page_title: Dawne Hickton
section_title: RTI years
hierarchical_section_title: Dawne Hickton / Career / RTI years
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 岡山空港に着陸する全日本空輸 ボーイング787-8(JA801A)English: All Nippon Airways Boeing 787-8 (JA801A) at Okayama AirportGaeilge: Boeing 787-8 ó All Nippon Airways ag Aerfort Okayama sa tSeapáin
context_page_description: Dawne Eileen Sepanski Hickton is an American business executive. She is the chief operating officer and president of the aerospace, technology and nuclear businesses of the Jacobs Engineering Group. Before that, she was CEO of Pittsburgh-based RTI International Metals. She is notable for being one of the few women business leaders to manage a large publicly traded firm. During the last few years, she pursued numerous acquisitions to grow RTI into an end-to-end supplier of titanium components for clients such as Boeing and Airbus, and for making components for the military aircraft such as the Joint Strike Fighter. She pursued a strategy of buying specialty firms such as Remmele Engineering, the Forming Division of Aeromet, and others as part of a program of vertical integration. In March, 2015, RTI International Metals, Inc. was acquired by Alcoa in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at $1.5 billion.
context_section_description: Hickton joined RTI International Metals in 1997 as vice president and general counsel. RTI specializes in making and processing metals including titanium and steel, and sells specialty metal mill products, extruded shapes, formed parts and engineered systems to many different markets. The firm depends on buying activity in the defense and aerospace industries. It is a cyclical business. She became senior vice president of administration and principal financial officer in 2005. She managed accounting, treasury, tax, business information systems, personnel and legal functions. She was appointed vice chairman and chief executive officer in April 2007.
  In 2007, RTI won a $900 million agreement to supply titanium components for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. During the global downturn beginning about 2008, the company struggled to stay profitable despite weakness in industries which buy titanium and related products such as the commercial aerospace and energy industries, although a reporter described the business as "relatively strong" when then-presidential contender Barack Obama toured an RTI plant in February. Later that year, she moved the firm's headquarters from Ohio to Pittsburgh's western suburbs. She was nominated along with former football Hall of Famer Dan Marino to be a trustee for the University of Pittsburgh. In 2010, RTI provided steel pipe to assist with cleanup efforts for the Gulf Oil spill. Later in the year, the firm was profiled in CNN Money as being one of the 100 fastest-growing companies in the United States.
  According to one report, when the congressional supercommittee was trying to find a bipartisan compromise solution to the nation's budget woes, she met with members of the delegation to inform them that "budget uncertainty" was having detrimental effects on her firm's fortunes. Later, in November 2011, after the failure of the supercommittee to act, she criticized political leaders for failing to deal with the nation's "crushing national debt". She wrote:
  It is long past time for congressional leaders to stop blaming the "other side" and take action. Kicking the deficit reduction can down the street into the election year ahead is a dangerous strategy.
  — Dawne Hickton, 2011, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
  As a business executive, she serves on various boards, including the Board of Governors of the Aerospace Industries Association, a director of the International Titanium Association, and a director of the FNB Corporation. She has been a Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland since January 2012. She is married and has six children.
caption: Titanium's light weight and high strength properties make it suitable for tennis racquets and jetliners. Photo: The Boeing 787 Dreamliner in flight.
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