Sachin Shivaram

Chief Executive Officer Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Sachin Shivaram has been Chief Executive Officer of Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry since 2019. The Manitowoc company has made aluminum and copper-based alloy castings since 1909 and is still owned by its founding family, and Shivaram is the first chief executive from outside that family. His background is unusual for the foundry floor: degrees from Harvard, Cambridge and Yale Law School, then a career in metals strategy and operations at ArcelorMittal, Severstal, Tenaris and Samuel, Son & Co. At WAF he has bought foundries and a tooling maker in Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan, turning a single-site business into a multi-state group. In 2026 the American Foundry Society named it Metalcaster of the Year. He also serves on the boards of two listed industrial companies, GrafTech International and Broadwind, and chairs Wisconsin’s Governor’s Council on Workforce Investment.

Career Highlights

• Chief Executive Officer of Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry since 2019, the first from outside the founding family.
• Acquired Wabash Castings (2021), DEE, Inc. in Crookston, Minnesota (2022), ATEK Metal Technologies (2024) and tooling maker Anderson Global in Muskegon, Michigan (2025).
• WAF named 2026 Metalcaster of the Year by the American Foundry Society and Modern Casting magazine.
• Independent director of GrafTech International since January 2025 and of Broadwind since November 2022.
• Previously President of Sierra Aluminum and Samuel Pressure Vessel Group, divisions of Samuel, Son & Co.
• Chair of the Wisconsin Governor’s Council on Workforce Investment since November 2023, having previously been vice chair.

Professional Journey

Shivaram grew up in Milwaukee. He studied history and literature at Harvard, took an M.Phil. in social and political science at the University of Cambridge and earned a J.D. at Yale Law School. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese and Kannada.

He went into heavy industry, not law. He began at ArcelorMittal, where he rose to head of strategy and marketing for a business unit with production facilities across North and South America, and held further strategic roles at Severstal, Tenaris and McKinsey & Company. He later became President of Sierra Aluminum and Samuel Pressure Vessel Group, two divisions of the Canadian metals company Samuel, Son & Co.

In 2019 the Schwartz family recruited him to run Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry. Abraham Schwartz had turned a scrap yard into Manitowoc Brass Foundry in 1909, and it took its current name in 1912. Before Shivaram arrived, the company had already added precision machining by acquiring Manitowoc Pattern & Machining in 2017. Under him it began buying other foundries. In March 2021 it bought the assets of Wabash Castings in Indiana, which Shivaram said would speed its growth in electric vehicle and consumer goods markets. WAF kept the Wabash brand and raised wages for many of its positions. DEE, Inc. in Crookston, Minnesota followed in 2022, then ATEK Metal Technologies in Iowa in 2024, which WAF called its fourth acquisition in recent years. In April 2025 it bought Anderson Global, a Muskegon maker of aluminum foundry tooling. The company also finished the largest expansion in its history in 2024, a 50,000-square-foot permanent mold addition.

The group now has foundries and machining operations in Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa. It serves heavy-duty trucking, aerospace, marine, energy, agriculture, defense and medical customers. In 2026 the American Foundry Society and Modern Casting magazine named WAF Metalcaster of the Year, citing its acquisitions, digital transformation, facility modernisation and care for employees. “It belongs to our entire team, not just at one plant,” Shivaram said.

He has built a parallel board career. Broadwind, the Nasdaq-listed precision manufacturer for clean tech, appointed him a director in November 2022. GrafTech International, the NYSE-listed graphite electrode producer, added him in January 2025 under a cooperation agreement with a shareholder, and he serves as an independent director there. GrafTech’s 2026 proxy also lists him on the boards of Lodge Manufacturing, the cast-iron cookware maker, where he chairs the audit and finance committee, Vollrath Company and the Green Bay Packers, and as a trustee of Lawrence University. In Wisconsin’s economic development circles he became co-chair of the New North regional organisation in 2022. Governor Tony Evers appointed him chair of the Governor’s Council on Workforce Investment in November 2023.

Education

Harvard University

B.A., History and Literature

University of Cambridge

M.Phil., Social and Political Science

Yale Law School

J.D.