Is it how much money he earned? How great his business grew? How many possessions he accumulated?
Charlie Luck IV, president and CEO of Luck Companies, explores this age-old question while reflecting on his father, Charles Luck III. To Luck IV, the makeup of a man’s success in life comes down to something far more meaningful.
“The things that really matter are the relationships and the impacts you have on others,” he says. “That’s what’s going to outlive you. That’s what your legacy is really going to be about. How did you engage people?”
Luck Stone, one of the largest producers of crushed stone in the nation, was founded on the philosophy that “if you do right by your people, they will do right by you.” Luck III carried on that tradition from his father and reinterpreted the company’s values during his tenure as president and CEO.
In an era of command and control leadership, Luck III adopted the phrase “we care” and lived it at his organization.
“We’ve always had a mindset of treating people right,” says Luck III, whose company’s headquarters is based outside of Richmond, Virginia. “Our greatest asset is our people. People have asked me over the years why we have been as successful as we have been. I say it’s simple: the people who work for us.”
A leadership precedent set forth by his father, Charles Luck Jr., people are Luck III’s priority. For more than 60 years, he’s instituted visionary methods to develop people and open doors for people in the communities he serves.
“You leave it better than you found it,” says Cynthia L. Haw, daughter of Charles Luck III. “I think that’s something he’s really worked on doing with Luck Stone. They’re trying to leave the world, our environment, a better place than what it is. I feel like that is something that can go across the board, not just in business but it can be in your personal life, at the office or wherever you are.”
Luck’s career
Charles S. Luck III, left, joins his father, Charles Luck Jr., in the Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame. Luck Jr. was enshrined in the Hall’s inaugural class in 2013. Photo courtesy of Luck Companies
Before joining his father in the family business, Luck III graduated in 1955 from Virginia Military Institute and served in the United States Air Force for two years following graduation. He resigned as a first lieutenant.
Luck III began his career with the company nearly 30 years after his father established Luck Stone.
“My dad was my mentor, a person I had an extremely close relationship with,” he says. “At an early age he gave me a lot of insights on how to live a good life [and] leadership. He was a people person. He loved people, cared about people. He was a very giving person.”
When Luck III started at Luck Stone, he worked in a number of capacities. He was named president and CEO in 1965, leading the company through three decades of expansion and innovation during his tenure.
In the early 1970s, Luck Stone demonstrated its leadership as a technological pioneer with the implementation of computerized ticketing at sales offices. Later that decade, the company developed fully automated, unattended crushing plants.
Today, Luck III continues to serve Luck Companies as chairman of the board while his son leads the company as president and CEO. The company operates 24 facilities, employs 680 people and will celebrate its centennial in another five years.
“I hope that if I reach his point in life that I have the same open-mindedness, supportiveness [and] progressive mindset that Dad has, particularly around people. At the end of the day that’s what our company is all about,” Luck IV says.
Luck III has been an industry leader beyond just his company. He has held leadership positions in many of the industry’s associations. He was a past chairman of the National Stone Association, as well as a past president of the Virginia Aggregates Association.
Always giving back
In addition to being highly dedicated to the aggregate industry, Luck III is one who has poured himself into the community.
He’s volunteered his time to a number of organizations, including the capital campaign for the Children’s Museum of Richmond, which he served as co-chairman. Luck III also served Mary Baldwin College as chairman of the board of trustees.
“He’s continued to be the great leader that he has been, whether it’s at Luck Stone, in the community or within our family,” says Terrell L. Harrigan, daughter of Luck III. “His patience, integrity, care and also his honesty… he tries to live [those] values. That is shown when he is able to support causes that he believes in.”
The members of the 2017 class join 20 other industry leaders who were previously enshrined in the Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame.
Representing Bartlett at the ceremony were his son, Wes Bartlett, daughter-in-law Tricia Bartlett and grandson Jonathan Bartlett. Wes and Jonathan delivered acceptance remarks on behalf of the beloved former president of the National Stone Association (NSA), who died early last year. Bartlett served NSA from 1986 to 1997.
“I’m honored on behalf of my dad,” Wes says. “[Robert Bartlett] was very passionate about this industry. He would love to see all of you take it to the next level and continue on with his legacy.”
Detwiler joined his son, Paul Detwiler III, in the Hall of Fame, making the two the first father-and-son duo represented within it. Considered the ultimate quarry operator by his peers, Paul Jr. was instrumental in expanding his company into one of the top aggregate producers in the United States.
Snyder, who spent several years at New Enterprise following New Enterprise’s acquisition of Eastern Industries, enters the Hall of Fame following a 40-year career in the aggregate industry. Appreciated for a management style that created well-grounded and highly committed teams, Snyder was vital to the efforts that led to the successful merger of NSA and the National Aggregates Association (NAA) in 2000.
Towe, who also played a role in bringing NSA and NAA together, enters the Hall of Fame nearly two decades after he helped bring to life The Rocks Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. The gallery features an interactive exhibit that illustrates how rocks are vital to the everyday lives of the general public, emerging at a time when the public knew very little about the aggregate industry.
The grandparents were schoolteachers. So were the parents and a sister.
But Mark Towe did not follow in the family footsteps. At least not in the occupational sense.
Towe, who currently serves CRH Americas as chairman, took an interest in the aggregate industry 46 years ago after spending a summer as a scale operator at a Vulcan Materials Co. quarry. At the time, Towe had no idea those few months in Manassas, Virginia, would someday steer him into the operational ranks at Vulcan and later the executive ranks at Meridian Aggregates Co. and Oldcastle Inc.
At the outset of his career, Towe also couldn’t have realized the impact he would eventually have on the aggregate industry in capacities he would fill outside of the companies he served. Over the years, Towe’s influence not only guided those who reported to him, but the leaders of other aggregate-producing companies as well.
In instances with industry leaders, Towe’s influence was felt largely through national association work that was geared toward the greater good of the industry, including the development in 1998 of the Rocks Build America Foundation.
The foundation project, which Towe spearheaded from an industry standpoint, brought to life The Rocks Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. The gallery features an interactive exhibit that illustrates how rocks are vital to the everyday lives of the general public, emerging at a time when the public knew very little about the aggregate industry.
“Mark strengthened the integrity of our industry and established credibility through the Smithsonian Institution,” says Rick Feltes, a Pit & Quarry Hall of Famer who built a career for himself at family-owned Feltes Sand & Gravel. “That spoke volumes to the United States and the world that we were an industry people needed to know.”
Setting a foundation
Mark Towe’s career has taken him to Vulcan Materials Co., Meridian Aggregates Co. and Oldcastle Inc.
Consider, too, that Towe tackled such projects while helping to build Oldcastle into one of the top aggregate companies in the nation. But the work Towe did and the successes he ultimately achieved came after years of experiences. He started from the ground up at that Vulcan scale house and even learned some life lessons in the U.S. Army along the way.
