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 (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

, Germany in 1953 and grew up in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

, 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 (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

Career

Since 1979, Becker has lived in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

, 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 ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, 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 EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

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, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

to Charlotte to play against foreign teams in the

International Champions Cup The International Champions Cup (ICC) was an annual club association football (soccer) official competition staged from 2013 to 2019. COVID-19 resulted in the 2020 edition being cancelled. The tournament was later abolished, but the Women's I ...

tournament in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Klaus 1953 births Living people