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Mentoring, Friendship, and Giving Back

2/3/2020

I suspect that everyone involved in ACI has had concrete-industry mentors who have provided opportunities and wise counsel. I know that for me, at the beginning of my career, it was Professors John Breen, Ramon Carrasquillo, Jim Jirsa, the late Ned Burns, Dick Furlong, and David Fowler at the University of Texas at Austin who were not only my teachers, but also provided me with sage advice about my potential career and served as role models in what it means to be a good person. And if you ask each of them, they will undoubtedly tell you that they each had great mentors who guided them in their studies and careers. It is as if the ACI membership follows an "apostolic succession" in which each great career in the concrete industry is built from the great careers of one's mentors.

As I advanced in my career, I met and worked with individuals who have afforded me great opportunities as a structural engineer. For example, early in my career, I worked for the late Morris Schupack and Mario Suarez. When I first started attending ACI conventions, Grant Halvorsen provided me the opportunity to get my feet wet in technical committee work by appointing me Secretary of ACI Committee 224, Cracking. Ed Nawy, who is the father of Committee 224, has provided me inspiration and encouragement throughout my career. My work with Grant and Ed eventually led me to be appointed Chair of the committee. As I joined other committees and authored numerous chapters of guides and reports, Terry Holland took note and I was selected to be on the Technical Activities Committee (TAC).

During my tenure on TAC, I had the opportunity to work closely not only with Terry, but with Sharon Wood, Jack Moehle, the late Brian Hope, Nick Carino, David Sanders, the late Dan Falconer, Ron Burg, and many others. The camaraderie of this group is unmatched in my career. We worked hard, but we also played hard: including golf in Sun Valley, ID, and bike rides in Maine's Acadia National Park. We also learned new things that were not about concrete: in Bar Harbor, ME, I had my first vegan meal at the insistence of Sharon Wood. My time on TAC gave me tremendous admiration of the process that ACI undertakes in developing technical documents—they are thoroughly vetted by experts representing all areas of the concrete industry. The rigorous review process is a key reason that ACI documents represent the best knowledge in the world on a given topic about concrete.

I have had many colleagues at ACI who have become good friends and supporters of my work in ACI and of my career. In addition to those previously mentioned, these include Tom Schaeffer, Basile Rabbat, Keith Kesner, Robert Frosch, Mike Kreger, and Julio Ramirez. All these folks have had tremendous success in their careers and at ACI, and I am proud to have them as friends. These friendships have meant so much to me.

I also must thank my partners at Pivot Engineers—Mike Ahern, Dylan Freytag, and Aaron Sterns—for allowing me the time away from work to be President of ACI this year. Taking time to be President comes at a cost, especially to a small consulting firm. Other senior colleagues at Pivot, including Ali Abu-Yosef and Aaron Larosche, have been very supportive of my year as President.

Family members and friends outside of my ACI world often ask, "You don't get paid, so why do you give so much of your time to that group?" For outsiders who don't know what ACI is and what it does, that is not an unreasonable question. The quick answer is that ACI members who work tirelessly on technical documents and develop educational and certification programs are giving back to an industry and an organization that have been influential in their careers. We are a part of a global community that is making the built environment of concrete better and safer.

A more thoughtful answer might be that ACI represents a place for members, both at chapter meetings and at conventions, to meet, work, and enjoy personal relationships with individuals who have become (or will soon be) life long colleagues and friends. Even in a "concrete" world, such intangible compensation may be the greatest reward!

Randall W. Poston

ACI President