In fact, after first serving Vulcan during the summer of 1971, the Vietnam War draft lottery pulled Towe away from the company and into the Army for nearly two years. While Towe was not deployed, he met a number of people in the military who proved influential to him.
“It really helped my career,” Towe says. “I worked alongside people with diverse backgrounds, and we worked as a team. That experience taught me an invaluable skill.”
Upon his discharge, Towe returned to Vulcan and ran a company office. Later, he participated in an 18-month Vulcan training program that laid the foundation for his work to come. The program exposed Towe to areas ranging from accounting to blasting.
The company provided other opportunities for Towe to learn and grow as well.
“They had great operational people,” says Towe, who often turned to longtime Vulcan executive Bill Grayson for advice. “If you had the skillset to listen, you would learn from some great people.”
From Grayson, Towe took away the value of molding good employees.
“He (Grayson) had a vision for good people,” Towe says. “He could see talent. He was very patient, but he was stern too. If you went in the wrong direction, he’d call you out in a positive way. He also made it clear that you couldn’t do certain things if you want to be successful.”
The next phase
By 1987, having dedicated 15 years to Vulcan, Towe departed on a new journey at Meridian Aggregates Co. The decision to leave Vulcan was a difficult one, but the job at Meridian, a startup company, was a unique one.
“I was 37 years old,” Towe says. “The executive who came to me said, ‘I don’t know much about the aggregate business, but you have a great reputation and I’ll provide you what you need to do to build this company.’”
So, Towe moved to Denver and helped to launch the company, which was a subsidiary of Burlington Northern. Perhaps Towe’s biggest takeaway at Meridian, which he served as CEO, was the value of the customer.
“Our largest customer was the railroad, and they were demanding but fair,” Towe says. “I used to take the concept for granted because I was an operational guy, but the customer really makes your business successful.”
At Meridian, Towe also learned the value of a board of directors. He learned to take their advice related to developing a strategic vision.
“Sometimes, you get so close to the business that you don’t even see it,” he says. “But most outside directors don’t know the details of the business. I always try to tap into their ideas and suggestions.”
Towe’s tenure at Meridian extended into the mid-1990s, when Oldcastle engaged his company in discussions about purchasing Meridian.
“I used to compete against Oldcastle at Meridian and had a good experience with them,” Towe says. “We used to compete against Oldcastle in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas. They were a small company at the time headquartered in Los Angeles.”
Ultimately, Meridian bought the Oldcastle assets in those states. But Towe saw how honest and professional Oldcastle’s representatives were as negotiators.
“I remember thinking this is a company that is going to go somewhere, which they did,” Towe says.
A company’s growth
By 1997, Towe had joined Oldcastle, the North American arm of CRH, as COO of the Oldcastle Materials Group. He arrived a year after CRH’s $323 million purchase of Tilcon, which, at the time, represented the company’s largest acquisition. The transaction provided Towe the opportunity to dive right into a major transition of an acquired company.
“The largest challenge was the transition from a big acquisition and how the company blends into the system,” he says.
Oldcastle’s interest in local autonomy – allowing acquired companies to retain their name and brand – has always been a little bit of a different approach. But the more Towe thought about that approach in his early years at Oldcastle, the more he embraced the concept.
“Aggregate companies are local businesses,” he says. “They have good reputations, and if they didn’t have a good reputation or good people then we wouldn’t buy them to start with. But that name means something.”
Names represent heritages, some of which stretch back a century or more. And heritage, Towe says, is something to appreciate.
Still, the integration of a smaller company into a larger one requires two companies to really understand one another. Developing that understanding is essential to integration, Towe says.
“You have to be very sensitive to what an acquired company thinks,” he says, “but they also reap the benefits of having a big, powerful, financially backed company that can help an acquired company be better at what they’re doing. From day one, we tell the ownership we acquired that safety is the No. 1 priority for us. Also, as part of a public company, they will have to adhere to our accounting and IT systems.”
At the same time, the acquisition of a new aggregate-producing company by Oldcastle means the acquisition of best practices that can benefit others. Towe helped to share best approaches across Oldcastle companies through five best practices committees, including those dedicated to aggregate, asphalt, equipment, ready-mix and safety.
The committees distributed key information across the company in an effective, organized fashion.
“You find out that some of the other companies may be more efficient than you were,” says Towe, who became president of the Oldcastle Materials Group in 2000 and CEO in 2006. “The idea is to sit down at the table and discuss what’s working and what doesn’t. The [committees] afforded the chance to meet new people and tour operations you wouldn’t otherwise have had the opportunity to see.”
Leading the Oldcastle Materials Group to new heights in the mid-2000s, Towe was promoted as chief executive of Oldcastle Inc. and appointed to the CRH plc board of directors in 2008. He was named chairman of CRH Americas in 2016.
“It was a great opportunity for me to get involved in the international side of CRH which now has businesses in 31 countries and employs over 89,000 people worldwide,” says Towe, referring to his appointment to the CRH board.
Lasting legacy
The years in which Towe served the Oldcastle Materials Group were also some of the years in which he made his greatest impact on the aggregate industry at large. However, Towe’s efforts to improve the overall industry through involvement in the National Stone Association (NSA) go back as far as his days at Vulcan and Meridian.
Bob Bartlett, the former NSA president who joins Towe as a member of the Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame this year, first encouraged Towe to join the association board, which Towe ultimately did.
Towe was involved in a number of NSA (and later National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association) projects over the years, including the International Center of Aggregates Research, based in Texas. Industry peers say Towe was also instrumental in the discussions about merging NSA with the National Aggregates Association.
Towe even served as NSA chairman in 1998, after the transition at the association from Bartlett to Joy (Wilson) Pinniger.
“That was a good year to be chairman in the sense that we had just gotten a six-year highway bill that gave the industry stability,” Towe says. “We had a good future, and a good transition with Joy. I thought it was great to bring somebody in away from the industry.”
Towe’s voice was particularly valuable during association transition periods.
“In terms of the NSA-NAA merger, personalities sometimes clashed,” says Kim Snyder, the former president of Eastern Industries. “Mark was key in helping ease any clashes between people. If it wasn’t for him, God knows where that merger would have gone.
But perhaps even more valuable to the greater aggregate industry was Towe’s commitment to the Rocks Build America Foundation in 1998.
“He was the guy behind all of that,” says Paul Mellott Jr., chairman at Mellott Company. “One of his legacies is the Smithsonian, and he still raises money to continue to tweak it.”
Feltes agrees Towe’s efforts on the Rocks Build America Foundation have served the industry well.
“Our industry was lacking a message, and Mark, through the Smithsonian Institute, was a broadcaster of an image that we didn’t have before his efforts,” Feltes says.
Astoundingly, Towe led the effort in 1998 to raise $5 million for the project – and he raised the funds in only two or three weeks.
“I was really proud that the industry supported the efforts of this project,” Towe says. “We had to get it done – everybody understood that.”
