November 2013: Chairman's Message
Words: John Smith Jr.
Chairman's Message
John Smith
President
Mason Contractors Association of America
To begin, I want to thank all of the contractors and their families who attended the Midyear Meeting in Orlando. It was one of the better attended Midyear Meetings in some time. Disney found a way to bring us all back to our families and reunite those values. Jeff Buczkiewicz and the staff did a great job with all of the arrangements. It is a monumental job to keep all of us on time, busy and entertained. Mark did a fantastic job coordinating the committee meetings. We not only reviewed the last two years, we looked into the future of the MCAA as it progresses.
Two major reports were given at the board meeting. One is an update of the effort to get our foundation started and up to speed. The chairman of the foundation is MCAA past-president Tom Daniel.
Ed Brandt with E.W. Brandt and Associates gave us an update on the interviews and the opportunities that are available to each contractor and association. One of the first projects of the foundation is to fund BIM. We have to fund our share of the coalition that is bringing BIM to life for Masonry.
The second report was from Darrell McMillian with the Masonry Institute of St. Louis. He is tasked with gathering all the information from contractors on what needs to be included in the project for contractors and getting it into the BIM module. He will be calling and talking to contractors in the future to gather input. This is probably the hardest part and will take the most work.
I also wanted to thank the following Regional Vice Presidents for their attendance at the Midyear Meeting. We need your valuable input and it was great to get your participation.
Region A – Michael Schmerbeck
Region D – Larry Vacala
Region F – Robert “Buddie” Barnes
Region H – Ronald Bennett
At the board meeting, we nominated and approved a new Region E Vice President, Rick Swanson. Rick is taking over the duties for Doug Nichols. Thank you Doug, and congratulations to Rick.
Lastly, I want to thank our strategic partners. These 12 companies have stepped up to the plate and help fund our association. Without them, many of the services we perform would not be available. We also have one corporate partner, a new of group of companies that also helps our association. The list is below.
Strategic Partners:
•???? ??Airplaco Masonry Grout Pumps
•???? ??Big River Industries
•???? ??IQ Power Tools
•???? ??Oldcastle
•???? ??Kennison Forest Products, Inc.
•???? ??Quikrete Cement & Concrete Products
•???? ??Dow Building Solutions
•???? ??Mortar Net Solutions
•???? ??Spec Mix
•???? ??EZ Grout Corporation
•???? ??Non Stop Scaffolding
•???? ??Tradesmen’s Software, Inc.
Corporate Partner:
•???? ??AMERIMIX
Congratulations to the following companies for being present to receive Safety Awards at this year’s Midyear Meeting:
Greater than 100,000 hours Safety Award
•???? ??Number of injuries and illnesses: 1; Total hours worked: 125,901.35
•???? ??First Place: Stone Cold Masonry – Phoenix
Greater than 100,000 hours Safety Award
•???? ??Number of injuries and illnesses: 8; Total hours worked: 331,799
•???? ??Second Place: Brazos Masonry – Waco, Texas
Safety is very important to all of us.
Lastly, please look for future information on the World of Masonry in Las Vegas Jan. 20 -24, 2014. See you in Vegas!
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