Newsome Awarded C. Dewitt Brown Leadman Award

Words: Dan Kamys[caption id="attachment_12197" align="alignnone" width="300"]MCAA Chairman Mark Kemp (left) presents Charles Newsome (right) with the C. DeWitt Brown Leadman Award. (Photo credit: Justin Leyba) MCAA Chairman Mark Kemp (left) presents Charles Newsome (right) with the C. DeWitt Brown Leadman Award. (Photo credit: Justin Leyba)[/caption] Each year, the Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA) presents the C. DeWitt Brown Leadman Award to an individual who has provided exemplary leadership in advancing the masonry industry. All of the individuals who have received this prestigious award have demonstrated a tireless dedication to our industry through years of volunteer support and hard work. They have helped to ensure that our industry remains vital for the nearly 500,000 people employed through masonry. MCAA Chairman Mark Kemp presented the 2016 C. DeWitt Brown Leadman Award to Charles Newsome of Carolina Stalite Company in Salisbury, N.C. at the MCAA Annual Meeting during the MCAA Convention at the World of Concrete/World of Masonry in Las Vegas on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016. “The individual that we honor here today has served and been a leader in the masonry industry for several years,” said Kemp. Charles Newsome has been a senior executive of Johnson Concrete Company for over 40 years and has served Carolina Stalite Company for more than 25 years. He has served on the boards of the Carolinas Concrete Masonry Association (CCMA), the National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA), and the NCMA Foundation. Charles has been a key leader of the Concrete Masonry Checkoff Program, which would help support research, education, and promotion intended to benefit all within the industry. “Charles truly embodies, ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick.’ It is my honor and pleasure to present the C. DeWitt Brown Leadman Award to Charles Newsome,” said Kemp. For more information, visit www.masoncontractors.org.
Tim O’Toole is the Director of Marketing, Education, and Information Technology for the MCAA.
The Science of a Straight Line: Why Masonry’s Smallest Decisions Make the Biggest Differences
September 2026

There is a unique phenomenon in construction: the human eye can spot an out-of-plumb wall from 50 yards away across a crowded job site. We might not always be able to explain the exact mathematical deviation without a laser level, but our brains instantly

The Utah Masonry Council's Masonry Education Day
September 2026

The 2026 Masonry Education Day at Interstate Brick in West Jordan is bringing together members of Utah’s architecture, engineering, and construction community for a day focused on education, technical understanding, and workforce development. The event r

MCAA Upstate New York: Regaining Market Share Through Education
September 2026

The Upstate New York chapter of the MCAA was established in 2014 by a dedicated group of both union and non-union masonry contractors, producers, and suppliers who shared concerns about the declining use of masonry. T

GEN NXT: Luis Sontay
September 2026

For this month, the MCAA got to sit down with aspiring mason Luis Sontay. From taking an interest in masonry as a kid to placing 1st in a postsecondary competition, Luis’ dedication and passion for the trade is clear. Luis describes his early passion fo