These are two characteristics Kim Snyder has continuously embodied throughout his career in the aggregate industry.
Snyder, the former president of Eastern Industries who today serves on the board of directors at three companies, was the National Stone Association’s (NSA) chairman in 2000 when the association was deciding whether to merge with the National Aggregates Association (NAA). Although merging the two organizations seemed difficult, Snyder maintained his vision of the two becoming one strong, singular voice for the aggregate industry.
“He did a very good job of sticking to the core values and also looking at the big picture of where the industry needed to go in order to have the ability to move it forward,” says Greg Bush, president and CEO at McCarthy Bush Corp. who was one of the co-chairs of NSA at the time of the merger. “We needed more representation at a national level, and he kept people moving toward that vision rather than falling back.”
Snyder has aimed to project his vision among employees and colleagues wherever he’s worked. He especially did this at Eastern Industries.
“He always did what a leader’s supposed to do,” says Paul Mellott Jr., chairman of Mellott Company and a close friend to Snyder. “He had a vision for what the company could be, he opened up that vision to his people and his employees took the company and ran with it.
“Kim’s got a positive, upbeat attitude,” Mellott adds. “And to give you an idea of his work ethic, he promises to return every phone call within eight business hours. And he does. That tells you something about Kim Snyder.”
Learning leadership
Kim Snyder, second from right, during an NSSGA board of directors meeting in 2012.
Snyder grew up in a blue-collar household in upstate New York, and he became the first in his family to go to college upon graduating high school. His high school guidance counselor noticed his aptitude for math and science and encouraged him to study engineering in college.
“To be honest, I didn’t know entirely what he meant by engineering at first,” Snyder admits. “However, I’ve always been one open to new opportunities available to me.”
After receiving a degree in engineering, Snyder began work in the aggregate industry as an engineer for companies such as Dravo Corp. and Koppers Co. He went back to school to receive an MBA in 1982 before transitioning to the business side of the industry in 1991, when Genstar appointed him as vice president of aggregate operations.
“He was a really good administrator,” says Bernie Grove, former president at Genstar who hired Snyder. “A personable individual. When I stepped up from operations manager to president, he took operations over and he did a good job.”
Snyder dubs Grove as one of his first mentors, as he helped him navigate the business side of the industry.
“Prior to him, I had always received mentoring on the technical side of things,” Snyder says. “But Bernie raised the bar for me. He was the one who helped me to understand political action and community relations.”
Grove’s prodding prompted Snyder to get involved in the industry on a national level in NSA and the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association. Grove also encouraged him to develop relationships with elected officials at both the state and national levels.
Outside of association involvement, Grove entrusted Snyder to help coordinate business for Genstar with Redland Co., the company’s owner in the United Kingdom. Although there were a few conflicts between the two groups, Snyder peacefully handled relations between the two during his time at Genstar.
“He was particularly good with people,” Grove says. “It took somebody who really could roll with the punches to work through the difficulties.”
Mediating a merger
Snyder left Genstar in 1995 to become president of Eastern Industries, but he always kept Grove’s advice about industry involvement and lobbying in mind. He remained heavily involved in NSA, moving up the ladder of association leadership.
Snyder’s mediating skills from his time at Genstar came in handy as he moved his way up the chairs at NSA in the late 1990s, as that was when the association was negotiating a merger with NAA.
“There were two leaders with two philosophies,” Bush says of the merger discussions. “It took a lot of work for the two to come together.”
Snyder notes that NSA tended to be more business-oriented while NAA placed a bigger emphasis on the social aspects of the association. Despite the differences between the two groups, Snyder continuously watched and listened in on the discussions leading up to the merger to determine a formula to make the alliance work. He also maintained a good relationship with Mike Hayes, chairman of NAA in 2000, in order to move things forward.
“They were friends,” Mellott says. “They got beyond the problems we had and pursued merging to one association. Kim was really involved in that, and it was a major step for us to take as an industry.”
The two associations officially merged June 19, 2000, into what is today known as the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA). Snyder described that day as “historic” for the industry in an August 2000 article in Pit & Quarry.
After the merger, Snyder continued to contribute to NSSGA in different capacities. Most notably, he helped to lead discussions on co-hosting AGG1 Aggregates Academy & Expo with the World of Asphalt, as he was also involved in chair positions with the National Asphalt Pavement Association. By 2010, the two groups officially co-hosted their events.
“I was a cheerleader for that,” he says. “It’s been a great success for both groups.”
Lobbying efforts
Since his time at Genstar, Snyder also remained committed to connecting with politicians as Grove taught him.
“[Grove] said to me, ‘Look, your largest customer is the government and you should do customer relations with them like anyone else,’” Snyder says. “He helped me to develop relationships with elected officials both at the state and national level.”
Snyder became a proponent of grassroots efforts, particularly during his time at Eastern Industries. He hosted a number of meet-and-greets with legislators at the company’s locations and involved all of his employees in the events.
“If I get employees involved in a team of six to eight of them talking to legislators, the legislators’ eyes might then be opened to our concerns,” Snyder says.
Snyder has also befriended some legislators, like Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. To this day, he remains a good friend to Toomey, keeping in contact with him and his family.
Many in the industry also know Snyder for his work with ROCKPAC, the association’s political action committee. For the past decade, Snyder has teamed with Mellott to go onstage during the ROCKPAC fundraising event.
“We dress up in costumes each year to portray different characters and just have fun with it,” Mellott says. “We make people laugh, and that’s Kim at his finest.”
The conversations typically lasted only five or 10 minutes, but George Sidney came to expect them from time to time when Paul Detwiler Jr. was in the area.
“He (Detwiler) would be driving around, and he would call me to ask if I was in the office,” says Sidney, president and COO of McLanahan Corp., based in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. “He wanted to stop by.”
When a phone call like this came, a quarry project of some sort was likely on the mind of Detwiler, now chairman of the board at Pennsylvania-based New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co. Inc. Soon after making the call, Detwiler would pull into the parking lot outside of Sidney’s office, and the two would talk.
“He’d say, ‘I’m thinking about doing this,’” Sidney says. “And he’d ask, ‘What do you think about that?’ We’d have a little discussion. He’d never even shut off his car. He’d jump in his car and go.”
On one occasion, Detwiler wanted to pick Sidney’s brain about mobilizing some rather large equipment within a quarry. A number of similar impromptu conversations were had between the two over the years. The conversations largely centered on equipment innovation.
“He’s such an innovator,” Sidney says of Detwiler. “He’s an equipment guy. He goes into a plant and he’s very hands-on. He looks around to see how he can do things better and innovate to do things better. That’s what I’ve always admired about him.”
Conversations like the ones with Sidney are just one way Detwiler seeks solutions. Detwiler is very well-read, says Jim Barley, president of New Enterprise’s West Region. Detwiler, who has served as a director of New Enterprise since 1972, absorbs every morsel of information he can in trade publications and industry books. He is also a regular at trade shows, where he’s shown himself to be on the leading edge of innovation.
