The National Steering Committee (NSC) for the Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program – a business-intensive program that awards students with a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Concrete Industry Management – recently announced the election of its 2024 – 2026 officers and seven new or returning members to its board of directors.
The NSC officers include:
- Chairman – Karl Watson, Jr., Chief Executive Officer, Baker Construction Enterprises
- Vice Chairman – Bruce Christensen, President, Master Builders Solutions USA & Canada
- Secretary/Treasurer – Heather Brown, Vice President of QC/QA, Irving Materials, Inc.
All officers also serve on the board of directors.
In addition to the officers, the NSC board of directors includes:
- Steven Bishop, President/COO, Maschmeyer Concrete Company of Florida
- Ben Blankenship**, Vice President, Sales – Texas, Ash Grove Cement Company
- Steve Cox**, Vice President – Customer Success, Command Alkon
- Kelly Curtis, Senior Vice President, Cement Sales & Logistics, Votorantim Cement North
America - Paula Dunn, Director, Learning and Development, Sika Corporation
- Brian Gallagher, Vice President, Corporate Development, Graycor
- Julie Garbini**, Executive Director, Concrete Advancement Foundation
- Douglas Guerrero, Chairman, CIM Patrons, California State University, Chico
- Marti Harrell, Executive Director, Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Georgia/Carolina Region
- Ray Hefner**, Executive Director, American Society of Concrete Contractors
- Nicole Maher, Interim Executive Director, National Steering Committee
- Guillermo Martinez Sans**, Executive Vice President Human Resources USA, CEMEX
- John McDougall, Director of Business Development, Baker Restoration & Waterproofing
- Paul Ozinga**, Executive Vice President, Ozinga RMC, Inc.
- Andrew Pinkerton, Executive Director, Cement Council of Texas
- Ben Robuck, Vice President – Infrastructure and Direct Work, CEMEX
- Tom Strittmatter, Senior Vice President – Construction Chemicals, Sika Corporation
- Pierre Villere**, Chairman & Senior Managing Partner, Allen-Villere Partners
- Tim Wrinkle, Product Manager, Mack Trucks
** Indicates new and re-elected board members.
Honorary Directors Include:
- David Vickers, Permian Basin Materials, LLC
- Earl Keese, CIM National Steering Committee
- L. Michael Shydlowski, BASF Corporation
“For more than 25 years, the leadership of the concrete industry has embraced and supported our mission of ‘advancing the concrete industry by degrees’,” said NSC Interim Executive Director Nicole Maher. “The engagement of these companies, along with our national concrete association and foundation partners, ensures that the program continues to graduate well-rounded future leaders ready to guide the evolution of our state-of-the-art industry. We appreciate the service of our board members and their commitment to the continued success of CIM.”
The CIM Program
Recognizing the need for people with enhanced technical, communication and management skills, the CIM program was developed in 1996. The individuals graduating from this program will have the skill set necessary to meet the growing demands of the progressively changing concrete industry of the 21st century. It is a business-intensive program, providing solid management skills that can be used in any industry, but has been developed specifically for the concrete industry. The program gives students many advantages including entering the concrete workforce with exposure to the industry early in their careers, unlike others coming in with generic business degrees.
The program aims to produce broadly educated, articulate graduates grounded in basic business management, who are knowledgeable of concrete technology and techniques and can manage people and systems and promote products or services related to the concrete industry. It entails a broad range of courses, from English and history to science and mathematics. A series of required business courses such as finance, marketing, management and business law are also taken throughout the length of the program. The concrete-specific courses teach the fundamentals of concrete, properties and testing, concrete construction and more. All these courses utilize practical case studies and an internship to make sure the student obtains real-world experience essential to starting a successful career. Additional growth opportunities include on-campus socials and other organized events providing industry networking and professional development.
About CIM
Receiving tremendous support from the concrete industry, the CIM program is the first of its kind in the United States – a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Concrete Industry Management. The need for such a program was recognized in 1994 and was put into action by the concrete industry. The result was a partnership between the concrete industry and Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) to develop the CIM program, implementing it with its first two students in 1996. Available at MTSU, California State University, Chico, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, South Dakota State University and Texas State University, the program has been successful for both the industry and the graduates. To learn more about the program, visit www.concretedegree.com.
