# David Burritt

David Boyd Burritt (born c. 1955) is an American businessman who is the CEO of U.S. Steel. Prior to joining U.S. Steel, Burritt spent over three decades at Caterpillar Inc. As head of U.S. Steel, Burritt has overseen the reopening of the Granite City Works steel mill, the acquisition of Big River Steel, and investments in sustainable steel production. However, his recent decision to sell U.S. Steel to a Japanese company has drawn criticism from the United Steelworkers union and from two U.S. senators, who referred to the attempt to sell the company as a "repulsive conflict of interest."

## Early life

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Burritt earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Bradley University in 1977 and an M.B.A. from the University of Illinois in 1990.

## Career

Burritt has been CEO of U.S. Steel since 2017. Before this, he held various leadership positions at the company, including president and chief operating officer (2017) and CFO (2013-2017). Before joining U.S. Steel, Burritt spent 32 years at Caterpillar, where he was the company's CFO.
During his tenure as CEO, Burritt oversaw the reopening of the Granite City Works steel mill in Illinois in 2018. He also led the ratification of a new four-year contract with the United Steelworkers in 2018. In 2021, U.S. Steel completed its acquisition of Big River Steel, a move that Burritt described as creating "the first 'Best of Both' integrated and mini-mill steel company." This acquisition followed an initial investment by U.S. Steel in Big River Steel in 2019. Years later, Burritt announced that Big River Steel Mill became the first ResponsibleSteel-certified site in North America and said, “This marks an important milestone on our journey to build a more sustainable future for our customers, company, colleagues, communities and the planet.” In September 2024, U.S. Steel became the world's first company to qualify to sell ResponsibleSteel Certified Steel.
Burritt led a $60 million investment at its Gary Works, Indiana, facility to install a pig iron caster that will grow production of pig iron. A month later, he led an investment of $150 million to build a direct-reduced-grade pellet plant at its Keetac iron ore mining and pellet processing facility in Keewatin, Minnesota.
In 2023, Burritt received $16.7 million in compensation for his position as CEO of U.S. Steel, including a $1,400,000 as a salary and $4,284,000 as a bonus. The median employee salary at U.S. Steel is $100,156, which is a CEO pay ratio of 167:1 according to SEC filings.
In December 2022, Burritt worked with members of the United Steelworkers union to ratify a four-year contract that would cover 11,000 workers at 13 U.S. Steel locations and included a $4,000 bonus.

## Proposed Acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel

Burritt led a deal to sell the company to Japan-based Nippon Steel after rejecting a competing bid from U.S.-based Cleveland Cliffs that proposed $35 per share to U.S. Steel shareholders. In an article titled “How to Respond to a Blackmailing CEO”, the liberal policy magazine American Prospect described the rejection as “emblematic of U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt’s unabashed union-loathing, making his effort to unload the company to Nippon a deliberate affront to USS’s employees.”
The Nippon buyout proposed to deliver $55 per share to U.S. Steel shareholders and guarantee the significant capital investments and technology sharing needed to ensure strong performance and protect jobs. The $14.9B deal with Nippon was approved by U.S. Steel shareholders.
The United Steelworkers criticized the deal with Nippon, stating it could turn the "iconic American steelmaker" into a foreign-controlled subsidiary, and was upset about Burritt keeping the Nippon deal secret until its public announcement, despite the labor contract requiring the company to notify the union about negotiations with potential buyers. Burritt stands to receive a $70 million bonus if the sale goes through.
U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown sent Burritt a formal letter on October 2, 2024, criticizing his potential "$72 million golden parachute" if the merger was successful. In the letter, the senators wrote, "Finally, we are troubled by reports that you are in line to receive $72 million in additional cash and benefits of the deal is completed. . . . If these reports are accurate, they demonstrate a repulsive conflict of interest in which U.S. Steel executives can enrich themselves at the expense of U.S. Steel workers."
On January 3, 2025, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that blocked the proposed acquisition, but the U.S. government extended the deadline to block the deal until June 18, 2025.
United Steelworkers President David McCall publicly said in February 2025 that Alan Kestenbaum, the CEO candidate backed by some investors, would be a better choice to lead US Steel than Burritt. McCall said that Kestenbaum had treated steelworkers well during his tenure at Stelco Holdings. Ancora recently took an activist position in US Steel, proposing to replace the board, install Kestenbaum as CEO, and make sure the dead Nippon Steel merger stays dead. Meanwhile, Nippon Steel maintains its $14.1 billion takeover bid, though former President Donald Trump has stated that the company cannot own a majority stake in US Steel.

## Environmental, social, and governance (ESG)

During his tenure, Burritt introduced U.S. Steel's verdeX™ steel, which manufactured with up to 75% fewer emissions compared to traditional blast furnace production.
In April 2021, Burritt set a goal for U.S. Steel to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 in support of the Paris Agreement and said “U.S. Steel intends to be a part of the climate solution.” This built on the previous target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 20% by 2030. Between 2018 and 2021, he achieved a 16% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
In September 2022 he announced that U.S. Steel had sold green bonds and would be using revenue from the bonds to put toward the construction of its Big River 2 facility in Osceola, Arkansas, with an expected completion in 2024.

## Affiliations

Burritt has been on the Lockheed Martin board of directors since 2008, and sits on the audit and compensation committees. In October 2018, he joined the board of directors of the National Safety Council. As of October 2021 he is on the executive committee of the World Steel Association board of directors, and is a member on The Business Council.

## Personal life

Burritt has a wife, Lynn.