangl is currently CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Borealis, one of the world’s leading providers of advanced and sustainable polyolefin solutions.

Prior to joining Borealis, he had served for most of his career with OMV, the Austrian integrated oil and gas company which operates across Europe, holding various management positions in OMV’s refining business. During his tenure, investment decisions were taken for the electrolysis of green hydrogen and the development of a plant for the production of green biofuels at OMV’s Schwechat refinery. From 2019, he was a member of the OMV Executive Board as Chief Downstream Operations Officer and oversaw the increase of OMV’s shareholding in Borealis to 75% before taking over as its CEO in 2021.

Commenting on his appointment Thomas Gangl said: “LIBERTY has built up an impressive set of assets across Europe with huge potential for sustainable developments and green steel transformation.  Like all steel companies across Europe there are major challenges in managing market conditions and delivering the decarbonised future we all want as soon as possible.  My priorities will be to complete the restructuring work the team has started, boost productive utilisation of our steel mills and deliver our electric arc furnance investments so we remain on track to deliver green steel and carbon neutral production by 2030. I look forward to working with LIBERTY’s committed workforce and stakeholders to deliver our mutual goal of a sustainable and thriving steel sector in Europe.”