Last year, our Stargate Metals salesman, Ricky Smith, hung up the forklift keys after 40 years. This Friday, June 5th, Todd “Wally” Wallingford is saying goodbye after 29 years with the company. When team members with this much experience leave, there can be massive interruptions in day-to-day operations: tons of knowledge is lost, routines are changed, customers may lose a favorite contact, and the rest of the team needs to pick up some slack. 

As we prepare for our operations to continue without Wally here, the management team has added in some new faces over the last several months: David Highman joined us in late 2025 to help run the buy-in operations; Augustine Owusu came on in May of this year as a back-up driver and materials processor; and now in June, Warren Grennell started his first week with Research Alloys and will be training for the customer buy-in center. 

Research shows that, while adding new members disrupts established team dynamics, it also presents an opportunity for innovation. As our team changes, we know things won’t be the same– but nothing stays the same forever! We’re embracing the change and using this “changing of the guard” as an opportunity to grow and develop a whole new team ready to face modern scrap recycling problems. 

Losing trusted and valuable long-time employees isn’t just rough on a company– it can be rough on the people. It’s rough on the team. Just as we all keenly missed Ricky’s daily presence, we’re bracing for the day next week when Wally isn’t at the time clock for the first time in almost three decades. 

This Friday, to mark Wally’s last day, we’ll be hosting a celebratory lunch for the entire team with all of Wally’s favorite foods and desserts. We’ll look back fondly at photos from his years with the company, and we’ll wish him well in his retirement. But as bittersweet as his departure will be, we look forward to tackling the next chapter in our story with a fresh new team and seeing where the journey takes us.