Lipke Named "Niagara Frontier Executive of The Year" By University At Buffalo School of Management

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Brian J. Lipke, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of Gibraltar Steel Corp., has been named 1998 "Niagara Frontier Executive of the Year" by the University at Buffalo School of Management.

The award will be presented at the 49th annual UB School of Management Alumni Association Awards Banquet at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, in the Hyatt Regency Buffalo.

Established in 1949, the Niagara Frontier Executive of the Year award honors a resident of the Niagara Frontier who has distinguished himself or herself in a career marked by executive success, a proven willingness to assume a leadership role in civic affairs and a demonstration of high personal integrity.

Recipients of the award have included Robert E. Rich, Sr.; Paul L. Snyder; Robert E. Rich, Jr.; Jeremy M. Jacobs; the late Burt P. Flickinger, Jr.; the late Seymour H. Knox III; Sal H. Alfiero; Robert G. Wilmers; Bernard J. Kennedy, and Frank L. Ciminelli. Last year's honoree was Reginald B. Newman II.

Acquired in 1972 by Lipke's father, the late Dr. Ken Lipke, as a single-facility steel processing business in Buffalo, Gibraltar Steel Corp. has extended its operations to 39 locations in 17 states and Mexico.

An initial public offering in 1993, and a secondary offering in 1996, raised the capital to finance continued growth and diversification. In 1997, Gibraltar had sales of approximately $450 million -- a 50-fold increase in its first quarter century. The company expects to generate sales in the range of $540 million in 1998.

Gibraltar's long-range growth plan, adopted in 1993 when it became a public company, calls for annual sales of at least $1 billion by 2003, or sooner, by increasing sales on average by 20 percent a year. Nearing the midpoint of this 10-year plan, Gibraltar already is 16-20 months ahead of schedule.

Lipke serves on the boards of C.H. Heist Corp., Merchants Mutual Insurance Co., Dunlop Tire Corp., Grant Brothers, Ltd., and the Northeast Regional Advisory Board of Chase Manhattan Bank. He is chairman of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority and sits on the boards of Daemen College and the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. He is a member and former chairman of the YMCA of Greater Buffalo.

He resides in Derby.

For further information about the awards banquet, contact John Shellum, assistant dean for external affairs in the UB School of Management, at 645-3224.