News Detail

Examining the Past-Envisioning the Future

5/1/2005

I would like to begin by thanking ACI for the opportunity to be your President. First, I'll tell you a little about my background. I grew up and attended school in Waterloo, IA. I am proud to be the second ACI President to come from my high school. Bob Mast was the first alumnus of West High to be the President of ACI.

After graduating in architectural engineering from Iowa State in the late 1950s, I held several jobs in the first year. I then worked 7 years in Madison, WI; 7 years in Houston, TX; and the last 32 years in Rockville, MD (close to Washington, DC) with the exception of 2 years in Los Angeles in the early 1980s.

My interest in structural design of concrete goes back to my college days. I was fortunate to have a course in Ultimate Strength Design of Concrete in 1958, and actually never used Working Stress Design. In Madison in 1959, I worked on my first post-tensioned structure and many other significant concrete buildings in my time there. In Houston, I also had a wonderful opportunity to design many concrete structures, including my first international project, the University of Petroleum and Minerals, in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

It was in Houston that I joined ACI in 1968 and found ACI chapter meetings to be the gathering place for structural engineers. I was fortunate to be President of the ACI Houston Chapter in the early 1970s.

My serious professional activities within ACI started in 1973, the same year that we started our firm in Rockville, MD. That was the year that I first became a member of ACI Committee 318, Structural Concrete Building Code. It was overwhelming to a relatively young fella like me to sit in the same room and to vote with some of the real icons of our industry. Watching and listening to Phil Ferguson, George Winter, and Chet Seiss discuss an issue was a great learning experience. At an ACI convention, the opportunity to learn is not restricted to the meeting rooms. I believe that you can learn as much, if not more, from the conversations in the halls outside those meeting rooms.

My professional life has involved many other associations. One of my most satisfying personal accomplishments was being one of the founders and the first President of the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA). I believe that the professional activity for which I will be remembered is my chairmanship of ACI 318 for the 1999 and 2002 codes.

Why have I told you all of this? Because I want you to know what I bring to the table as President of ACI. As I said when I started my term as Chair of 318, I'm not the smartest guy in the room, but I don't have to be. My job is to get things done using the best minds available in ACI. We at ACI are blessed with a great and dedicated staff as well as volunteers (ACI members) who give and give of themselves and their time.

Throughout this year, some of the President's Memos will be devoted to my Presidential Objectives. Briefly, they are as follows:

• Implement a strategy for improving the involvement of more and younger folks in ACI activities. We have a lot of us "old guys" and we need more "young blood."
• Continue developing ACI's international role. I was fortunate to have had the chance to help President Jim Jirsa initiate his efforts in 2000. We are seeing the results with increased participation in our conventions. A Third International Workshop on Structural Concrete in the Americas is planned this fall in New Orleans prior to our convention.
• Continue ACI's Electronic Communications Initiative. This activity is moving quickly. Some of us either need to hold on or get out of the way.
• Reach out to the concrete constructors to improve their participation in ACI. I intend to keep the door open and to let them know that we want them to come in.
• Expand ACI's working relationship with other technical societies. We already have two initiatives in process with ASCE and will be seeking opportunities with other groups.
• Expand ACI's Fellowship program. We must keep pumping life ($) into Dan Baker's initiative if we want it to succeed. As Dan used to like to say, we need "the best and the brightest."

Again, thank you for this opportunity. I will endeavor to do the best that I possibly can for ACI. This industry has been very good to me and I enjoy giving something back.

James R. Cagley, President
American Concrete Institute

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