Nucor Corp. announced Tuesday that Executive Vice President of Raw Materials James Darsey plans to retire this upcoming June after 39 years at the company.

“Jim has been an exceptional leader throughout his career with Nucor over the past four decades,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Ferriola in a statement. “He has made outstanding contributions to Nucor’s strong record of profitable growth and to our company’s unique culture. During Jim’s tenure, he has been extremely successful in leading both the steel mill and downstream products sides of our business, and, most recently, the raw materials segment.”

Darsey began his career with Nucor in 1979 as design engineer at Vulcraft-Texas, a subsidiary of Nucor. He was promoted to engineering manager of Vulcraft-Utah in 1986 and served in the same role at Vulcraft-Texas from 1987 to 1995.

Darsey was promoted to general manager of Vulcraft-Texas in 1995 and later served as general manager of Nucor Steel-Texas from 1999 to 2007. He was elected vice president of Nucor in 1996 and became president of the Vulcraft/Verco Group in 2007.

He was promoted to executive vice president of bar products in 2010. He later served as EVP of merchant and rebar products and most recently as EVP of raw materials.

Following Darsey’s retirement on June 9, Craig Feldman will be promoted to executive vice president of raw materials effective immediately. Feldmen has been with Nucor since 1986 and currently serves as the company’s vice president, general manager and president of The David J. Joseph Co., which was acquired by Nucor in 2008.

“Jim’s retirement and Craig’s promotion are the product of the thoughtful and orderly succession planning that has been a top strategic initiative throughout the Nucor organization in recent years,” said Ferriola. “Craig is a proven Nucor leader whose 32 years of experience with DJJ have positioned him well to take on this new responsibility and allow for a smooth transition.”

Shares of Nucor stock were trading at $64.13 Tuesday afternoon, up 2.66 percent.