“He and his wife Pat regularly attended trade shows worldwide,” Sidney says. “The reason: He was always looking for what was new and innovative. He would be at Bauma every three years. He would be at the quarry show in the U.K. He would come to Coal Prep down in Kentucky looking for innovation.”
As an example of Detwiler’s innovative spirit, New Enterprise had conveyor tail pulleys raised up from the ground on columns years before many other companies did. The approach made cleanup and reliability better.
Detwiler applied his innovative spirit to other areas of operations, as well. How could a process be more efficient? How could a practice be made safer? Where in an operation could improvements be made? These are among the questions Detwiler traditionally raises and for which he’s continuously in the pursuit of answers.
Driven by passion
Paul Detwiler Jr., left, visits with Bernie Grove during a past Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
The innovative solutions Detwiler implements within New Enterprise operations aren’t solely found outside the company, though. By engaging employees within the company’s quarries – everyone from the superintendent to the general laborer – Detwiler is able to glean information that can make the company’s operations better.
“He knows so many of the employees at the plants and at the quarries,” Barley says. “I drive with him through the quarries and the plants, and it’s amazing. He’ll stop and talk to anybody there, any employees. If he’s driving through and you’re close, he’ll pull over and talk to them. That means so much to the employees that he takes the time to do that.”
Sidney agrees.
“He never lost touch with the man on the quarry floor,” Sidney says. “He has always kept his hand in the operations group. He was CEO of the company, chairman of the board, and he was still involved in those day-to-day activities.
“He’s the epitome of a quarry man,” Sidney adds.
Paul Mellott Jr., chairman at Mellott Company and a 2013 Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame inductee, couldn’t agree more.
“”He has great operational skills,” Mellott says. “He understands crushing rock. He loves equipment. He understands it.”
Detwiler also makes time for his employees to this day, at 83 years old, because he is passionate about his work and the people who serve his company. Detwiler still goes to work every day, first to the office and to New Enterprise quarries in the afternoon.
“It’s every day,” Barley says. “He doesn’t miss a day. He comes in on Saturdays, and he does the same thing on Saturdays. He’s in the office in the morning, and he’ll drive around to one of the sites or one of the contract jobs we’re doing, whether it’s bridge construction or a paving project.”
Detwiler’s passion for the aggregate industry is evident, adds Betty O’Neal, an administrative assistant at New Enterprise who has devoted more than 50 years to the company.
“His love is the quarries,” O’Neal says. “He always did like the quarries.”
Highly respected figure
O’Neal’s tenure at New Enterprise stretches back to the days of Detwiler’s father, Paul Detwiler Sr., whom she also served. She has noted similarities between father and son over the years.
“Both of them were very, very nice to work for,” O’Neal says. “They were very dedicated to the company. They both love the quarries and the business. They are definitely quarry people, and both of them went off to the plants.”
The welcoming approach the Detwilers have taken to their employees has only benefited the company, O’Neal adds. Paul Jr. took away some best approaches from his father, and current President and CEO Paul Detwiler III, Paul Jr.’s son, has modeled parts of himself after his father.
“Paul Jr. is an extra special person,” O’Neal says. “If you talk to anybody in the company, they have nothing but respect for him. If he knows your name, he’ll call you by your name. If he doesn’t know your name, he’ll ask who you are. He’s not a boss who wants to be left alone. You can go talk to him if you have something you want to talk over. He’s very interested in what’s going on and what the people have to say.”
The admiration people have for Paul Jr., who helped to grow his company over the years through strategic acquisitions, translates outside of New Enterprise.
“There’s the highest amount of respect from the couple thousand employees we have, the ones who know him that he visits and sees and makes himself available to,” Barley says. “But I see that respect in the industry with people in the same business, albeit in the Pennsylvania Aggregates [and Concrete Association], the National Stone Association or the National [Asphalt] Pavement Association.”
Kim Snyder, the former president at Eastern Industries Inc., which New Enterprise ultimately acquired with the purchase of Stabler Cos. Inc., holds Paul Jr. and the Detwiler family in high regard.
“What a great guy,” Snyder says. “Talk about a family that has been a leader in this industry for decades. Paul [Jr.] carried that on and made sure his son Paul Detwiler III did the same thing. They have been staunch supporters locally and nationally. They’ve always been recognized as some of the great producers.”
Snyder has always appreciated Paul Jr.’s passion for the industry, which he witnessed on more than one occasion.
“The one story I’ll tell you: I was visiting him after the acquisition of Eastern Industries and he showed me his operations,” Snyder says. “We were driving around and around all day. It was 6 or 7 p.m. and Paul says to me, ‘Well, we might need to go back now. It’s my 50th wedding anniversary.’
“I look at him and say, ‘Paul, you’re out in the field on your 50th wedding anniversary?’ He says, ‘Yeah, Pat understands. We’re fine. We’ll celebrate later.’ And his wife did understand. Paul is very passionate about the industry.”
Paul Mellott Jr. stood in awe as Bob Bartlett, National Stone Association (NSA) president, walked the line and greeted NSA committee members as they arrived for a summer meeting at a hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.
The line to check in for this meeting sometime in the mid 1990s probably grew to 30, giving Bartlett the opportunity to spend a few moments with committee members as they waited. As Mellott stood by, he realized Bartlett not only knew each member by name, but he knew the names of members’ spouses and children.
“Only he could do this, and you would marvel at how much this guy knew about all of us and how engaging he was to make you feel that he knew all about you and that he was looking out for you,” says Mellott, chairman at Mellott Company and a 2013 Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame inductee.
Not only did Bartlett look out for NSA members during his 11-year tenure at the association, but he inspired a number of aggregate stakeholders to work together for the betterment of the industry. Bartlett, who died in 2016, taught the industry to be proactive with the Mine Safety & Health Administration, as well as with departments of transportation at the state and national levels. He also brought more producers into NSA, elevating the collective voice crushed-stone producers projected on Capitol Hill.
“He made a big impact with how we learned to get involved in the community and how we learned to make our operations cleaner, safer and more respected,” Mellott says.
In addition, Bartlett broadened the association’s base to recruit operations and sales managers, as well as others, into the organization.
“He transformed the association to be more encompassing,” says Kim Snyder, the former president at Eastern Industries who joins Bartlett in the Hall of Fame as a member of the 2017 class. “It was a stroke of genius. It raised the bar for the association and got more depth as far as participation by different people.”
Unique applicant
Bob Bartlett, far right, presents an award during a National Stone Association convention in the 1980s.
The job Bartlett ultimately earned at NSA in 1986 was a highly coveted position, as 200 applications were received for the opening as president. The opening developed following the consolidation in 1985 of the National Crushed Stone Association (NCSA) and the National Limestone Institute (NLI). The combined organization’s co-presidents, Bill Carter and Jim Williams, retired in March 1986, creating a need for a strong voice at the top of the newly formed NSA.
