NEW YORK — Barry Zekelman has again taken the reigns as chief executive officer and chief operating officer of JMC Steel Group Inc. beginning Feb. 8.

"I just have a passion for it, and since I own it I certainly want to run it," he told AMM.

The Zekelman family bought a majority stake in JMC from the Carlyle Group in early 2011 (amm.com, March 14, 2011).

"There was a period of time where we wanted to straighten some things out and wanted to transition, but since it’s a family owned business, we want to run the day-to-day (operations)," Zekelman said.

He previously held the positions between 2008 and 2010 before becoming executive chairman (amm.com, March 30, 2010).

Frank Riddick, who has been chief executive officer since Zekelman’s move to executive chairman, and John Higgins, previously the Chicago-based company’s executive vice president of operations, have left JMC "to pursue other endeavors," the company said.

"My brothers and I thank Frank and John for all their hard work at JMC and wish them well," Zekelman said in a statement.

"All former direct reports to the chief executive officer and executive vice president of operations will report directly to Barry Zekelman," the company said.