AWMI recognizes Chizmar as Member of the Year

The Association of Women in the Metal Industries (AWMI) formally recognized Carol Chizmar of Sapa Extrusions as its Member of the Year.

The Member of the Year award is the highest honor awarded by AWMI. Members are nominated and selected by their peers for exemplifying the association’s goals of education, mentoring, networking and growth.

Chizmar graduated from Penn State University in 1988 with an Associate of Science, Business Administration degree with highest distinction. She began her career in the metals industry with Cressona Aluminum Company of Cressona, Pennsylvania in 1979. The company was later purchased by Alumax Inc. in 1996, Alcoa in 1998 and eventually became Sapa Extrusions North America following a joint venture between Alcoa and Sapa in 2007. She has held various positions including sales service representative, customer service manager, genesis manager and director of customer service. Chizmar is currently the fabrication new business coordinator working with Sapa’s North American locations and also works on other various projects supporting the commercial organization and the customer service team.

Chizmar joined the new York Chapter of AWMI in 1984 and later transferred to the Philadelphia Chapter after it was opened in 1988. She joined the Philadelphia chapter board of directors in the mid-1990s, serving as the programs chair and later moved to vice president and eventually served as president of the chapter for a number of years. Following her term as president, she joined the Northeast regional board as vice chair and advanced to regional director of the Northeast region in 2007. In 2011, she was elected to the executive committee as international membership chair, the position she holds today. She will move into the role of international vice president in 2015–2016.

During her tenure as international membership chair, she has implemented a number of new initiatives, including the creation and issuance of AWMI membership cards and the establishment of the Chapter of the Year Membership Cup, awarded to the chapter that not only met its membership goal but also exceeded it by the greatest percentage. This award has helped create new excitement and activity among the chapters. Chizmar also formed a membership committee in 2013 in order to stay close to the issues within the chapters and regions as they work to grow the ranks of individual and corporate members of AWMI.

Published in the March 2015 Edition of American Recycler News