Rise Capital taps Rothecker for key post

The Rise Companies investment firm named Susan Rothecker to the new post of Regional Director for the Carolinas and Virginia, less than a year after acquiring her Raleigh-based business.

Rothecker has been CEO of SMT, a sheet-metal fabrication company formed in 1969, for the past 18 years. It has a 200,000-square foot plant in north Raleigh for fabricating, powder coating and assembly.

“Susan is an exceptional leader who understands how to maximize the potential of a company by building strong relationships with her colleagues,” Rise Capital Chairman Dale Jenkins said in a press release. “She thinks strategically, and she can turn ideas into reality.”

Rise Capital CEO Harry Smith said Rothecker’s “drive and desire to do more has been a breath of fresh air” since the October acquisition.

Rise Capital also promoted Sharon Albrecht to Vice President of Human Resources. She has worked at SMT for the pat 12 years.

Smith, Scott Lampe and Travis Stephenson formed Rise in 2019. Its portfolio companies include SMT; Nashville, N.C.-based Asterra Labs, which makes CBD products; metal works operator Oak Ridge Industries of Washington, N.C.; and Greenville-based Pitt Electric, a commercial electric services company. It sold its Pamlico Air filter business to Mann+Hummel, a German industrial products multinational.