News Detail

Holding True to Our Mission

5/2/2016

I am truly honored and humbled to have been elected as the 93rd President of ACI. I thank the Institute, and you the members, for this privilege to serve. As I look at the list of ACI Past Presidents, I am aware that I have some very large shoes to fill. They collectively had the vision, wisdom, and fortitude to help create what ACI is today. You are probably wondering—who is Mike Schneider? I was born in 1952 in Cincinnati, OH. I am the oldest of six boys and pretty much fit the stereotype of a "baby boomer." My dad was an Electrical Engineer and my mom was a Registered Nurse. They taught us the value of hard work, the need for financial management, and the rewards of helping others. I worked for six summers at Camp Myron Kahn, a Boy Scout camp near Oxford, OH. Visiting Oxford on our weekly night off, I decided that Miami University was where I wanted to go to college. I graduated in 1974 with a BS in personnel management.

After my junior year of college, I worked as a laborer for Fenton Rigging Company in Cincinnati, starting what has turned out to be a lifelong passion for construction. Upon graduation from Miami, I went to work for Fenton Rigging doing cost accounting but was part of a management training program. I eventually moved into an operations role at Fenton Rigging and attended my first ACI Chapter meeting in Cincinnati in 1976, where I saw a young concrete finisher giving a demonstration on proper finishing techniques. That young finisher was Dan Baker, who later became ACI’s President in 2001-2002.

I was formally introduced to Dan Baker in 1977 at a Cincinnati Reds baseball game and set up a lunch with him the following year in regards to making a donation to the Boy Scouts. That lunch turned out to be life changing—I left with a $500 check for the Boy Scouts and a job offer with the company where I met my wife!

I went to work for Baker Cement (the name of the company changed to Baker Concrete in 1981) on April 3, 1978, running field operations. Baker, at that time, had 70 field co-workers. Four of those were carpenters who did prep work for slabs and everyone else was involved in placing and finishing slabs or doing site work (sidewalks and curbs). All our work was in Southwest OH and Northern KY, with one project in Columbus, OH. I started attending the Greater Miami Valley Chapter – ACI and became a board member. I had the pleasure of serving on the board with Ken Hover (ACI President 2011-2012) before he went to Cornell University.

In 1981, I remember having dinner with Bill Phelan (Euclid Chemical) and the discussion was why Baker Concrete should be involved in ACI on a national level. I officially joined ACI in July 1981. I attended my first ACI convention in San Diego, CA, in 1989, when Dan Baker asked me to be the moderator for a technical session.

In 1996, Luke Snell asked me to join ACI Committee S801, Student Activities; this was my first ACI committee. Luke was the Chair, and some of the members at the time were Mike Basehart, Vicki Brown, Debbie (Cagley) Orsak, Doug Hooton, Kelly Page, and Bill Rushing—not a bad group to be associated with. I have attended ACI conventions on a regular basis since then and am constantly amazed at the dedication and professionalism of our members. The networking opportunities are limitless, and I have developed many personal and professional relationships.

My involvement in ACI started at the Chapter level, and I believe that our Chapter network is the backbone of the Institute. I hope to fortify the relationships between the Chapters and the national organization.

I also believe ACI needs to place more emphasis on educating contractors and providing opportunities for them. I will ask my fellow contractors to become more involved with ACI committees concerned with better constructibility. It is only through the consistent engagement of the construction community that we will be able to better design and build the future.

One of my personal goals this year is to be your servant leader. Like those who have gone before me and those who will come after me, I will do my best to represent you and our Institute. We need to make sure that we hold true to our mission of "developing and disseminating consensus-based knowledge on concrete and its uses" through the continued implementation of our 2013 Strategic Plan. I am looking forward to an exciting year.

Michael J. Schneider