One of the first questions Tamara Lundgren often heard when she introduced herself as the CEO of Schnitzer Steel is, "What kind of steel do you make?'" Founded in 1906 by Russian immigrant Sam Schnitzer, the company started as a one-person scrap metal recycler. "The name Schnitzer Steel just no longer really reflects our work," said Lundgren, who joined the company in 2005 and was elevated to CEO in 2008. "In today's environment, the importance of recycling and the importance of recycling metals has reached a level that didn't exist 10 years ago," Lundgren said. "I'm glad we were getting that attention, but fundamentally what drove it was all of our recycling activity," Lundgren said.

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Persons: Tamara Lundgren, Sam Schnitzer, Lundgren, – it's, it's, Schnitzer Steel Organizations: Schnitzer, CNBC, Corporate Knights, Nasdaq Locations: North America, Davos