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Association & Industry News
NRMCA has named Jeannette Munroe as senior vice president, learning & development, effective Monday, April 29. Ms. Munroe will be responsible for shaping and executing NRMCA’s vision and strategic direction for professional development for the employees of NRMCA member companies. Ms. Munroe is an instructional systems designer who has worked in government, non-profit, academic and commercial settings. She holds a summa cum laude Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh and Master of Arts degree in instructional systems design from the University of Maryland Baltimore County where she has been a faculty member of the graduate school for the past 18 years. Prior to joining NRMCA, Ms. Munroe was the senior director of revenue enablement at Sodexo. In that role, she was responsible for the analysis, design, development, delivery and evaluation of a portfolio of learning programs that drove commercial growth in North America. Prior to Sodexo, Ms. Munroe was a media spokesperson, communications officer and program director at the Central Intelligence Agency and the workforce development director at the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. For more information, contact Gregg Lewis at glewis@nrmca.org. Sponsorship opportunities for NRMCA’s upcoming ConcreteWorks 2024 and the National Mixer Driver Championship (NMDC) being held October 10 - 14 in Aurora, CO, are still available. Member companies have the opportunity to be a ConcreteWorks Reception sponsor and/or Event sponsor for the NMDC. Last year NRMCA had a record number of attendees and staff expects 2024 to be another strong year; therefore we encourage your company to place your brand right in front of the industry’s senior ready mixed concrete professionals. Click here to find these and other specific sponsorship opportunities. For more information, contact Jacques Jenkins at 703-706-4865 or jjenkins@nrmca.org. 
Buildings
NRMCA, through its Build With Strength initiative, is sponsoring a webinar titled Setting GWP Budgets for Concrete Building with LCA Based Carbon Accounting Tools on the Hanley Wood University platform on Wednesday, May 8, from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern time. Design professionals have always addressed issues of performance, budgets and aesthetics. Now they are also being asked to evaluate the environmental burdens of their material choices. The methods used to evaluate those decisions can often be misunderstood. This presentation examines the process of quantifying the global warming potential (GWP) to accurately inform the true impacts of building material choices. Tools like the web-based NRMCA Concrete Carbon Calculator help concrete producers, contractors and design teams to collaborate on setting carbon budgets on projects, and compares baseline projects to proposed projects to exceed embodied carbon reduction goals. Step-by-step details will demonstrate how to use the tool to set a carbon budget and write a specification that allows for the lowest possible carbon footprint for the ready mixed concrete proposed for various projects. The webinar is being presented by NRMCA’s Frank Mruk and Donn Thompson. Click here to register and here for more details on NRMCA’s Hanley Wood University courses or contact Lionel Lemay at llemay@nrmca.org. Earlier this month. Build With Strength Director, Building Innovations, Justin McCain partnered with the Concrete Promotional Group of Greater Kansas City to speak with construction management students at Pittsburg State University. The team addressed technical aspects of concrete as well as the opportunities that are available for graduates within the construction industry. Most students interacting with McCain had internships arranged and are ready to make their mark on the industry.
 On April 10, NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Frank Mruk supported the use of ICF for Passive House at the Construction Specifications Institute's (CSI) Boston Chapter April meeting. This was the chapter's most well-attended event since COVID with over 65 architects, specifier and engineer attendees (seen here). The event was held at the UMASS Club in downtown Boston.
In a landmark decision this past fall, California became the first state to codify and incorporate whole building embodied carbon policy into practice, an effort that involved significant participation and feedback from NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Brandon Wray. Over the course of many months, the embodied carbon provisions were shaped to focus on three main compliance paths of building reuse, whole building life cycle analysis and prescriptive carbon limits for products.
NRMCA provided testimony on proposed code changes to the International Building Code (IBC) and International Fire Code (IFC) at the first round of International Code Council (ICC) 2027 Group A Committee Action Hearings which took place April 7 - 13 in Orlando, FL. Darryl Dixon, Julian Mills-Beale and Shamim Rashid-Sumar joined concrete and allied industry advocates to provide technical information on proposed changes to various code provisions impacting the concrete industry. NRMCA and industry allies testified on issues impacting the ready mixed concrete industry, including but not limited to restrained and unrestrained construction conditions, testing of noncombustible materials, vertical and lateral flame propagation in exterior walls, connections to timber structural members, fire resistance for supporting structural members and maintaining noncombustible construction requirements for fire walls. NRMCA and industry allies were largely successful in advocating for committee actions to support favorable code changes and disapproval of provisions unfavorable to the industry. The next round of Committee Action Hearings for Group A 2027 I-codes will take place in October in Long Beach, CA. For more information on NRMCA's codes and standards advocacy efforts, contact Shamim Rashid-Sumar at ssumar@nrmca.org.
SEO
The NRMCA’s Annual Safety Award acknowledges the significant contribution that safe work practices gives to the growth and success of individual companies and the ready mixed concrete industry as a whole. The award is presented to an individual or company whose actions represent the very highest in the advancement of safety in the ready mixed concrete industry. The award program is generously sponsored by the Truck Mixer Manufacturers Bureau (TMMB).