Bartlett, who had previously served Pennsylvania as secretary of highways, emerged as that voice, joining NSA following a stop as a vice president at Smithco Leasing Inc. and Keystone Acceptance Corp.
“[Bartlett] is a natural leader, he knows our industry well and we are indeed fortunate to have him on board,” says Fred C. Moore, former NSA chairman, in the July 1986 edition of Pit & Quarry.
According to Snyder, Bartlett took the industry to new heights in terms of professionalism during his time at NSA.
“Not that the industry was unprofessional,” Snyder says, “but he was all class and polish.”
Bartlett was also the consummate disciplinarian, as George Sidney, the president and COO at McLanahan Corp., recalls.
“He was a West Point grad and he ran NSA like a general,” Sidney says. “He was a good guy. He was so organized. The man knew what was going to take place before it ever took place because he organized it.”
Working for Bartlett wasn’t an easy assignment, though. Bartlett had very high expectations of his staff, Sidney says, but his approach delivered a number of positive results, including a stronger association financially.
“When I joined, the associations (NCSA and NLI) had only merged for two years,” says Tina Richards, an NSA colleague who joined the association in 1987. “One was much stronger financially than the other, and that was a challenge that had to be overcome. [Bartlett] built up our investment reserves to a point where we didn’t have to worry as much about income.”
Praised for doubling the association’s membership, Bartlett also helped to establish a multimillion-dollar endowment through a partnership with the National Aggregates Association (NAA). The Aggregates Foundation for Technology, Research & Education, which NSA and NAA jointly sponsored, established the Center for Aggregates Research. The center offered the industry the opportunity to influence pavement design based on quality aggregate properties.
Around the same time, Bartlett developed Stonepac, the political action committee that evolved into the modern-day ROCKPAC.
“He started Stonepac in 1992,” Mellott says. “We started very small. He was without a doubt instrumental in getting people to get to know their politician.”
Tone setter
Bartlett also laid some of the very early groundwork for the merger of NSA and NAA. The merger came to fruition a few years after Bartlett’s departure from NSA, although a number of meetings took place during the Bartlett era in an attempt to assess the value of bringing the organizations together.
As former Pit & Quarry Editor Don Michard wrote in August 1987: “What the existing national aggregate producer associations face is a leveling-off in numbers of potential members. The recruiting pool, if not actually shrinking, is certainly not increasing. If aggregate producers are to continue to have effective associations ties, a merger at some near-future date may well be inevitable.”
In March 1992, a Pit & Quarry poll found that 84 percent of the magazine’s readers favored an NSA-NAA merger and considered it in the best interest of the industry. But merger talks ended in 1994 despite years of effort on the parts of Bartlett and others.
Although the NSA-NAA merger is not directly credited to Bartlett, the addition and expansion of NSA awards is largely a credit to his efforts. According to Bernie Grove, an aggregate producer who worked alongside Bartlett as NSA chairman and in other capacities, Bartlett saw value in recognizing operations and individuals who excelled in safety, the environment and other areas.
“Bob was very strong on safety in the industry, which, at one time, had a very poor safety record,” says Grove, who was enshrined in the Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame in 2014.
Bartlett also steered the industry through the 1990s, a decade Grove reflects on as especially challenging economically for the industry.
“The ‘90s were tough times in recession and the highway industry,” he says, “but Bob was a good spokesperson for us.”
Earlier years
Bartlett’s tenure at NSA was far from his first career stop. Born in 1931, Bartlett attended and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1953 with a bachelor of science in engineering. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, serving in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as an officer in Korea and throughout the United States.
After retiring in 1957 as a captain, Bartlett joined Bethlehem Steel Co. as an engineer and labor relations specialist. His career took a unique turn when he became secretary of highways for Pennsylvania and chairman of the state’s highway commission from 1967 to 1970, steering the development of the Keystone State’s extensive highway network.
Later, Bartlett served L.B. Smith Inc. as an executive vice president, where he remained committed to highway advocacy through the Pennsylvania Highway Information Association (PHIA), which he served as president. Bartlett received PHIA’s Transportation Advocate of the Year Award, the organization’s top honor, in 1986 as he transitioned into the next phase of his career at NSA.
“[Bartlett] was controversial at times, but he spoke up and represented the industry extremely well,” Grove says. “I was proud to have known him and proud to have worked with him.”
Aggregates industry leaders gathered March 20, 2016, for the fourth annual Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Dinner in Nashville, Tenn., where Rick Feltes (Feltes Sand & Gravel), Don James (Vulcan Materials) and Steve Zelnak (Martin Marietta) were enshrined as the 2016 class. More than 100 people were in attendance at the black-tie event.
Feltes, James and Zelnak all attended the ceremony at the Omni Nashville Hotel and reflected on their storied careers upon being inducted. The new inductees will be represented in the National Mining Hall of Fame & Museum in Leadville, Colo., along with other Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame members.
Feltes, who grew up in the aggregates industry, was a key figure in the development of the AGG1 Aggregates Academy & Expo, which launched in 2009 alongside World of Asphalt. Well regarded for his dedication to National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA) initiatives, Feltes has served the association in various capacities and as a chairman.
Yet, his investment in NSSGA continued at a high level in the years following his chairmanship because of a drive to help others in the industry succeed. Feltes made sure AGG1 incorporated a mix of educational seminars, site visits and equipment exhibits to attract a wide audience of people from the aggregates industry. AGG1 has grown significantly since its inception, achieving records in 2015 for attendance, exhibitors, exhibit space and education tickets sold.
“This industry has been very kind to me over the years, and I’m honored to be associated with it,” Feltes said.
James, who joined Vulcan Materials in 1992, led one of the largest aggregate producers in the United States for 18 years, significantly expanding the company’s operations throughout the country. He guided Vulcan through periods of strong growth and difficult market downturns, positioning the company in recent years to increase operational efficiencies and maintain disciplined growth.
Under James’ leadership, first as president and then as CEO, Vulcan’s enterprise value grew from $2 billion to about $10 billion; its permitted reserves base doubled from 7.5 billion tons to more than 15 billion tons; and the aggregates facilities it operates increased from 122 to more than 325.
James served as Vulcan’s president from 1996 to 1997 and as CEO from 1997 to 2014.
“One of the wonderful things about this industry is the wonderful people,” James said. “Collectively, we have great affection for and commitment to our employees, communities and environments in which we operate.”
Zelnak, whose career in the aggregates industry began in 1974, grew Martin Marietta revenues from $450 million to more than $2.2 billion during his tenure as the company’s CEO. He joined Martin Marietta Corp. in 1981 as vice president of planning and business development for its aggregates company. And he was quickly promoted, taking on a role as president in 1982.
