Andrew Gubitosa is the General Manager in Houston, TX.
Andrew’s career in steel began when he was looking for a way out of an undesirable job running a furniture store.
“The day I had to go out and repo someone’s furniture I knew I was done.”
His friend’s mother was the controller for Metal Supply Company; at that time it was a subsidiary of Reliance Steel and Aluminum. In March of 2011, Andrew was hired for an inside sales position but he spent the first few months assisting with ISO Certification and the documentation of the business units at the company. He spent a lot of time interacting with the various department managers recording all of the workflows. His work on the certification ended up being his formal education in the steel business.
“I got to see every aspect of the business which a lot of sales people don’t get to do.”
After finishing his work flow documentation, Andrew learned how to sell by cold calling a book of inactive accounts and trying to get them to give him a shot.
“I was hungry so I’d stay after people by constantly calling them on the phone. The phone is your best friend in sales. I’d even watch Dancing With The Stars because a prospect liked it and I wanted her business!”
Andrew’s research methodologies and constant persistence paid off as he quickly became one of the top sales reps. A year and a half later he became the assistant sales manager, a similar role to sales manager with a more precise focus on the daily activity of the sales team members. Change was on the horizon however and several months later Metal Supply Company merged with Delta Steel and Andrew found himself a new home at the Delta Steel Houston location. At that time there was already a sales manager so Andrew went back into sales full-time…but not for long.
Career Growth
In October of 2014, Andrew became the sales manager for Delta Steel Houston. Fast forward to 2017 when Infra-Metals came along and assisted with the operations of Delta Steel, he saw significant positive change that set the company up for success.
“The biggest change was adjusting our focus and aligning with clearly defined goals. There wasn’t one magic bullet but a bunch of little things and now we had a real vision and identity to operate from.”
Four company presidents, two company mergers and a global pandemic; All experiences that have helped mold Andrew’s leadership style. He became the general manager in Houston in 2022.
“It’s important to learn the good and the bad from people in positions of leadership. I’ve seen failure and success.”
Now that he is in the general manager role he functions from a completely different perspective. He has had to learn far more about operations than previous positions.
“It’s a new challenge trying to meld commercial and operations together but I now get to communicate more between the groups and be a conduit for everyone to be heard.”
Andrew aims to continue to grow in his role and possibly one day earn a C level position with Delta Steel, Infra-Metals or Reliance Steel and Aluminum.
Hobbies
Andrew is into all rec sports; baseball, basketball, soccer etc. However he does regularly play paintball with his 12 year old son. Andrew used to play competitively and that undoubtedly has rubbed off on his son.
Quotation
“We had nonbelievers all along the way, and I have one thing to say to those nonbelievers: Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion!” – Rudy Tomjanovich
Congratulations Andrew and thank you for your contribution to our team!