OREANDA-NEWS.  June 20, 2013. United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) President and Chief Operating Officer Mario Longhi announced the appointment of Christine S. Breves to the position of vice president and chief procurement officer effective July 1.  Breves, who will be based at U. S. Steel's Pittsburgh headquarters, will report to Larry T. Brockway, senior vice president and chief risk officer, and join the company's executive management team. 

Breves will be responsible for the enhancement and execution of the global procurement and sourcing strategy for the company, with an early emphasis on driving business performance improvements by optimizing the company's procurement spend.  She succeeds Michael J. Hatcher, who has held the position since 2009 and was appointed vice president – business development and real estate in a related announcement issued today. 

"I am pleased to welcome Christie Breves to U. S. Steel, where her extensive expertise and demonstrated track record in leading procurement excellence will add immediate value to our company's business performance improvement plans," Longhi said.  "She brings a wealth of strategic sourcing knowledge and practical application that will enable us to strengthen the alignment of our procurement function with our long-range business strategy and optimize the benefits of the Oracle enterprise resource planning platform we are implementing."  

Breves, 57, joins U. S. Steel following her January 2013 retirement from Alcoa Inc., where she served as its chief procurement officer since 2004 with responsibility for strategic materials, indirect materials and services and capital.  She also led Alcoa's global procurement organization, which included commodity management, regional procurement operations and the procurement center of excellence, which had oversight for technology and process support.  Previously, she served in several procurement leadership roles within Alcoa, including the development of processes that led to productivity improvements from the company's Oracle enterprise resource planning platform.  Breves was director of purchasing for Alumax when the company was acquired by Alcoa in 1998. Procurement, under her leadership, has been recognized by Hackett and A.T. Kearney.  Prior to procurement, Breves held positions in accounting, maintenance management and strategic planning.

Breves earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C., and a master's degree in business administration from The Citadel, also in Charleston.  She is a Certified Purchasing Manager and currently serves as vice chairman of CAPS Research.  She is a past member of the national board of directors of the Institute of Supply Management.