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For Immediate Release June 1, 2015 ED WEST ACHIEVES FIFTY YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE STEEL DRUM INDUSTRY Portland, Oregon– Mr. Ed West, the founder, and former owner of General Steel Drum LLC (GSD) located in Charlotte, North Carolina today attained the fifty-‐year milestone for serving the steel drum industry. Ed officially started as the Director of Marketing for Savannah Steel Drum, located in Savannah, Georgia on June 1, 1965. Unofficially, Mr. West started work for his father in seventh-‐grade loading drums and pails into railcars for $35 per week with a room and board payment to his mother of $5. Savannah Steel Drum was sold to Rheem Corporation in 1969 where Ed also held positions in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1979, Ed embarked on the American dream and started GSD in Charlotte, North Carolina with his first production of steel drums on January 4th, 1980. Ed later took on Robert Bradford as his business partner at GSD. In 2011, Ed and Bob sold the business to the Stavig family, who also own Myers Container LLC (Myers) and Container Management Services LLC (CMS) headquartered in Portland, Oregon. “Today, Mr. Ed West is promoted to Senior Vice President of Sales of General Steel Drum LLC. He continues to provide excellent service to our customers,” states Kyle R. Stavig, Chief Executive Officer of GSD, Myers & CMS. “Ed has always been a leader. He led the industry as the former Chairman of the Steel Shipping Container Institute (known as the Industrial Shipping Container Institute) as well developing a great organization at GSD. Ed is a great business partner and we are lucky to be on the same team” boasts Stavig. About Myers Container Myers Container LLC, along with its sister company Container Management Services LLC (www.myerscontainer.com), is a leading manufacturer and reconditioner of industrial containers in the United States. With facilities in Oregon and California, the companies are able to manufacture, recondition, recycle and reclaim hundreds of thousands of steel drums, intermediate bulk containers and millions of pounds of plastic each year. The same ownership of Myers/CMS also owns and operates General Steel Drum LLC (www.generalsteeldrum.com) in Charlotte, North Carolina, which manufactures new steel drums for the Southeastern United States using sustainable business practices. Contact [email protected] for media inquiries.