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.
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