Masonry Magazine April 1978 Page. 5
LAS VEGAS
The new MCAA Officers for 1978-79 (from left): Louis J. Helbert, Jr., Fort Collins, Colo., Vice President; Robert Harrison, Mount Prospect, IN., Treasurer: Eugene George, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, President, and Donald Leonard. St. Ann, Mo., Secretary
'78 MCAA CONFERENCE REPORT
Las Vegas, Nevada, March 11-16, 1978
The already excellent working relationships within the North American masonry industry were cemented together even more firmly as members of the Canadian Masonry Contractors Association joined the Mason Contractors Association of America for the 28th MCAA International Masonry Conference and Educational Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nev., March 11-16.
The Conference, which was held in the Las Vegas Hilton hotel, was comprised of some 2,200 conferees representing the two largest masonry contracting organizations in the United States and Canada.
In the annual election of officers, a Canadian was elected President of MCAA for the first time. He is Eugene George of Kitchener. Ontario. Elected to serve with him were Louis J. Helbert, Jr., Fort Collins, Colo., Vice President, and Don Leonard, St. Ann. Mo., Secretary. Robert Harrison, Mt. Prospect, III., was reelected Treasurer.
MCAA's new President probably is as familiar to U.S. mason contractors as he is to Canadians. He steps into MCAA's highest office after having served as Vice President of the Association for the past two years. He also completed terms as Secretary and Regional Vice President, and was a member of a number of important MCAA committees. In 1973 he received the Association's highest honor, the Lead Man Award.
In other industry activities, he is vice-chairman of the International Masonry Institute, a trustee of the Bricklayers International Pension Fund, chairman of the International Masonry Industry All-Weather Council, a member of the Canadian Masonry Research Council and the Grand Valley Chapter of Construction Specifications Canada, and serves on a number of technical committees of the Canadian Standards Association.
George heads up one of North America's largest mason contracting firms. G & A Masonry, with headquarters in Breslau, near Kitchener, Ontario. Branch offices are also maintained in Ottawa, Montreal and Albany, N.Y.
Official Conference activities began on Saturday morning. March 11, with meetings of nine MCAA standing committees as well as nine Regional Vice President conferences. The first of two Executive Board meetings was held that afternoon.
Immediately prior to the Boad meeting, a special session titled "Industry Review: Promotion/Engineering Efforts" was conducted to bring members up-to-date on activities of the International Masonry Institute (IMI). The speakers were Ray Lackey, senior vice president. Henry J. Kaufman & Associates. Washington, D.C., IMI's advertising/public relations agency, and Buck Richardson, director of IMI's Masonry Engineering Department.
Lackey reported that the IMI, the research and promotional arm of the MCAA and the International Union of Bricklayers & Allied Craftsmen (BAC), is aiming much of its promotional firepower at the loadbearing masonry market in 1978. Although this will not be the sole promotional thrust, the IMI Board of Trustees and Advisors, under the chairmanship of Charles F. Velardo, has decided that IMI should make a concerted attempt to advance the use of the contemporary masonry loadbearing system this year. It has approved promotional plans that call for advertising, publicity, seminars/conferences, and market research.
Lackey announced that a broad market research project undertaken by IMI is now underway. The results will provide guidance for all elements of the Institute's promotional work this year and also will give direction to local please turn page
MASONRY/APRIL, 1978 5