NRMCA’s Commitment to Environmental Excellence Awards competition offers producers national recognition for outstanding contributions to protecting the environment and maintaining sound management practices in their operations. The program salutes companies that have not only met, but surpassed governmental compliance measures and demonstrated a commitment to environmental excellence through plant and staff investment. NRMCA companies producing ready mixed concrete from a fixed plant location in the U.S., its territories or Canada are eligible to enter. Awards will be determined upon individual plant merits. Winning entrants will be honored at the Awards Ceremony at NRMCA‘s ConcreteWorks this October in Aurora, CO. Winners will also be featured in a 2024 edition of NRMCA’s Concrete InFocus magazine and Concrete Products magazine. Entries and photos must be e-mailed to kwalgenbach@nrmca.org by Friday, July 19. Click here for more information and to download the entry form. The staff contact is Kevin Walgenbach. Registration for NRMCA’s 2024 Fall Safety Course to be held September 10 - 12 in Sacramento, CA, is now open. This 2.5-day course teaches participants about OSHA safety compliance, beginning with why safety is so important and details the reasons why an effective safety program actually saves money through loss prevention and control. Participants learn about the silica rule, electrical safety, machine guarding, fall protection, hazard communication, confined spaces, personal protective equipment, emergency action plans, maintenance shop safety, chute handling, fleet safety and much more. Click here for location details and registration information. The staff contact is Kevin Walgenbach. 
Registration is open for this year’s Environmental Certification Course being held in Orlando, FL, from December 3 - 5. Course attendees will be educated on industry-specific environmental issues that affect ready mixed concrete production, including the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, Discharge Permits, Stormwater Management, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Solids Management, Hazardous Materials, Dust Control, Recycling, Spill Prevention Plans, Air Quality Management, Noise Management, Environmental Auditing and much more. Those who should attend include plant managers, environmental managers, compliance managers, executives or anyone with fiscal and/or environmental responsibilities that should know the details concerning a company’s responsibilities when it comes to EPA regulations, the Clean Water Act, Discharge Permits, Stormwater Management and numerous other critical environmental matters. Click here to register or for more information. The staff contact is Kevin Walgenbach. Calendar
Please note that e-mail and direct registration links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's website. April 22 - 23, Los Angeles April 23 - 25, Orlando, FL *Sold Out April 23, Greenwood Village, CO April 23, Jacksonville, FL April 30 - May 2, Mendota Heights, MN *Sold Out April 30 - May 2, Waldorf, MD May 8 - 10, Milwaukee September 9 - 13, Baltimore September 10 - 12, Sacramento, CA October 10 - 14, Denver October 15 - 18, Denver December 3 - 5, Orlando, FL December 10 - 13, Charleston, SC December 10 - 12, Denver 
Pavement
The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) has specified pervious concrete for a largescale sidewalk project (seen here) in Montgomery County, a suburb of Washington, DC, reports NRMCA Senior Vice President, Local Paving, Phil Kresge. The approximately 19,000 sq. ft. project is the first to utilize the new MDOT pervious concrete specification which was developed with assistance from the Maryland Ready Mixed Concrete Association (MRMCA) and NRMCA. The pervious concrete is being placed by NRMCA certified pervious concrete contractor Z Con LLC Concrete Specialists and supplied by NRMCA Producer member Schuster Concrete. Kresge, Schuster Quality Control Manager Robert Buelt, Henry Prenger, technical service engineer for NRMCA member Holcim and Butch Lundgren, general manager at Concrete General, Inc., provided industry input to the specification as members of the MRMCA Technical Committee. MDOT is watching the project closely as it may have several other potential pervious projects and is most interested in the performance of the newly specified mix. For more information, contact Phil Kresge at pkresge@nrmca.org. 
Engineering
NRMCA participated in the Spring 2024 National Concrete Consortium meeting in Birmingham, AL, on April 8 - 10. The event was attended by more than 250 state highway, federal highway, and industry personnel. Highlights include:
The NRMCA Annual Concrete Technologist Training and Certification Program (Short Course) is scheduled for September 9 - 13 at a location in Maryland near Baltimore. Interested persons can register for the course and will be informed when the location is finalized. The number of available slots is limited. The Technical Short Course provides a fundamental understanding of concrete, aggregates and concrete-making materials; requirements in industry codes and standards, and proportioning concrete mixtures. Attendees have the opportunity to obtain industry-recognized NRMCA certifications: NRMCA Level 2 and 3 Concrete Technologist certification. The course is intended for quality, sales and other personnel with a technical role with ready mixed concrete companies and suppliers to the industry. New hires in these roles can also benefit from attending. A significant amount of technical content requires attendees to have a basic concrete technology background and at least a high-school level of math. Registrants will be provided with pre-course study content about 3 weeks before the course to prepare. Information on the NRMCA Short Course is available here. Contact Jeff Bowers for assistance with registering for the course. 
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