Klaus Becker (born February 4, 1953 in Marburg, Germany) is a German/American businessman, working in the steel industry.

Early life and education

Klaus Becker was born in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

, Germany in 1953 and grew up in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

, where his father worked as a technician in a steel production company. He graduated from an apprenticeship program as merchant of foreign trade. Traineeships took him to Italy, Brazil, and the US. Later, he studied business administration and national economics and received a master’s degree from the Ruhr-Universität in

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

Career

Since 1979, Becker has lived in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, working in the international steel trade. In 1991, Becker founded SouthStar Steel Cooperation which became the largest importer of stainless-steel bars in the US within five years. It was the fastest growing privately held company in the Southern Piedmont three years in a row, and was 21st in ''Inc. Magazines "The Inner City 100". With warehouses in Charlotte,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, the company created new supply lines and distributed stainless steel bars from Spanish, Korean, Brazilian and Italian manufacturers. Currently, Becker owns Nirosteel LLC, an international steel trading company based in Charlotte. Nirosteel imports steel and steel related products into the US, Mexico and several European countries.

Awards

Becker was voted Entrepreneur of the Year by

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

in North Carolina in 1996, and by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce in 1998. Additionally, he has served as president of the N.C. Chapter of the German-American Chamber of Commerce for seven years, from 2004 to 2011.

Personal life

Klaus Becker has been married to Concha Becker since 1983. They have a daughter, Fiorella.

Honorary consul

In 2013, Klaus Becker was appointed as honorary consul of the Federal Republic of Germany for North Carolina. In this function, he founded the N.C. Zeitgeist Foundation. The goal of the Foundation is to inform about German culture, industry, politics, as well as history. The foundation has promoted Charlotte as a US location for international business, trade, and investment, and Becker continues to engage German and American businesses. He was instrumental in bringing the soccer clubs

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

to Charlotte to play against foreign teams in the

International Champions Cup The International Champions Cup (ICC) was an annual club association football exhibition competition. In 2020, it was abolished due to COVID-19 pandemic. Format The format has changed in each competition. Subsequent tournaments have had diffe ...

tournament in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Klaus 1953 births Living people