Buddy Stemple served as Novelis plant manager for nearly a decade in the early 00’s
By Stefan Yablonski
Buddy Stemple has finally landed.
After more than 40 years in the aluminum industry, the former manager of Novelis in Scriba retired this past May.
The Oswego resident had been thinking about slowing down, doing other things and wanting to be closer to his kids.
“I was chief executive officer of Constellium Rolled Products 2014-23 in my hometown of Ravenswood, West Virgina,” he said.
Then from 2023-26 he was president of packaging and automotive based in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Constellium Muscle Shoals is a major aluminum sheet supplier for the packaging and automotive markets. The plant had more than 1,250 employees.
Constellium has headquarters in Zurich and Paris, Stemple said adding, “Both are amazing cities to visit. I occasionally got to do some site seeing when I visited — the food and wine are always amazing.”
Stemple was born and raised in Ravenswood. His father worked for Constellium Ravenswood for 37 years.
“I actually worked there for three summers as a college student. It was under different ownership at the time by Kaiser Aluminum,” he said.
He started at Alcan in 1983.
“I started with Alcan in Fairmont, West Virgina. I moved several times with Alcan prior to moving to Oswego,” he said. “I was vice president beginning 2005, which also included the Kingston Ontario plant and the Detroit Auto Sales office.”
He came to Oswego as works manager in 2000 under Alcan; Novelis was founded in 2005; he became vice president of specialty products. He left Novelis in 2009 and spent the next four years in Oman, a country of about 5.4 million people located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia.
“I was the CEO of Oman Aluminum Rolling Company, 2010-14. It was a rolling mill which we built and commissioned for Takamul, an investment arm of the Omani government,” he said. “Oman was selected as the country because it already had an aluminum smelter, which was the source of the aluminum inputs for the plant.”
He left Oman in 2014 and went to work as the CEO of Constellium Rolled Products in Ravenswood. He finished his career in Alabama.
All of his jobs required a lot of travel. “I have a lot of miles in the air over 36 years,” he laughed. “I got a million miles on a handful of airlines, I know that.”
“Because I was working, I didn’t really do anything at home. Now we only have the house in Oswego and our lake house in Canada. I look forward to spending more time there now in retirement,” he said. “A lot of projects to catch up on — just doing jobs around the house.
“My favorite memory of Alcan–Novelis is the people. Everyone was focused on satisfying the customer and we all worked well together. I have worked with some amazing teams in my years in the industry.”
He is still on the board of directors for Pathfinder Bank in Oswego.
“I used to spend my free time golfing, but I am not golfing too much right now,” he said. “I had shoulder surgery back in May 2026. I am not quite back to golfing yet. I am getting close. The doctor told me ‘You can swing a golf club — nothing over a seven iron. You’ll know when you are ready.’”
Changes
The big change in manufacturing over the years has been automation. “When I started there was a guy at a machine controlling what was going on. And now with AI things have changed,” he said. “You still need workers, but they are doing their jobs differently, efficiency has improved. I read a book once that said the plants of the future will have two workers — a plant manager and a dog. The dog’s job is to bite the plant manager if he tries to change something.”
Family
Stemple and his wife, Carol, celebrated their 44th anniversary in June.
“Carol and I both went to high school in Ravenswood and we still have close family in the area,” he said. “We have been walking every day. We get up and we walk a couple of miles. You have to take better care of yourself.”
Carol still has her Market America business.
“She probably works eight hours or so every week doing that,” he added.
Market America is a global e-commerce, product brokerage, and multi-level marketing company founded in 1992 by JR and Loren Ridinger. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, it operates the online shopping platform SHOP.COM and sells exclusive brands spanning health, nutrition, cosmetics and home care through a network of independent distributors known as “UnFranchise Owners.”
Stemple said he enjoys spending family time and traveling to their cottage in Canada.
“We have a place that is about two hours north of Toronto,” he said. “We lived in Toronto for a few years. My son was born in Toronto, so he has dual citizenship.”
His son, Stephen, works for Hazelett Strip Casting in Vermont. He and wife, Amanda, have two daughters, Hattie and Leni, aged 4 and 2. Stephen is a process engineer for Hazelett Strip Casting who make continuous casting machines for aluminum, zinc and copper.
His daughter, Krisi and her husband, Anthony, now live in Fulton. He works at Constellation and she has a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree. She was a doctor of pharmacy at the University of Vermont Medical Center in the emergency department prior to relocating to Central New York.
At the time of this interview (Aug. 6) she was actually at the hospital having their first child,” Stemple added. (It’s a boy.)
