ACI Foundation Celebrates New Trustees and Re-Election of an Existing Trustee

4/22/2025

The ACI Foundation is pleased to announce the election of new Trustees and the re-election of an existing Trustee to its Board. The Trustees elected new Trustee— Michael J. Schneider, who will serve as Chair of Trustees, and re-elected Trustee— Khaled Awad. New ACI Vice President, Matthew R. Sherman, also joins the Trustees as part of his new role. They join Jeffrey Coleman, Scott M. Anderson, Frederick Grubbe, Keith Kesner, David Lange, and Brett McMahon on the ACI Foundation Board of Trustees.

Michael J. Schneider, FACI, was Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at Baker Construction, in Monroe, OH, USA, and celebrated 46 years with Baker in 2024. He recently retired and currently resides in Albuquerque New Mexico and is President of Michael Schneider Consulting, LLC. He also serves on the Board of Directors for NEU: An ACI Center of Excellence for Carbon Neutral Concrete and PRO: An ACI Center of Excellence for Advancing Productivity.

Schneider has been a member of ACI since 1981, served as President from 2016 to 2017, and is a member of the Concrete International Award Committee and ACI Committees S801, Student Competitions; 132, Responsibility in Concrete Construction; and 134, Concrete Constructability; as well as Joint ACI-ASCC Committee 117, Tolerances. He has also served on the ACI Financial Advisory Committee and is Past President of the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC).

Schneider was named a Fellow of ACI in 2006. He received the 2011 ACI Roger H. Corbetta Concrete Constructor Award and the 2021 ACI Foundation Knowledge to Practice Award.

Schneider has been highly engaged and has served the ACI Foundation and its councils for over a decade, most recently as past Chair of the ACI Foundation. He is past Chair of the Strategic Development Council (SDC) (now the Concrete Innovation Council [CIC]), a longtime member of the Concrete Research Council (CRC), and has worked with the Scholarship Council on ensuring recurring commitments for the three Baker fellowships since their inception in 2008. He has also served on the ACI Foundation Development Committee. In that role, he secured over 40,000 USD for the ACI Foundation by using his network with the ACI Greater Miami Valley Chapter to match the ACI Foundation annual appeal 2 years in a row. He recently met with several ACI Past Presidents to discuss the growth, opportunities, and programs of the ACI Foundation. Schneider has worked to engage the ACI Board of Direction and ACI Foundation Board of Trustees to help secure 100% Board giving and personally contributes every year to the Foundation. He continues to help build and sustain a culture of philanthropy within the organization through cultivation and stewardship while dedicating time and attention to helping students, researchers, and innovation in the concrete industry.

Khaled Awad, FACI, is the Chairman and Founder of ACTS, a concrete technology, material testing and geotechnical consulting firm operating in India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Mozambique, Rwanda, Kenya and several other countries of the Middle East and Africa. He is the past president of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) for the year 2017-2018. He received the ACI Henry L. Kennedy Award in 2007. and was elected in 2024 as an ACI Honorary Member. Awad is also a Trustee of the ACI Foundation.

He is an active member of ACI, serving several technical and board committees. He is a founding member of ACI 130, the committee on Sustainability.

Awad worked in the real estate and construction industry in the Arabian Gulf for more than 35 years. He was the Founder and CEO of various construction and real estate companies, dealing with the supply chain and information technology side of the industry, as well as the development of large-scale projects. Awad was also a board member of IAS (International Accreditation Service) for the period 2020-2023.

Awad was the Founding Director of Property Development at the Masdar Initiative. Masdar is a multi-faceted initiative advancing the development, commercialization and deployment of renewable and alternative energy technologies and solutions. He oversaw the development of emission free Masdar City, the world’s first development aiming to become carbon neutral.

He received his BE in civil engineering from the American University, Beirut, Lebanon, and his MA in business administration from the Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon. Awad is also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and ASTM International, and a Fellow of the UK Institute of Concrete Technology.

Matthew R. Sherman, FACI, is Senior Principal with Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH), a nationwide consulting engineering firm, and has more than 25 years of experience in consulting and heavy construction throughout the United States.

Sherman has specialized in concrete and construction materials throughout his entire career in consulting and construction. At SGH, he supports company-wide materials and construction-related projects. His work includes evaluating existing structures; assessing and evaluating concrete materials, corrosion, and alkali-silica reaction (ASR); evaluating and repairing specialized structures, such as stadia, ice rinks, and swimming pools; designing and evaluating bonded toppings and overlays; and evaluating and supporting construction operations. At SGH, he has led notable projects such as restoring the University of Notre Dame Stadium, designing overlay repairs, and investigating concrete performance issues. Prior to joining SGH, he was a Project Engineer at J.F. White, where he oversaw the underpinning of the existing elevated structure in Boston’s North End for Contract C15A1 during the “Big Dig.”

Sherman is a Fellow of ACI and the International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI). An ACI committee member since 2010, Sherman is Chair of the ACI Membership Committee and a member of the ACI Board of Direction, the Fellows Nomination Committee, and ACI Committees 201, Durability of Concrete; 228, Nondestructive Testing of Concrete; and 349, Concrete Nuclear Structures; as well as on the Executive Committee Task Group on Outlook 2040. He served as Chair of the Membership and Financial Activities Committee. Sherman is also active with ICRI, where he serves on multiple committees and as Chair of the Technical Activities Committee.

Sherman received his BS in civil engineering from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA, in 1991, and his MS in civil engineering (structural) from The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, in 1993. He is a licensed professional engineer in multiple states and two Canadian provinces.

Learn more at ACIFoundation.org

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stacey.mccann@acifoundation.org
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ACI Foundation | Building the Future
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The ACI Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports a wide range of research and educational initiatives that contribute to keeping the concrete industry at the forefront of technological advances in material composition, design, and construction. We engage with industry partners, invest in students and research, share knowledge, and provide programs to encourage innovation and new technology. The American Concrete Institute established the ACI Foundation in 1989 to promote progress, innovation, and collaboration in the industry.

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