WARREN – Regina Rebhan Mitchell grew up watching her father, the late John C. Rebhan, run the family business.

Now, as president of Warren Fabricating and Machining and a managing partner at its sister company Ohio Steel Sheet and Plate Inc., Mitchell, working with her brother and the CEO of both companies, Eric Rebhan, strives to build on her father’s success and move the company forward.

“When we were growing up we were never allowed to say can’t,” said Mitchell. “It was a four-letter word in our house. We learned from my dad’s example that anything is possible, you can overcome anything if you really put your mind to it. If you run into a roadblock you need to rethink it and overcome it.”

Mitchell and Rebhan were in their late 30s when they took over co-ownership of Warren Fab and Ohio Steel Sheet and Plate, the other company their father started, after their respected patriarch unexpectedly suffered a fatal heart attack in late 2008.

“My brother and I were actually pretty young to be heading my father’s companies,” Mitchell said. “At the time there was a lot of speculation whether we would sell or continue. It was a challenge. We had to fill some pretty big shoes, and I think we had a lot of skeptics, but we stuck and stayed with it and have remained a responsible employer in the Valley.”

Mitchell said for her and her brother, working has always been a way of life. It was a surprise to her when the National Association of Professional Women, a networking organization exclusively for professional women, inducted her into its 2016-2017 VIP Woman of the Year Circle for her leadership in manufacturing. The organization has more than 850,000 members.

NAPW President Star Jones said Mitchell’s “knowledge and experience in her industry are valuable assets to her company and community.”

The organization credited Mitchell with being a “seasoned professional” setting her goals “to keep pace with her highest aspirations for personal excellence,” exhibiting exemplary teamwork, expertise, integrity and dedication.”

“I was kind of taken back by it,” Mitchell said. “I just see myself as doing my job. You really don’t expect to be recognized for doing your job. I appreciate it, and am thankful for it. It’s humbling and nice to be recognized for your efforts I was just surprised.”

Still, Mitchell is aware that the advances she has made in manufacturing sustainability have garnered her respect in her own right.

“That’s where we’re getting some attention,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell started a sustainability initiative last year to promote responsibility and good stewardship toward the environment. The business has purchased a new energy efficient electric / diesel locomotive that is a first of its kind designed to reduce emissions. Among other steps, Mitchell and Rebhan recycle oil and have reduced their landfill footprint by 1,700 pounds this year. Their efforts have been recognized through various awards including one for waste reduction. Mitchell said one of her primary goals is to build on those efforts.

“Manufacturing has such a bad wrap as far as being green and when it comes to the environment.” Mitchell said. “There’s really been no one around here in manufacturing who has really gotten involved in some of the sustainability steps we’ve taken. It’s been slow to jump on that bandwagon, but we wanted to move in that direction. I think that’s why, one of the reasons, we’re starting to get noticed.”

Mitchell said a lot has changed since her dad started Warren Fab in 1966, but not the company’s commitment to its employees.

“I’d say of anything I’m most proud of, what I consider a personal accomplishment, is that the people who work at our companies stay with us,” she said. “They’re very important to us.”

A continuing goal has been to provide health care to employees at no cost to them.

“It’s always been important to my brother and I to make sure our employees are taken care of. We provide 100 percent health insurance for our employees. It gets more and more expensive and harder and harder to do all the time, but we’ve always been committed to that and will continue to do that as long as we possibly can.”

Mitchell is a spokesperson for the Manufacturing Alliance of Ohio. She started working for her father after graduating from Loyola University in Chicago with a business management degree. She also earned a continuing education certificate for energy and resource sustainability from American Military University.

She has been president of Warren Fab the last five years and a managing partner for Ohio Steel Sheet and Plate eight years. She co-owns both businesses with her brother and has been involved with both companies for over 25 years. She said she spent time working in every area of both companies because her father wanted her to be able to handle any situation or any problem that might arise in any department. Warren Fab employees more than 400 workers

A fabricating, machining and mechanical assembly company based in Warren with an additional facility in Hubbard.

Ohio Steel Sheet and Plate in Hubbard, which employs 25 full-time employees, is a steel plate distributor.

Mitchell said she realizes she also gets noticed because “it’s a little nontraditional to have a female president of a manufacturing company.”

“I know things are changing, but it’s still not something you see very often,” she said.

“It’s definitely taken both my brother and I to fill my father’s shoes, that’s for sure,” she said. “But he always taught us there will be good times and bad times, but you have to hang on and ride each cycle out. I think that’s one of the greatest lessons he taught us – in life and business.”

Rebhan credits his sister with turning his visions into reality.

“I set risks and visions for the company and my sister has to implement them,” he said. “She’s built team members for every aspect of company. She sets expectations for our products and the time and manner in which they have to be accomplished.”

Rebhan said like their father, his sister is a good teacher, a good leader and inspiration for other women.

She works like crazy. She’s a mother of three and she works a 12-hour busines-related day” he said.

Mitchell has also made a place for women. Her human resources, market and safety department are all headed by women.

Like her brother, Mitchell credits her father with preparing her for the challenges she now faces.

“It’s definitely taken both my brother and I to fill my father’s shoes, that’s for sure,” she said. “But he always taught us there will be good times and bad times, but you have to hang on and ride each cycle out. I think that’s one of the greatest lessons he taught us,

About life and business.”

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