It’s been an interesting journey for Danielle Brecheen who has spent 40 years in a male-dominated industry and now leads the only locally woman-owned and operated steel distributor in the region.
Her father Don founded Brecheen Pipe and Steel in 1980, and she began working there five years later. In time, her responsibilities increased from generating orders, to purchasing, to sales. When her sister left the business in 2017 and her parents passed away a few years later, Danielle took over and currently serves as president of the corporation.
AT A GLANCE
Top executives: Danielle Brecheen, Owner & President
Phone: 225.749.3553
Address: 2340 American Way, Port Allen, LA 70767
Website: brecheenpipeandsteel.com
“When I started, there weren’t many women in the industrial space and it was difficult trying to develop long-term partnerships,” she says. “I had to work faster, harder and smarter than my competitors to prove myself.”
Because of her determination and drive to succeed, she did prove herself and has helped a lot of other women along the way. “It has been very important to me to promote women in this highly competitive industry,” she says. “Because of the hardships and challenges I faced in the 1980s, I felt the need to promote more women into industrial sales and, ultimately, into leadership positions.”
Brecheen Pipe & Steel is well positioned in the market. The company has been doing business as south Louisiana’s “go-to” supplier of structural steel and pipe in the metals service center industry for decades, offering carbon, galvanized carbon, stainless, aluminum and other exotic alloy steel to the petrochemical, refinery, pulp and paper, sugar, fabricator and construction industries.
Brecheen’s steel service center also stocks a full array of carbon steel items, and offers plate flame cutting services, plasma and oxy-fuel services, cutting slip and spectacle blinds, gussets, parts and decorative items.
While committed to remaining a reliable provider of steel and pipe products, the company isn’t afraid to evolve to meet future demand. Brecheen says she’s always willing to diversify her product lines as plants expand and new industry enters the market.
As for the talent side of the business, Brecheen says she will focus on offering on-the-job training opportunities that will enable her to promote and retain her employees, especially since the company sees a lot of big projects on the horizon.
“It’s important,” she says, “because employee longevity is conducive to a strong, successful and expert team.”
