Industrial Arts Institute (IAI) is honored to announce the key note speaker for the 4th Cohort of students of the Comprehensive Industrial Welding Course CIW 100, Mr. Ray LeClair, Director of Operations – Great Lakes Region, Carmeuse Lime & Stone.
Active in the mining industry since 1980, Ray started out as a process engineer in Chicago for a company that owned and operated seven active mining and processing plants in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario, Canada. Over the past 35 years, he has been involved with the design of several new and the redesign of numerous mineral processing plants. He has been part of the management team or managed several mine sites in Michigan, Illinois, New Jersey and Florida.
Ray returned to Michigan in 2007 to oversee the redesign and rebuilding both the Cedarville and Calcite Plants for Oglebay Norton. In 2008, Carmeuse Lime & Stone acquired the Oglebay Norton plants. At that time, he was asked to do double duty as both the Project Manager of the rebuilding process of the Cedarville plant and the Site Manager. In 2013, he was asked to relocate from the Upper Peninsula to Rogers City and became the Site Manager of the Calcite Operations. He was then asked to oversee the other two Michigan Quarries and three additional Carmeuse facilities in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“Ray LeClair is a blend of deliberate action, solid vision, and just the right amount of compassion to make him a distinctive leader. I have always had a special respect for Ray, not just for his ability to lead the charge, but also for his dedication to his people and community.”
— Tom Moran, CEO and Founder, Moran Iron Works and Founder, Industrial Arts Institute
Throughout his career, safety to the miners and individuals working on the mine sights has been his top priority. Historically, the Mining Industry is a profession where the culture and old school thinking was, “sooner or later, you will get hurt or injured while doing your job.” Over the years many companies have been focusing on “how to make the work areas a safer place to work.” In 2014, Ray became part of a Carmeuse team that was tasked to develop a program designed to change the culture within the Carmeuse operations in North America and get all the employees to believe that they can do their normal daily task in a safe and efficient manner, getting them to believe that “Zero Injuries in the Work Place” is achievable and that each and every accident is preventable. In early 2015, he became the Director of Operations for the Great Lakes Region and also the Team Leader for the Carmeuse North America – Pathway To Zero Injury Team.
Ray grew up in Northeast Michigan; he graduated from Alcona High School and attended Michigan Technological University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering.
The Industrial Arts Institute graduation ceremony for Cohort 4 is Friday, December 11, 2015 at 3:30pm at the school.