Titanium Titan

METAL MAKER: This spring, Dawne Speanski Hickton '79 became CEO of RTI International Metals, one of the world's top suppliers of titanium.

Dawne Sepanski Hickton ’79 has little interest in mining the societal implications of being the first woman to lead one of the world’s largest producers oftitanium.

For the granddaughter of a steelworker who has forged a 20-year career as an executive and attorney in the metals industry, the question of how to break the glass ceiling is the wrong one.

She’d rather talk about the opportunities that both men and women have to find a balance between career success and a happy family life.

“One message I like to give young people is that you can have a family and a career,” Hickton says. “You have to be organized, you have to be lucky, and you have to have a great spouse, but you can do it.”

Hickton, who with her husband, David, has six children, speaks from experience as the new chief executive of RTI International Metals. The Ohio-based company named her its CEO and vice chairman this spring.

At RTI, she oversees 1,400 employees at 18 locations worldwide. The company is one of only three manufacturers of titanium in the United States.

While the lightweight, corrosion-resistant metal is turning up in nearly every state-of-the-art gadget—from watches to prosthetics to medical implants; not to mention golf clubs and bicycles—the largest markets for titanium are the defense and aerospace industries.

When the new Boeing 787—nicknamed the “Dreamliner” by the company—and Airbus’s new A350 take to the skies later this decade, they will be sporting titanium, much of it milled by RTI.

“You can’t build an airplane without titanium,” Hickton says.

A native of Niagara Falls, Hickton was the first in her family to go to college. She picked Rochester on the recommendation of a high school counselor.

“I had four great years,” she says.

An English and political science major at Rochester, Hickton went on to law school at the University of Pittsburgh.

When she graduated in 1983, getting a job in the metals industry seemed natural, and she joined US Steel as an attorney.

“It was one of the metals companies in Pittsburgh that was hiring,” she says.

“I saw all the aspects of the company,” she says of her first job as a corporate litigator. “That vantage point lets you learn the business in all sorts of ways.”

As she went on to learn the business, she joined RTI in 1997, serving as senior vice president for administration and as chief administrative officer. Her duties included roles as the corporation’s general counsel and corporate secretary.

And while women are making inroads in the executive suite, Hickton says the key to finding the right balance between career and family differs for each individual.

The goal is to find that balance.

“It’s important to recognize that women and men have these options available to them.”

—Scott Hauser