National Ready Mixed Concrete Association Senior Vice President, Compliance and Regulatory Affairs Kevin Walgenbach, has been named executive vice president, Operations and Compliance, effective this month. Over a 17-year tenure, he has played a key role in conducting educational training for NRMCA members, including organizing regional seminars and workshops along with the Plant Manager, Safety, Dispatcher and Environmental courses. He is also credited with work on Safety, Environmental Excellence and Driver of the Year Awards plus Safety Benchmarking and Regulatory Enforcement Surveys, and raising the profile of the annual ConcreteWorks and National Mixer Driver Championship fall gatherings. Walgenbach also oversees the administration of the NRMCA Certifications and Production departments, and manages the Truck Mixer Manufacturers, Concrete Plant Manufacturers and Volumetric Mixer Manufacturers Bureaus.
“Kevin has done an outstanding job in each of his many responsibilities. He has advised the ready mixed concrete industry on compliance with safety, labor, operations and environmental regulations and has also led efforts to monitor and advocate on key regulatory issues of importance to the industry before Federal executive branch agencies,” says NRMCA President Michael Philipps. “We are confident that he’ll continue to be an invaluable part of NRMCA going forward.”
Separately, NRMCA Senior Vice President, Codes and Standards Shamim Rashid-Sumar, P.E. has been elected secretary-treasurer of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, her term beginning this month. “The work of the society is critical to our industry,” she says. “It is important that we continue to participate as a stakeholder in raising the bar for sustainability and fire resilience in the built environment.”
Established in 1950, SFPE is the world’s leading professional organization in the field of fire protection and fire safety engineering. With more than 4,700 members and 100 chapters, the Society serves the profession through quality education; research; development of the FPE Handbook, engineering standards and guidelines; plus, conferences, advocacy and outreach. It also plays a critical role in supporting the development of the Professional Engineer licensing exam in fire protection and the grading of those exams under the auspices of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. SPFE recently published a position statement, “Engineering a Sustainable and Fire Resilience Built Environment,” underscoring member objectives for building projects.
The Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute has appointed Commercial Metals Co. Vice President – Commercial & Supply Chain Brad Cottrell as chairman. A 27-year CMC veteran based at Irving, Texas headquarters, he started in trading but has spent much of the past two decades in rebar fabrication and mills segments. Along with chairman’s duties, “I look forward to celebrating our 100th anniversary this year,” he notes. “It’s quite an accomplishment for any organization to reach that milestone and I’m proud of the work that CRSI does to promote the use of steel reinforced concrete.”
Rounding out 2024 CRSI officers are Vice Chairman Adam Simmet (Simcote Inc.), Secretary-Treasurer Bethany Hennings (Gerdau) and Past Chairman Jeff Estep (Farwest Steel). New CRSI at-large directors are Juan Anaya (Cascade Steel Rolling Mill), Rob Dailey (CMC), Erik Johnson and Ronnie Johnson (Nucor), and Scott McCornack (Morse Steel). Mary Alwin (Nucor Harris Rebar) is the new CRSI Fundation chair, a non-voting director role.