MASSENA — After almost two and a half years at the helm of Alcoa’s operations in Massena, location manager John Martin is being promoted to president of Global Primary Products in the United States.

In his new role, the 48-year-old engineer will oversee Alcoa’s molten aluminum operations, which includes six operating smelters, an alumina refinery and a spent potlining recycling facility.

Alcoa spokeswoman Laurie A. Marr believes Mr. Martin’s promotion will benefit Massena.

“This is really good for Massena because someone who knows Massena’s operations will be in a corporate leadership role,” Ms. Marr said. “It’s always advantageous (for a community) to have someone who knows your operations up at a corporate level (position) because he knows the issues and concerns facing Massena’s operations.”

Since October 2010, Mr. Martin has led all operations at Alcoa’s east plant and the majority of its operations at the west plant.

Company executives commended him for the work he’s done in Massena.

“The leadership of Alcoa feel he’s done a good job. He’s been instrumental in (planning) the proposed modernization of Alcoa’s operations and the Grasse River remediation,” Ms. Marr said. “He led a successful restart of the Alcoa east plant. That was huge.”

Mr. Martin’s tenure in Massena was also marked by significant improvements in production, financial performance, safety and employee engagement. Executives are confident Mr. Martin will succeed in his new post.

“(Mr. Martin) has held positions of increasing responsibility in Alcoa’s smelting technical and production areas, most recently as Massena operations manager, where he oversaw significant operational and financial performance improvements,” said Bob Wilt, chief operating officer of Global Primary Products.

Mr. Martin received a B.A. in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University and earned his master’s degree in behavioral science from Bastyr University. He began his career with Alcoa in 1986, working as a mechanical engineer for Warrick Operations in Evansville, Ind. He rose to become the smelting technical manager in 2004 and in 2006 was named the manager of that plant. Four years later, he was promoted again to head Alcoa’s smelting operations in Massena.

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