Inducted
Degrees
After working for Fruehauf Company as a design engineer in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Karl Gdovka joined Alcan Aluminum in Fairmont. This move was the beginning of a long and illustrious career in the aluminum industry. Gdovka served in Fairmont as an engineering manager until the early 1970s when he moved to the Oswego, New York, rolling plant as engineering and maintenance manager. In 1981, he left Alcan to be the corporate director of engineering for Anaconda Aluminum in Louisville, Kentucky. Gdovka served as the lead architect of the Logan Aluminum Plant Expansion Project in Russelville, Kentucky. This facility won acclaim as North America's premier greenfield aluminum rolled products facility and remains the standard by which all other large rolling facilities are judged.
Gdovka was promoted to director of engineering for ARCO Metals, which was the parent company of Anaconda. During his tenure at ARCO, Gdovka was instrumental in implementing numerous major capital improvement projects. In 1984 Alcan acquired ARCO and Gdovka became the director of engineering for Alcan. He was instrumental in leading world-class renovations to Alcan's rolling mills in South America and Asia as well as in North America. The Alcan plant in Brazil is the largest in South America, and his projects on two rolling mills in Korea have led to a doubling of their throughput. Godovka was promoted to vice president of engineering for North America and Asia. He retired in 2004 but remains a consultant with Alcan on their worldwide fabricating ventures.