About-Us – Leeds Specialty Alloy

The Leeds Story

The founders of Leeds Specialty Alloys, Tom Handy and Troy Tack, met at a metallurgical industry conference in 1998. Mr. Tack was a technical and marketing advisor for Fansteel Inc. and was tasked with marketing tantalum, scandium, sodium sulfate and cryolite extracted from tailing ponds. He sought Mr. Handy as his firm Handy and Associates was well respected throughout the aluminum smelting industry and very knowledgeable on the cryolite market. Over time, these two collaborated on various projects related to magnesium alloys, reclamation, cryolite bath and aluminum fluoride. Through these efforts, Leeds Specialty Alloys was formed in 2005 and has been serving the metals industry ever since.

The Founders

Thomas Handy

Co-Founder and Managing Director

Tom is involved in all aspects of LSA’s business but is primarily focused on the logistics, sub-contractor management, import/export items, internal business operations and customer acquisition.

Tom began his career as President of Gros Ventre Inc. where he established relationships with virtually all North American aluminum smelters in the course of supplying synthetic cryolite, cryolite bath, sodium aluminum fluoride, aluminum fluoride and coal tar pitch. This business expanded to a worldwide supplier network as customers relied on Tom to increase the reliability of crucial input materials, coordinate logistics that included production, overseas freight, inland rail and truck shipments and warehousing. As the number of U.S.-based aluminum smelters decreased over the years, Tom maintained his focus on servicing primary smelters while expanding his expertise into the fields of secondary aluminum, magnesium alloys and aluminum master alloys. During this period, he co-founded Leeds Specialty Alloys to address these important markets.

Tom is a graduate of Southern Oregon University with a B.S. in Psychology/Criminology. Tom enjoyed playing basketball in high school and currently lives in Bend, Oregon where he enjoys working out, fly fishing and being outdoors.

Troy Tack

Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer

Troy is responsible for innovating new products, managing the LSA vendor network to manufacture, conduct quality control/improve performance, and, is tasked with business growth via increased production capabilities and customer acquisition.

LSA Developing Low Cost Alumina

Troy has spent most of his career in several distinctly different product development and alloy innovation efforts that include:

R&D in the field of tribology that resulted in Troy being named Lockheed Martin’s Corporate Author of the Year and was awarded the company’s highest honor, the Jefferson Cup.
Founded Tri-Kor Alloys and Tactical Alloys to invent and commercialize novel alloy formulations and final products.
Invented several aluminum scandium alloys and products (4 patents) that resulted in commercial products that include high performance baseball/softball bats, lightweight bicycle frames, welding filler alloys, lacrosse shafts and firearms.
Managed the titanium intensive Lightweight Howitzer Cost Reduction program and helped reduce the acquisition cost by $40M for the first 550 guns by optimizing the supplier base and reducing part count via optimization of net shape castings. The Lightweight Howitzer has a total weight of 9500 pounds compared to the 16,000-pound legacy steel howitzer.
Managed an alloy development program instrumental in optimizing alloy 2195 that was then used to decrease the weight of the Space Shuttle by 8000 pounds, thereby enabling more efficient construction of the Space Station. The project was scored at 96% at the final onsite review by a panel of 50-60 experts from NASA, DARPA, Air Force, Navy and other government agencies and was the highest on-site score of all-time at Lockheed Martin. Also awarded a patent related to enhanced cryogenic fracture toughness for launch vehicle fuel tanks.

Troy has a B.S. Degree in Metallurgical Engineering and a M.S. Degree in Metallurgy and Materials Science from the Colorado School of Mines. He played running back on the Mines football team for four years to finance his undergraduate studies and was funded by Lockheed-Martin to complete his Master’s Degree. He lives in Montana and enjoys fly fishing, working out and coaching sports at the youth and high school level, including football, girls and boy’s lacrosse and basketball.

Troy Tack

Co-Founder and Managing Director

R&D in the field of tribology that resulted in Troy being named Lockheed Martin’s Corporate Author of the Year and was awarded the company’s highest honor, the Jefferson Cup.
Founded Tri-Kor Alloys and Tactical Alloys to invent and commercialize novel alloy formulations and final products.
Invented several aluminum scandium alloys and products (4 patents) that resulted in commercial products that include high performance baseball/softball bats, lightweight bicycle frames, welding filler alloys, lacrosse shafts and firearms.
Managed the titanium intensive Lightweight Howitzer Cost Reduction program and helped reduce the acquisition cost by $40M for the first 550 guns by optimizing the supplier base and reducing part count via optimization of net shape castings. The Lightweight Howitzer has a total weight of 9500 pounds compared to the 16,000-pound legacy steel howitzer.
Managed an alloy development program instrumental in optimizing alloy 2195 that was then used to decrease the weight of the Space Shuttle by 8000 pounds, thereby enabling more efficient construction of the Space Station. The project was scored at 96% at the final onsite review by a panel of 50-60 experts from NASA, DARPA, Air Force, Navy and other government agencies and was the highest on-site score of all-time at Lockheed Martin. Also awarded a patent related to enhanced cryogenic fracture toughness for launch vehicle fuel tanks.