NanoSteel hopes to deliver auto-industry advance

COURESY NANO STEEL COMPANY
LAYING THE GROUNDWORK: Ellen Bossert, chief marketing officer of NanoSteel Company, says the company had been in “stealth mode” when it came to expanding its global marketing efforts until now.
COURESY NANO STEEL COMPANY LAYING THE GROUNDWORK: Ellen Bossert, chief marketing officer of NanoSteel Company, says the company had been in “stealth mode” when it came to expanding its global marketing efforts until now.

There are big things happening at NanoSteel, the Rhode Island-based designer of nano-structured steel materials, with a long history in steel coating.
In June the company announced development of new Advanced High-Strength Steels for automotive structures. In August, it announced that GM Ventures, a General Motors subsidiary that invests in automotive technologies, had invested in the project, citing a need to embrace the trending of lightweight vehicles as a focus of improving fuel economy.
In the midst of it all is NanoSteel Chief Marketing Officer Ellen Bossert, hired in the second quarter to drive the company’s mission of expanding with this new technology.

PBN: You are a female executive within what is largely seen as a male-dominated industry. What challenges has this presented you?
BOSSERT: Honestly, [none] yet. So far, so good. It’s been a really positive experience for me. The way I often think about it is that everyone brings something different to the table. I don’t necessarily know if being female makes my table that much different. But I’m a very strong believer in a dynamic team, and I think in any given environment, having different perspectives mines the end result to a large degree.

PBN: What attracted you to NanoSteel?
BOSSERT: It’s the idea of building something new, positioning a brand and leveraging marketing as the function footprint to advance the ball. I am very much interested in opportunities to really create the adoption of new technologies and looking at the paradigm of existing business dynamics and how those can evolve to embrace an emerging technology. It’s about changing a paradigm and, to me, there is nothing more exciting.

PBN: You were hired to lead NanoSteel’s “evolution into new industry segments.” What are those segments and why will they work for the company? BOSSERT: Automotive is the big focus because of the value proposition and the breakthrough that essentially provides value directly to automotive because of the strength we’ve been able to strike with the steel. We don’t make steel small. It’s the micro structure of the steel.

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PBN: How was NanoSteel able to attract the GM Ventures investment?
BOSSERT: GM set a target for the company that if [we could] acquire [a certain] level of strength and elongation, they’d be interested in moving forward. NanoSteel was able to hit the performance metrics and when we did GM was interested in proceeding and excited about what NanoSteel could mean for their portfolio. Of course, it wasn’t an easy or short process.

PBN: NanoSteel says the investment will help the company finish development of the new Advanced High Strength Steels. What will the next step be?
BOSSERT: We are working with a couple of steel partners [on] production and once we have production samples, we would put that in the hands of GM and then we would validate the materials for use in the steel structure, the actual cage of the automobile.

PBN: How will the company be expanding its global marketing efforts?
BOSSERT: We’ve been in stealth mode for a long time because we wanted to make sure we had enough progress on the technology front where we’d be comfortable enough to deliver all the goods, so to speak. The objective is to lay the foundation of the NanoSteel brand and story, which centers around automotive lightweight. We have an existing business in coating, but the automotive application is our first where we’re creating monolithic steel versus coating.

PBN: Could any of NanoSteel’s new endeavors lead to additional jobs?
BOSSERT: I think absolutely. … We’re very excited about growing the company. I wouldn’t want to venture a guess in terms of actual numbers, but we’re very bullish in where want to take this brand that definitely means opportunity of growth and expanding our footprint and that is a lot to do. Because it’s so new, it’s hard to know necessarily all the applications that could come from this. I think automotive alone already is a huge business. As we start looking forward, there may be other industries that can also use this breakthrough.

PBN: How will all of this benefit Rhode Island’s economy?
BOSSERT: I’ve seen a lot of good information on advancing technology in terms of economic development and [this is] a great example of an IT and intellectual property company, the opportunity around business models and where we can go with it. NanoSteel is really like a hybrid. Steel has been around a long time [but] we’re bringing a redefinition to steel. It’s a really nice hybrid of old and new. All those pieces really speak to scaling an organization. Our ambition is to really make this a significant opportunity for everybody involved.

PBN: What is it about a career in marketing that has fulfilled you professionally?
BOSSERT: Out of all the functions in business, it’s the most creative. The reason I continue to work in small companies is that I’m an entrepreneur at heart. I like to build things. Running marketing in the broad sense of the word is the whole gambit. It touches product, strategy, business and customers. I love sitting at the precipice of all those. •

INTERVIEW
ELLEN BOSSERT
POSITION: Chief marketing officer, Nano-Steel Company Inc.
BACKGROUND: After completing her undergraduate education, which included selection as a college basketball Kodak All-American, Bossert entered the professional world through Chase Manhattan Bank’s management-development program in New York City. She worked there for four years before moving into marketing and brand management with positions at Converse Inc., Hasbro Inc., Presto Technologies Inc. and, most recently, as vice president of marketing for Philips Lighting North America before joining NanoSteel as the only female member of its leadership team in mid-2012.
EDUCATION: Bachelor of Arts in political science, Columbia College, 1986; MBA, Harvard University, 1992
FIRST JOB: Clerk at a stationary store
RESIDENCE: Needham, Mass.
AGE: 48

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