Masonry Magazine April 1996 Page. 10
The Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA) has made progress to lead them in the areas of training, market expansion, foremen training, legislation and safety. Elected at their annual conference held on Friday, January 26, 1996 in New Orleans, the MCAA selected Donald Grant of Grant Contracting from St. Louis, Missouri as President; Donald E. Larsen of Thorleif Larsen & Son from Itasca, Illinois as Vice President; Richard M. Johnston of Johnston Construction from Tacoma, Washington as Secretary and William McConnell of Architectural Paving & Stone from Boston, Massachusetts as Treasurer.
Donald Grant
Grant Contracting
St. Louis, Missouri
Elected to a two year term as President of MCAA in January 1996, Donald Grant has reached the pinnacle of a long road of service to the masonry industry.
Grant first began his service when he joined the MCA of St. Louis in 1959 and began serving on various committees. He was elected chapter President in 1980. Grant was first elected as Regional Vice President to MCAA in 1986 and slowly moved up through the ranks until his recent election as President.
During his years of service, he served on various local chapter committees including Apprenticeship Training and Promotion. Grant has taught training classes in local area apprentice schools on topics such as quality, job management, and work techniques. He continues this effort of training and recruiting masonry workers by serving on the Joint Apprenticeship Board in St. Louis.
Grant is currently active in promoting the masonry industry by serving as a member of Masonry Institute of St. Louis of which he was a past Chairman for 12 years.
Locally, he continues to serve on the Negotiation & Arbitration Board, the Research Committee and the Pension Fund. Grant has also served as Chairman of the MCAA Safety Committee. He still represents MCAA as a member of the Council for Masonry Research and is an active member of ASTM and CSI.
Grant is also active in non-masonry activities. He is a member of the Vianney High School Board, the Knights of Columbus and the National Society of Professional Engineers.
Donald E. Larsen
Thorleif Larsen & Son
Itasca, Illinois
Donald Larsen's service to the masonry industry dates back to the early 1960's when he became active in Mason Contractors Association of Greater Chicago where he served as President from 1971 through 1973.
The Larsen family's service to the masonry industry is well documented. Larsen's father, Thorleif, was one of the original six founding members of the chapter where Thorleif served as chapter Secretary. Larsen's son, Mark, has served as chapter President for six years and continues to be active in both the local chapter as well as serving as Chairman of the MCAA Publications Committee.
Larsen has worked on all of the local chapter committees. He has been the Chairman of the Negotiating Committee since 1972 and has been active in masonry promotion by serving as the only Chairman of Illinois Masonry Institute. Larsen was recently elected Vice President of MCAA to serve a two year term.
He is a board member of the Administrative Council of the United Methodist Church of Barrington. Larsen is also a Fellow at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Richard M. Johnston
Johnston Construction Company
Tacoma, Washington
Elected as Secretary for MCAA, Richard "Mike" Johnston has served the masonry industry for many years at the local level. Johnston served as President as well as a member of both the Membership and Promotion Committees for Washington State Mason Contractors Association. Johnston is still active in promoting the masonry industry by serving as a Director of the Masonry Institute of Washington and on the Wage Negotiating Board.
He has been active for years recruiting and training masons in the Washington area. He has been a speaker at the University of Washington. Johnston as a member of MCAA, served as Region T' Vice President, Chairman of the Finance Committee and Treasurer for the national association.
William McConnell
Architectural Paving & Stone
Weymouth, Massachusetts
William McConnell has been a very active and respected member of MCA of Massachusetts.
McConnell has been the chapters' Treasurer, Vice President, and President. He has been active with promotion by serving on the local promotion board. One of their key accomplishments was to design a brochure noting benefits of using masonry load bearing structural systems in lieu of structural steel.
In addition to spending time promoting masonry, McConnell has been involved in recruiting and training industry apprentices by serving as a Trustee on the Apprenticeship Training Fund of Eastern Massachusetts where they are training over 100 apprentices.
McConnell was recently elected as Treasurer of MCAA after serving as both State Chairman and Region 'A' Vice President.
McConnell's service goes beyond the masonry industry by serving as Chairman of the Marshfield Department of Public Works.
NORTHEAST
Lee Harris
Harris Masonry
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Lee Harris has been volunteering for years to make the masonry industry a better one. Currently, Harris is President of the Mason Contractors Association of Western Pennsylvania. In addition, he currently serves on the Negotiators Committee and is past Chairman of the Apprenticeship Committee.
Harris' support of the masonry industry goes beyond our industry to his service to the Pittsburgh Builders Exchange where he is a board member and is the Chairman of the Electronic Plan Room Committee and the Retirement Committee. He was also Chairman of both the Education Committee and the Long Range Planning Committee for the Exchange.
Harris has been active in training masonry apprentices by serving as Chairman of the Apprenticeship Committee for Allegheny County where the apprenticeship program was reformatted and ultimately revitalized.