Zelnak was elected an officer of the parent corporation in 1989, and he was promoted to president of the company’s Materials Group in 1991. In 1994, as president and CEO, Zelnak led a transition for Martin Marietta as a publicly traded corporation on the New York Stock Exchange. He was elected chairman of the company’s board of directors in 1997 and was responsible for more than 70 acquisitions, broadening the company’s geographic footprint.
Zelnak also devised and implemented a unique long-haul distribution strategy, making Martin Marietta a leader in rail- and water-distributed aggregates products.
“As I spent more time in the business it became clear this is a very special industry and one I’ve been blessed to be in,” Zelnak said. “It’s an industry of people who are the backbone of America. I couldn’t have crafted a better script for my life and career.”
In addition to Feltes, James and Zelnak, the induction ceremony brought two other members of the Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame to Nashville. In attendance were Paul Mellott, Mellott Co.; and Paul Detwiler III, New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co. Mark Deister, grandson of Hall of Famer Emil Deister, also attended the ceremony.
The induction ceremony was supported by a number of sponsor companies. Gold Sponsors of the 2016 Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame are Haver & Boecker, Kleemann/Wirtgen Group, Terex Minerals Processing Systems and Weir Minerals. Silver sponsors are Am Cast, CDE Global and Philippi-Hagenbuch. NSSGA also played a supporting role in the Hall of Fame.
The additions of Feltes, James and Zelnak take the total number of Hall of Fame inductees to 20. Pit & Quarry established its Hall of Fame in 2012 as a way to pay tribute to the pioneers of the past and the present-day industry leaders. Nominations are currently being accepted for future inductees here.
Aggregate producers, manufacturers, suppliers, dealers, association and allied trade representatives are all eligible for induction to the Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame. A neutral board comprised of various industry segments reviews all nominations and determines which individuals earn induction.
Steve Zelnak had a vision, one that would reshape the distribution dynamics of construction materials at Martin Marietta Materials Inc.
Unfortunately for Zelnak, few others, if any, initially shared his vision.
“I was the only person in our company and in the industry at the time who appeared to have a global view of distribution,” says Zelnak, a former president, CEO and chairman of the board at Martin Marietta. “I had to spend a lot of time educating people in our company about the opportunities, because the opportunities weren’t intuitively obvious.”
Executing a vision
Zelnak, who joined the Martin Marietta Corp. in 1981 as vice president of planning and development, saw numerous opportunities for growth. Specifically, Zelnak saw viable markets along U.S. coastlines and 30 miles inland where populations were increasing and construction materials were lacking.
“If you consider the coastline from North Carolina all the way around to the Mexican border and look at a geology map, there’s very little aggregate and, in most cases, no aggregate in those areas,” Zelnak says. “You had growing populations as far as I could see.”
In his vision, Zelnak sought to increase Martin Marietta’s reserves in every market from North Carolina to the Mexican border, and to serve the company’s markets by rail and sea. Still, Zelnak’s view of distribution was largely unheard of in the 1990s. Zelnak had to sell others on his strategy, and he faced opposition in doing so.
“There were definitely arrows flung, particularly about expanding in coastal areas,” says Anne Lloyd, who currently serves Martin Marietta as executive vice president and CFO. “But Steve was very steadfast in understanding one of the key drivers of aggregate consumption. He understood that we are a cyclical business and you can’t change the cycle. It’s the nature of the beast.”
Zelnak, right, is pictured at an industry event with fellow Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame members Don James, Vulcan Materials, left, and Rick Feltes, Feltes Sand & Gravel, center. Photos courtesy of Steve Zelnak.
Even some of Martin Marietta’s top investors doubted the strategy, according to Zelnak.
“We hit a recessionary period in 2001 and 2002, and at the time we were spending heavily on the strategy,” he says. “[These investors] really began to question it. I responded to them and didn’t change the strategy but was certainly willing to talk it through.
“Then, we came back in 2003 and 2004, and we started knocking the socks off it.”
Martin Marietta executed the long-haul distribution strategy by zoning and permitting new quarries and, in Zelnak’s words, “putting a lot of them on the shelf.” In all, Zelnak was responsible for more than 70 acquisitions that broadened the company’s geographic footprint.
“Decisions and investments were rarely, if ever, made on what the next 90 days looked like,” Lloyd says. “This is a business in which you needed to look 20 years ahead to consider where you want to be located.”
Zelnak agrees the approach implementing Martin Marietta’s long-haul distribution strategy required patience.
“It’s an instant-yield world,” Zelnak says. “In the aggregates business, you better have a long-term view, broad enough shoulders and enough tenacity.”
Martin Marietta continues to build on the model Zelnak put in place.
“When you look at an industry in which 90-plus percent is sold by truck, to suddenly have a business that’s moving 20-plus percent of [aggregates] by rail is not something that would just occur,” Nye says. Achieving new efficiencies in rail distribution was part of Zelnak’s goal, as well.
“The things with rail you care about more than anything else are efficiency and velocity,” Nye says. “You want to take a unit train non-stop to a yard. You want to go into that yard and into that quarry with a 100-unit train because that amps up your efficiencies. That’s what our enterprise is built to handle.”
Zelnak’s vision for long-haul distribution was ahead of its time from a regulatory standpoint, as well. He anticipated the current regulatory environment developing, particularly regarding water use and land permits.
Going public
Zelnak shaped Martin Marietta in other ways, too. He led the initial public offering (IPO) of Martin Marietta stock in 1994, and in 1996 he led the offering of the remaining stock held by Lockheed Martin as Martin Marietta became an independent New York Stock Exchange-listed company.
According to The Baltimore Sun, Martin Marietta initially offered 7.65 million shares at $23 each. Yet, within the first hour shares were trading at nearly $26. Shares stretched as high as $168 on Zelnak’s watch, he says. But the stage to go public was set several years before 1994.
When Zelnak started with the Martin Marietta Corp. in 1981, Martin Marietta was a large aerospace defense contracting company that had aggregates operations. Zelnak took over Martin Marietta’s newly constituted aggregates division based in Raleigh, N.C., in 1982, at a time when that division was struggling, he says.
“Martin Marietta had questioned whether they wanted to stay in it,” Zelnak says. “I made a presentation and the case for staying in it, saying the business was going to begin to expand in 1982 and for another 15 or 20 years. In fact, it expanded for 25.”
By the late-1980s, the aggregates division represented 7 percent of Martin Marietta’s revenue and 21 percent of the company’s profit, Zelnak says.
“We were cash flowing beautifully,” he says. “[Corporate] didn’t have to spend time with us because the deal was if you like what we’re doing, leave us alone. If you don’t like what we’re doing, you know who’s in charge. So they left us alone and supported us incredibly.”
By 1988, Zelnak started talks of making the aggregates division a separate company. Plans were made to separate the division in 1991, he says, but the economy tanked at that time and put a separation on hold.
