The prestigious Decorative Concrete Hall of Fame, established in 2010 by Professional Trade Publications, welcomes four men into its hallowed halls this year. Dan Sieben, one of the founders of Bomanite, along with his Bomanite cohort, John “Jack” Dryden, are among the 2016 honorees. Joe Garceau of Butterfield Colors and George Lacker of GLC3 Concrete and Couture Concrete Systems round out this year’s selection. Sieben and Garceau were honored with plaques at a dinner Sept. 26 during the Concrete Decor Show events in San Diego. Lacker and Dryden were inducted posthumously.
The Decorative Concrete Hall of Fame recognizes individuals and companies whose contributions have impacted the future of decorative concrete, both as a business and an art form. Since the Hall of Fame’s inception, 26 individuals and two companies have been bestowed this honor for unselfishly giving their time, energies, loyalty and resources to help the decorative concrete industry not only grow but flourish. Honorees are chosen by Hall of Fame members. They are as follows:
John T. Dryden
After World War II ended, John “Jack” Dryden, a flight instructor for the Marine Corps during the war, chose a confirmed job in construction over college. By the mid ’50s, he became a general contractor and, by the mid ’60s, had built more than 1,000 homes in Southern California. That’s where Dryden met Brad Bowman, discovered Bowman’s stamped concrete and got involved with the fledgling Bomanite company.
By the 1970s, Dryden was installing this “ornamented concrete” throughout Southern California around model homes, in malls and such — with the highest profile job a pool deck for Richard Nixon’s home in San Clemente — and helped develop the blueprint for Bomanite’s franchise agreements. At the request of several landscape architects, he introduced a stamped-concrete/wax installation system that wasn’t grouted, significantly giving stamped concrete a cost advantage over actual tile or masonry surfaces.
In the ensuing years, he trained contractors for Bomanite all over the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Always a stickler for the perfect product, Dryden remained in the business until he retired in the early ’80s. He passed away in 1999 at the age of 78.
Joe Garceau
After working summers in high school for a local concrete contractor, Joe Garceau started his own concrete contracting business in 1977 when he was just 18. In 1979, he began installing decorative concrete, which was very rudimentary back then. It was a perfect fit for the creative-minded Garceau, who loved inventing and building things.
His brother, Jerry, joined him in business in 1984 and they created their first urethane concrete stamp. From there they continued to perfect the decorative concrete craft through new stamps and coloring techniques, using what they had learned and designed on their own concrete jobs.
By 1994, the brothers founded Butterfield Color Inc., a decorative concrete manufacturer headquartered in Aurora, Illinois, with warehouses today in Temple, Texas, and Salem, Oregon. Their sales success is based on the simple understanding that every bag of color, concrete stamp or bucket of sealer they make is an integral part of someone’s concrete job, all of which are important.
Garceau says he’s proud his company has become a place for 40+ employees to work together building something while supporting their families. He’s also happy Butterfield’s able to support various industry and charitable organizations, including the local homeless shelter.
George Lacker
George Lacker, who was posthumously inducted, passed away unexpectedly last March while on a business trip. The 62-year-old began his concrete career when he was just 16 years old placing industrial floors for Baker Concrete in Ohio. In the mid ’90s, he began staining and polishing floors in such notable places as the Hard Rock Café in Hollywood, the Ritz-Carlton in West Palm Beach and Sloppy Joe’s in Key West.
Lacker owned GLC3 Concrete and Couture Concrete Systems in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and in 1996 he debuted his acclaimed Concretetivity, a cementitious topping that can be applied from 3/8 to 2 inches thick, as an alternative to more traditional toppings.
During his lifetime, he received recognition and awards from Concrete Decor, Concrete Construction and Residential Concrete magazines, as well as the Concrete Network and Artistry in Concrete at the World of Concrete. A staunch supporter of many of Concrete Decor’s endeavors, he remains among the first sponsors of the newly launched RoadShow.
Among the family members he left behind is Cathye Rankin, his life and business partner of 28 years. She fondly remembers his “Wizard of Oz” role,“Because George was a lion, king of his concrete.”
Dan Sieben
Dan Sieben, 74, is a perpetual entrepreneur who co-founded the Bomanite Corp. in 1970 when he was just 27 years old. He served as president/CEO of Bomanite, a worldwide leader in the franchising of specialty concrete paving and flooring construction products, and in 1989 left the business to explore other entrepreneurial activities.
According to his vitae, his “overriding personal mission is to bring ideas, people, money, technology and organizations together in private or nonprofit companies to make a sustainable, lasting, measurable difference in the quality of peoples’ lives.”
Since leaving Bomanite, he’s been the founder and initial CEO in a number of small startups that achieved varying degrees of success. Currently, he is involved with Venture Partners Ltd., a company formed to bring the ambulatory surgery industry to Latin America, and is working on a project whose mission is to build and operate high-quality elder-care communities in Mexico.
Sieben received his Master in Business Administration from Columbia University and his bachelor’s from Northwestern University. Fluent in Spanish, he and his wife, Kay, of 40 years live in Mexico and have two daughters and five grandchildren.
