Without a doubt, one of the most exciting aspects of remaining connected

to a powerful industry organization is the evidence of evolution and the

perspective that it brings to your business. Benjamin Franklin once said,

“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” Certainly one can adamantly

support this for the goals and challenges of an Association and one

has to look no further than our Board of Directors to see just how much

change is moving us forward to the future of the poured wall industry.

During the Annual Meeting this past summer, attending members voted

in two new faces to the Board of Directors along with renewing terms for

Valerie Gore of Solid Foundations Inc. in Bellevue, Ohio; Dan Bromley

of ABI Corporation in Lee’s Summit, Missouri; Phil Marone of Marone

Contractors Inc in Thorofare, New Jersey; and Dennis Purinton of Purinton

Builders Inc in East Granby, Connecticut. The strength of experience

found in these four returning industry leaders has been coupled with

energy, fresh perspective and yes, generations of wisdom stemming from

the placement of Sean Smith of MPW Construction Services of Wellington,

Ohio and Doug Herbert of Herbert Construction Company of

Marietta, GA.

Doug Herbert, President of Herbert Construction Company

Sean Smith, Project Manager for MPW Construction Services

Jim Baty, CFA’s Technical Director sat down with your newest Board

members not long after their election to the Board to get some insights

into how they view their opportunities and challenges as not only Board

members but also those following their own personal legacies. Both Sean

and Doug follow in the footsteps of their fathers, Scott Smith and Barry

Herbert who served as Presidents of the Association and who were both

bestowed the Association’s highest statement of respect in the Bob Sawyer

Award.

Jim: Since both of you have grown up in the CFA, and have been part

of very active companies, I know you’ve attended many CFA events.

What are some of your fondest memories from those events?

Doug: It’s probably a tie, for me, between listening to Bill Esker

and Arie VanWyk telling stories and running around with Sean Smith

after the “official” evening get-togethers.

Sean: When I think about all of the different CFA events that I

have attended, I immediately think about the people at the events,

not “The Event.” There is always a good story to be told following a

gathering of that many people from our industry!

Jim: What do you first think about when you contemplate becoming

or serving as a member of the CFA Board of Directors?

Sean: It was an honor to be considered. Then, I wouldn’t be honest

if I didn’t say I had a little nervous feeling that maybe I couldn’t or

wouldn’t live up to the expectations of a board member. There have

been so many great businesspersons and leaders that I have observed

during my life around the CFA. I wouldn’t be human if not nervous

to follow in their footsteps.

Doug: I agree with Sean about the enormous honor to become a

board member. And, I am excited about the opportunity to improve

our association and to network with the best minds in the poured wall

industry.

Jim: Your tenure on the Board starts on the heels of the most difficult

economic period of your lives, if not in our history. If you had to name

the hardest decision you’ve been involved with professionally these past

five years, what would it be?

Doug: It was after we hadn’t had any work for many, many months.

We had already laid off all of our field people, and we finally had to

lay off five of our core leadership team. It felt as if we were losing the

last 10 years of training, learning, improving, growing and positioning.

Since then, we’ve begun to grow again and have been fortunate to get

two of those people back, but it isn’t the same as it was before.

Sean: It seems as if every decision we made the last five years was

difficult. For me personally, the decision to close our business in

Pittsburgh and move back to Cleveland was a tough one. There have

been so many hard decisions made in the last five years in our business,

by every member of our team it is hard for me to identify with one singular

decision. We had cuts in pay, cuts in benefits, good people were

losing their jobs, the list of difficult decisions is lengthy. However, it

is because the President of our company and our Key Team made the

difficult decisions that we are still in business and I am able to serve on

the board.

Jim: The hard and tough decisions in such a period of time are often

the most recognizable or strongest in our mind. However, being on

the recover side of such an economic event, it means there are positive

decisions that have influenced where you now are. What is the most

gratifying decision you’ve been a part of during these past five years?

Sean: I think that is related to my earlier statement, that being a part

of a key management team that faced tough decisions head on and rose

to make them at the appropriate times. What we accomplished was

saving the company and setting us on a new path of leadership and

what we hope will be sustained growth.

Doug: The most gratifying decision I was a part of was our decision

to travel out of state for work. That decision was responsible for the

survival of our company. Although in the end we decided to pull back

from those efforts to support the new growth occurring in our primary

market, the income it presented during the leanest time was invaluable.

Jim: Becoming a member of the CFA Board of Directors ushers a

new opportunity for you as an industry leader, something you’ve both

already identified that you don’t take lightly. What leadership quality

do you feel will drive your time as a CFA Board member?

Doug: I hope to bring my enthusiasm, an ability to communicate,

and a strong desire to help the Board and Executive Team move the

association forward.

Sean: For me it would be energy. I see my opportunity being to take

the history I have been given and challenge the Association’s future

with the energy I have to see how far we can take this network.

Jim: Of all the opportunities presented, what are looking forward to

the most as a CFA Board member?

Sean: I am looking forward to giving time and energy to an organization

that has been extremely good for MPW and our business

culture. We have learned so many valuable lessons from the organization

and the Active members of the CFA.

Doug: I would like to raise the level of awareness of the CFA among

concrete contractors, and increase our membership.

Jim: Finally, given the opportunity to set one goal for the future of the

CFA, what would yours be as a Board member?

Doug: To make the CFA the premier resource for information, and

the most influential authority on poured walls.

Sean: I’d have to echo what Doug says. I guess you could say those

years of running around together “after” the events gave us the common

feeling that this is a really great place to be [CFA] and to make

that known to an increasing percentage of the industry, both for contractors

as well as our customers and regulators, is the goal I see.

The CFA Board officially welcomed Sean and Doug to their first meeting

in Toronto, Ontario this past fall. The CFA Board of Directors meets

during the World of Concrete, on Monday, during the CFA Summer

Convention and has begun to hold its spring and fall meetings in combination

with the spring and fall conventions for the American Concrete

Institute. This decision already shows evidence of a unified Board goal to

instill the CFA as the authority for poured walls by making it economically

possible for increased CFA member participation in the direction of codes

and standards that ACI is responsible. If you would like more information

on the CFA Board, their meetings or the direction of this Association and

ACI, please contact Jim Baty, CFA Technical Director at jbaty@cfawalls.

org or 866-232-9255.