Yet, Zelnak pressed the talks, incorporated Martin Marietta Materials as part of the Martin Marietta Corp. in 1993 and listed the company on the New York Stock Exchange a year later.
“Based on my projections of the long term, I expected the [IPO] to do exceptionally well,” says Zelnak, who grew Martin Marietta revenues from $450 million to more than $2.2 billion during his tenure as the company’s CEO.
Other legacies
Zelnak’s Martin Marietta peers also credit him with setting the tone for the company’s culture today.
Zelnak, center, pictured in 1987 at Martin Marietta’s Belgrade Quarry in Maysville, N.C.
“Steve has a great legacy here,” Lloyd says. “He left a foundation of highly ethical behavior. You always know what to do here because you do the right thing, whether that’s the right thing for your employee base, your customer or regulators.”
Wait, regulators?
“[Regulation] was our best friend because those requirements were expensive,” Zelnak says. “It chased a lot of operators out of the business and really limited competition because of the amount of investment you had to make to compete. That’s what regulation does.
“I spent a lot of time telling our people this. They get upset and aggravated by new regulation and the difficulties of meeting it. I say, ‘Look, a regulator is your best friend.’ They’d look at me like this man’s lost his mind. I’d say why and they’d get it. It limits competition.”
Zelnak left his mark on Martin Marietta’s culture in other ways, including his work ethic.
“The thing that always struck me with Steve is Steve works,” Nye says. “When you got to the office in the morning, Steve’s going to be there. When you leave in the evening, Steve’s going to be there. Steve was in on weekends. This is a man who recognized and appreciated that we had people in our quarries early in the morning, when it’s raining and in our quarries underground.”
Nye also describes Zelnak as professional, disciplined and substantive. Lloyd takes notice of the opportunities Zelnak provided within Martin Marietta for women.
“There aren’t many women in the aggregates business,” she says. “But here at Martin Marietta three of our six officers are women. That reflects Steve’s point of view, while our current CEO (Nye) continues that. Steve always looked at who was most talented. To me, that makes him very different in the industry.”
Customers also benefited from Zelnak’s ethical approach.
“One thing I wanted to do when I took over Martin Marietta was to eliminate antitrust violations,” Zelnak says. “I didn’t mince any words, making it very clear to people that we were going to abide by the letter and intent of the antitrust laws. If you chose not to do that willfully, then you were betting your job.
“The reality is that in the 27 years I ran the company, we had zero antitrust problems,” he adds.
A number of great leaders have guided Vulcan Materials Co. over the years. Leaders such as Charles Ireland, John Lambert, Barney Monaghan, Houston Blount and Herb Skelnar.
Count Don James, a longtime Vulcan chairman and CEO, among that group of company greats.
“Don led Vulcan Materials as the largest aggregates supplier in the U.S. for 18 years, significantly expanding its operations throughout the nation,” says James Prokopanko, Vulcan’s lead director. “During that time, he guided Vulcan through periods of strong growth, as well as difficult market downturns, always with a keen eye on customer service, creating opportunities for employees and building sustainable, long-term value for shareholders.
James did indeed take Vulcan to new financial heights. Under his leadership, first as president and then as CEO, Vulcan’s enterprise value grew from $2 billion to about $10 billion. Plus, the aggregates facilities the company operates increased from 122 to more than 325.
“We had tremendous growth at Vulcan, and I am very proud of that growth,” James says. “I’m proud of our geographic expansion, as well as the intensity of our position in major metropolitan markets. Both initiatives have been valuable for Vulcan.”
Pursuit of growth
James, who joined Vulcan in 1992 as a senior vice president and general counsel, didn’t envision a career in the aggregates industry for himself. In fact, he joined Bradley Arant Rose & White, a Birmingham, Ala., law firm, upon graduating from law school. James spent 17 years at the firm, becoming a partner in 1982.
Ten years after becoming a partner, Vulcan approached James with an opportunity to join the company.
“I had not done any significant legal work for Vulcan at that point,” James says. “I did some work for another company that was in the construction materials business. But Vulcan offered me general counsel, and the rest is history.”
James admits he had a lot to learn about the industry, but his colleagues gave him on-the-job-training that brought him up to speed. About a year into his Vulcan tenure, James was offered the opportunity to run one of the company’s operating divisions.
By 1996, he was elected Vulcan’s president and COO. A year later, he became chairman of the board and CEO.
Little did James know, though, that his transition was the start of a great run in Vulcan history. Sales climbed under James’ guide, and he continuously put his legal knowledge to use in mergers-and-acquisitions arena. Vulcan was an acquisitions machine during the James era, doubling its permitted reserves base to more than 15 billion tons largely because of key acquisitions.
One key acquisition James steered was that of CalMat, a New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)-listed company Vulcan purchased in 1999. The acquisition thrust Vulcan into California, the company’s No. 1 revenue provider, as well as Arizona and New Mexico.
“In addition to buying the assets from CalMat, we have done another series of acquisitions in both aggregates and asphalt in those markets,” James says. “Now, we have a significant market presence in all the major cities in California; in Phoenix [and] Tucson, [Ariz.]; and in Albuquerque, [N.M.]. That region represents a combination of a large public acquisition followed by bolt-on acquisitions.”
Additional investments
Vulcan also made investments in the Sac Tun Quarry near Cancún, Mexico. The quarry currently provides about 14 million annual tons of construction materials to key U.S. ports, James says.
“We built out a large series of distribution areas out of [the Sac Tun Quarry], our largest quarry,” he says. “We bring materials to the U.S. along the south Atlantic Coast by ship. We have three ships that move rock from our quarry into a number of deepwater ports – probably 17 ports from Brownsville, Texas, around to Jacksonville, Fla.
“That’s been an extraordinarily strong growth area for us, particularly Texas and Florida, but all around the Gulf Coast,” James adds.
Vulcan’s 2007 acquisition of Florida Rock Industries Inc., another NYSE-listed company, provided the company additional growth in the South.
“That was really a large bolt-on,” James says. “Florida Rock gave us about half of its aggregates for the state of Florida. It also strengthened our position in Georgia and put us in Maryland for the first time.”
Philosophies
According to James, Vulcan’s long-term strategy over the last 25 years was to expand its presence in the fastest-growing metropolitan areas of the U.S.
“The coastal areas of the U.S. have grown much faster than the areas in the central part of the country,” he says. “Go back and look at the last 25 years, and the vast majority of our acquisitions have been in growing metropolitan areas.”
The state of Vulcan’s reserves today, considering the more challenging regulatory environment, is a testament to actions James and others took.
“The practical reality today is that getting new quarries permitted in a metropolitan area is extraordinarily difficult,” James says. “It’s almost impossible unless you have a much larger long-term strategy.”
Reclaiming mines is one approach that’s put Vulcan in a position of strength, James adds.
