Celebrating the Past; Looking to the Future

The NPCA 50th Annual Convention has ended, but memories from the association’s golden anniversary celebration will linger for the 480 members who attended the event Oct. 21-24 at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center.

NPCA’s milestone year culminated in a celebration of the visionary individuals and companies that helped develop the precast concrete industry in North America during the last half century. But that’s not the only thing that made this convention unique. Billed as a “two-day plant tour experience,” convention week centered on plant tours to eight precast concrete production and form manufacturing operations in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In addition to the focus on plant tours, NPCA members held their annual business meeting, conducted Board and committee meetings and raised money for the NPCA Foundation at a WhirlyBall and Laser Tag event. At the convention-ending Chairman’s Banquet, NPCA produced a celebration of the first 50 years that featured videos and a five-act theatrical performance by stage and screen actor Blythe Coons supplemented by music from the Andrew Walesch Big Band. One of NPCA’s founders, Jim Barbour, Barbour Concrete Co., Independence, Mo., started the program with an invocation. Barbour was one of the visionaries who helped launch the trade association, serving as NPCA’s president in 1969.

NPCA’s outgoing chairman of the Board, Michael Tidwell, president of Bartow Precast, Cartersville, Ga., served as host for the Chairman’s event. And while the evening was a celebration of the past, incoming chairman Andy Wieser, president of Wieser Concrete Products, Maiden Rock, Wis., provided a forward-looking vision for the next 50 years.

The presentation of the Robert E. Yoakum Award of Merit highlighted the Chairman’s Banquet. One of the precast industry’s longest running and most prestigious honors, this year’s Yoakum Award went to Chuck Babbert, president of sales for E.C. Babbert Inc., headquartered in Canal Winchester, Ohio. Chuck Babbert and his father E.C. Babbert (a 1997 honoree) now join a group of four other families who can claim multi-generational Yoakum Award recipients.

Deeply involved in NPCA service since 1975, Babbert accepted the award to a standing ovation. When asked what it meant to receive the award, he said, “The Yoakum Award to me is like winning the Heisman Trophy in college football. It’s what you receive for the work you put in. I feel privileged to have been the one to receive the award, especially at the 50th anniversary.”

Brent Dezember, owner of StructureCast in Bakersfield, Calif., received NPCA’s top membership honor, the Douglas G. Hoskin Award.

Here are the new officers and additional award recipients from the NPCA 50th Annual Convention:

2016 OFFICERS

Chairman of the Board
Andy Wieser, Wieser Concrete Products

Chairman-Elect
Greg Stratis, Shea Concrete Products

Secretary/Treasurer
Ashley Smith, Smith-Midland Corp.

NEW BOARD MEMBERS

Directors – 3-Year Term

Don Graham, Jensen Precast
Amy Burnett, Barbour Concrete Co.
Pat Liston, Forterra Pipe & Precast (formerly Hanson Pipe & Precast)

Associate Member – 3-Year Term
Marianne Methven, Hamilton Form Co.

AWARDS

Robert E. Yoakum Award
Chuck Babbert, E.C. Babbert Inc. 

Douglas G. Hoskin Award
Brent Dezember, StructureCast

Committee Chair Service Awards
Armen Alajian, Arto Brick
Don Graham, Jensen Precast
Stephanie Loud, Mountain West Precast

Board of Directors Service Awards
Brent Dezember, StructureCast
Jonathan Ohmes, Champion Precast
Paul Heidt, Garden State Precast
Terri Rondeau, Besser Co.

Foundation Service Award
Jonathan Ohmes, Champion Precast

Top Gun Awards

Top Gun Level
Jennifer Burkhart, Arrow Concrete Products
Michael Hoffman, Lindsay Precast
Sam Lines, Concrete Sealants
Greg Roache, Gainey’s Concrete Products
Marvin Smith, SI Precast

First Merit
Greg Stratis, Shea Concrete Products

Second Merit
Brent Dezember, StructureCast

Third Merit
Leo Feuerstein, Western Precast Concrete
Andy Wieser, Wieser Concrete Products