Producers – May 2015

Gate Precast Co., Hillsboro, Texas, has added three team members to support a period of steady, regional expansion: Michael Trosset is Southwest Division sales and marketing manager, while Trae Morton and Michael Campbell have joined the Estimating Department. The appointments continue growth at Hillsboro, which is equipped with 57,000 sq. ft. of enclosed production space and annual output exceeding 850,000 sq. ft. of architectural precast.

Trosset will educate designers, establish relationships with contractors, qualify potential projects, recommend new industry products, promote design-assist, handle estimating/budgets, manage marketing staff and create opportunities. He has worked as a project manager at Gate’s Kissimmee, Fla., plant since 2009, and holds a bachelor’s degree in construction management from the University of North Florida.

Prior to Gate, Morton served as senior estimator at Advanced Architectural Stone Inc. for 15 years. Campbell began his precast industry career in 2012 at Gate’s Alabama plant, serving as a quality control lab technician prior to becoming a full-time estimator. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Huntingdon College.

“These individuals provide a young, dynamic team that will give us the longevity we need as we grow our business in the Southwest region,” says Gate Architectural Systems Director Jim Lewis. This is especially important in the vibrant Texas and Oklahoma markets, he adds, where the Hillsboro operation has provided design-assist collaboration on such high-profile projects as the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas; The Woodlands Nordstrom store, outside Houston; and, Cook Children’s Medical Center South Expansion currently under construction in Fort Worth.

North Star Stone & Masonry, a leader in brick, block and landscaping materials in southern Minnesota, has named Dean Chamblee as Rochester operations supervisor. He arrives at North Star after serving as a masonry contractor in Wisconsin and Colorado, and in dispatch, inventory and purchasing posts with brick and block producer in the latter state. 

North Star serves builders, architects, contractors and homeowners, supplying clay face brick, manufactured and natural stone veneers, architectural block, concrete and stone pavers, flagstone, natural stone and segmental retaining wall units.

Rapid Set packaged concrete proprietor CTS Cement Manufacturing Corp., Cypress, Calif., was recently presented the University of California, Los Angeles Engineering 2015 Corporate Philanthropy Award during the school’s “Tech Forum: Robotics and Technologies of the Future.” The event drew leaders from industry, government, and academia to share technology and innovation insights.

“For many years we have recognized CTS Cement as a valued industry partner with a longstanding commitment to the future of engineering education and research,” says UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science Dean Vijay Dhir. “We are grateful for CTS Cement’s continued support.”