“One thing we’ve done – and Vulcan will do more of this in the future – is work with local government-owned reservoirs,” he says. “Our quarries make wonderful reservoirs. We’ve done that in the Washington, D.C., area and in Atlanta, working with local governments to give them access to our old quarries.”
Industry advocate
In addition to focusing on Vulcan’s growth, James regularly advocated for the growth of the aggregates industry. Vulcan refocused on public-policy advocacy under James’ leadership, understanding that publicly funded infrastructure has historically represented 45 to 55 percent of construction materials demand.
“It’s been much more stable than the private sector,” James says. “With housing starts rising and falling, we are focused on public advocacy as it relates to the demand of our products. That’s the one place we can make an impact.”
James served as an industry advocate in multiple capacities. He was a board member of the National Association of Manufacturers, as well as the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association. James also served on the board of directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Rick Feltes has always felt the need to give back to the aggregates industry. Mike Johnson, the president and CEO of the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association, can attest to that notion. According to Johnson, Feltes was one of the first people to reach out to him when he joined the aggregates industry in 2013.
“Feltes always looked to help others and never worried about getting credit,” Johnson says. “I remember my first meeting with Feltes. He asked me, ‘How can I help you? Let me be a resource to you.’
”Feltes exhibited that same giving spirit through his work related to the development of AGG1 Aggregates Academy & Expo, which launched in 2009. The event launched to consolidate the association’s educational events into one. While Feltes wasn’t the person who developed the AGG1 concept, industry leaders credit him with propelling the show forward.
“That was Rick’s baby,” Johnson says. “He was there in its infancy, and the numbers don’t lie. He has seen it grow each year.”
Feltes’ family pit
While growing up, Feltes shadowed his father, LaVerne, and his two uncles, Howard and Clarence, who equally owned and operated Feltes Sand & Gravel in a rural town west of Chicago. Rick worked at the family operation on weekends and during summers.
Rick admits he didn’t initially want to work at the pit following graduation from Creighton University. He hoped to attend law school.
But, his father convinced him to skip law school and devote a year to the pit.
“I felt an obligation to at least try it out for a year or two,” Rick says. “Surprisingly, I learned to love the industry. It was the best decision I ever made, and I haven’t looked back.”
LaVerne died in 1981, about a decade after Rick began working at the company full time. Rick took over ownership of the business shortly after. His cousin, Tim Feltes, joined him a few years later as a co-owner.
Feltes Sand & Gravel was faced with an economic downturn around the time Rick and Tim became owners. The Chicago market was down, and the company was only producing about 500,000 tons of aggregate per year.
Being newer to the business, Tim says the two realized they needed more education to advance the company. The National Stone Association (NSA) sought to grow its membership around that time. It reached out to small- and medium-sized producers such as Feltes Sand & Gravel about becoming members. After attending a few NSA educational events, Rick says it was a no-brainer to involve Feltes Sand & Gravel in the association.
As market opportunities improved and the company’s association involvement increased, the business began to boom again, Tim says. By the early 2000s, Feltes Sand & Gravel produced almost 3 million annual tons. Rick and Tim attribute much of their growth to the things they learned at educational sessions.
Education advocate
Industry leaders describe Rick as one of the more involved members of NSSGA. Rick also served on the board as director for the Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers for many years.
“People tended to gravitate toward him,” says Gus Edwards, a former NSSGA executive who served the association for 16 years. “He’s not only a nice guy, but he’s also a natural leader.”
Rick held a number of roles at NSSGA over the years, including chairman of the government affairs division, executive committee member, vice chairman of the board and chairman.
“He worked beyond the call of duty on behalf of NSSGA,” says Joy Pinniger, former president and CEO of NSSGA.
When Rick served as NSSGA chairman in 2005, he lobbied for SAFETEA-LU. He also spent time improving NSSGA’s relationship with European aggregates associations so the U.S. industry could learn from companies around the world.
“The prevailing opinion at the time was that the aggregates industry is only a domestic industry,” Edwards says. “We don’t export material except maybe to Canada or Mexico, so we thought, ‘why care?’ But as it turns out, and as Rick noticed, the European aggregates businesses face similar problems to us, and they are dealing with those problems in ways we might not have tried.”
In the early 2000s, Rick also realized the association was hosting a number of educational events throughout the calendar year – 13 to be exact. Attending more than a dozen industry events was a daunting challenge for busy aggregate producers, let alone a source of high stress and high costs for the association.
Rick advocated consolidating the association events into one big educational event to benefit the industry during a 2004 strategic planning discussion in Pinehurst, N.C.
“The general trending comment at this meeting was that companies had been sending fewer people to association events,” Pinniger says. “The economy was soft in those years and offering so many meetings wasn’t profitable. The increasing feedback from all sizes of aggregates companies was, ‘can’t you bring all this together somehow for us?’”
And it was through this question that the idea of a consolidated yet all-aggregates educational trade show was born. The concept became a focus for Rick, even after his time as NSSGA chairman in 2005. Although Feltes Sand & Gravel was sold to Lafarge in 2007, Rick chose to continue working for Lafarge so he could help NSSGA launch a new industry show.
After years of dedication, Rick and a team of NSSGA members completed the singular show concept in AGG1 Aggregates Academy & Expo.
Showtime
Since its 2009 launch, AGG1 has boasted increasing attendance and show-floor size every year, Johnson says.
Edwards describes AGG1 as a place for producers to educate themselves, check out innovations and “kick the tires.” And while Rick doesn’t doubt the show’s popularity today, he admits he was unsure about debuting AGG1 in 2009.
“That was one of the worst years in the history of our industry to start something like this,” Feltes says.
Fortunately, AGG1 has continued for the past seven years, and Rick’s involvement in event remains strong.
“Rick is not just a chairman who sits in a meeting about this event and then wanders off,” Johnson says. “He’s constantly on the show floor and in sessions as it’s happening. He’s a participant. He values the program he created.”
What others say about Rick Feltes
“It would have been so easy for Rick to ride off into the sunset after his time as NSSGA (National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association) chairman. Guys sometimes leave the industry after that term is served. But Feltes stuck with it, even after his business was sold to Lafarge. He has a passion for aggregates. I find that to be commendable.”
– Mike Hinrichsen, Caterpillar, former manager of corporate account services
“He was a smooth-talking guy, a silver-tongued negotiator, yet still friendly. I would want him on any team where I had to negotiate anything.”
– Gus Edwards, NSSGA, former executive vice president
“The most unusual characteristic of Rick’s perseverance with AGG1 is that he has continued to lead and back this endeavor long past what was expected of him. I’d call this a demonstration of Rick’s allegiance to the aggregates industry.”
–Joy Pinniger, NSSGA, former president and CEO
“A good thing about Rick is his belief in the involvement of the small producer members in NSSGA. Coming from a small producer, that never stopped Rick from thinking big. He said small producers were needed in the industry. That’s something I learned from him coming into NSSGA.”
– Mike Johnson, NSSGA, president and CEO of NSSGA
