OHIO STEEL COMISSION ELECTS KELLY CO-CHAIRMAN; REP. CATES APPOINTED TO FILL UNEXPIERED TERM

COLUMBUS, Ohio (January 10, 1996) –  Harold V. Kelly, executive vice president and general counsel at Republic Engineered Steels, Inc., in Massillon, has been elected co-chairman of the Ohio Steel Commission. Ohio Rep. Gary Cates has been appointed to fill an unexpired term on the 16-member Commission, a group of steel, labor, education and government leaders.

Kelly succeeds Charles H. West, president-steel at The Timken Co., Canton, who completed a two-year term as co-chairman and remains a member of the Commission. By statute, the Commission's standing co-chairman is Donald E. Jakeway, director of the Ohio Department of Development.

Cates will serve the remainder of the term of Ohio Rep. Scott Nein, who last year left the Ohio House to fill an open seat in the Ohio Senate. Cates was appointed by Ohio House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson to fill the Ohio House seat on the Steel Commission.

Kelly is a member of Republic's executive committee and has direct responsibility for legal affairs, human resources, investor relations and public and government affairs. Kelly has been with Republic and its predecessors since 1973.

Kelly also serves as a member of the board of directors of two wholly owned subsidiaries of Republic, the Oberlin Insurance Company and the N&T Railway.

Prior to joining Republic, Kelly served as assistant attorney general of Virginia and engaged in private law practice in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Kelly has held several committee positions with the American Iron and Steel Institute and was appointed to the Steel Commission by Gov. George V. Voinovich in 1991, when the Commission was formed. He is a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kelly is a director of the Stark Development Board. He is also a member of the Junior Achievement executive advisory council and the Aultman Hospital Association in Canton. Kelly and his wife, Shirley, live in Canton. They have three children: Stuart, Julia and Paul.

Rep. Cates represents the 58th House District and is a senior technical development engineer at AK Steel Corp. in Middletown. He has been with AK Steel and its predecessors since 1978.

He has served as vice president of the Union Township Board of Trustees and is a member of the We The People Republican Club. Rep. Cates has held administrative positions on the campaign staffs of Presidents Reagan and Bush and Gov. Voinovich. He was an Ohio Republican Convention delegate in 1984 and a Republican National Convention alternate delegate-at-large for President Bush in 1988 and 1992. He serves on the Butler County Republican Party executive committee and has headed the Middletown Area Republican Club.

Rep. Cates was designated as one of the Outstanding Young Men of America by the U.S. Jaycees in 1983 and 1985. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and from the University of Dayton with a master's of business administration.

He resides in West Chester with his wife, Jill; and sons, Andrew and Brenton.

The Ohio Steel Commission is a public-private partnership to strengthen ties among the steel industry, the state of Ohio and its citizens. The Commission's member organizations are AK Steel Corp., Armco Inc., CSC Ltd., LTV Steel Co., Republic Engineered Steels, Inc., The Timken Co., USS/KOBE Steel Co., WCI Steel, Inc., Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp., the United Steelworkers of America, the Ohio Legislature, the Ohio Department of Development, The Ohio State University and Youngstown State University.