March 2009

Your Help Made it Possible

by Luis E. García

It has been a privilege to be the President of ACI during the 2008-2009 term that will end this month during the Spring Convention in San Antonio, TX. My year as President would have been very difficult without the help of all ACI members, ACI’s excellent staff, and my companions on the Board of Direction and the Executive Committee. I know the silent volunteer work of ACI’s committees and chapters is our strongest quality and an example to other similar institutions.

As you know, the recent economic downturn has had a far-reaching impact that has affected all of our members. The American Concrete Institute remains dedicated to supporting our members through these challenging economic times. With your support, we have been able to maintain the technical resources and membership benefits that you are familiar with and to continue new initiatives that are underway. ACI is committed to maintaining its role in the concrete industry during this uncertain economic climate. ACI has been advancing concrete knowledge since 1904, and while 2009 may be a difficult year, ACI will emerge as a stronger organization with even more to offer the industry and all members.

The ACI Strategic Plan set the route to follow and the ACI leadership carefully adjusts the Institute’s short- and long-term objectives to respond to new issues and challenges. This has been an excellent management technique that has proven its worth through the years. Our system of electing a Vice President every year for a 2-year term acquaints that person with the inner workings of the Institute, preparing the future President to lead in a way that would be difficult to achieve otherwise. The existence of a dedicated staff makes directing ACI a job without surprises. The support of staff strengthens the Institute’s ability to provide an environment where the continuity of the dedicated and unselfish volunteer work performed by all our members makes ACI a world leader in concrete technology.

By electing me as the first ACI President not residing in North America, a new set of challenges and opportunities developed. Although ACI has a long-standing tradition of interacting with concrete-related organizations worldwide, the enhancement of ACI's international role was an obvious objective.

The participation of international members in our committees has increased and our cooperation with code-writing bodies worldwide has generated valuable feedback regarding the use of ACI standards and the development of concrete standards worldwide. This has resulted in an increase in the number of official translations of ACI documents. The successful fifth International Workshop on Concrete in the Americas that took place during the Fall 2008 Convention in St. Louis, MO, proves the ability of ACI to maintain activities that are interesting for our international members. We will be seeing more of these activities in the future focused on other regions of the world.

ACI membership has increased through novel approaches in enhancing membership value and benefits. The Institute is dedicated to making membership more attractive to young members every day. Establishing free e-membership for students has increased student membership to numbers never before seen. We want to see our young members more involved in our activities. The recently adopted policy to allow committee membership by students is just one of the many ways to achieve this participation, as is increasing the number of available ACI Fellowships and Scholarships. The current pilot program underway to encourage certification activities for students will have far-reaching implications.

ACI has been providing leadership in sustainable development in concrete. We will see this evolving under the leadership of Florian Barth, our next President. It may be the most important challenge in the near future for ACI.

I would like to extend my "muchas gracias" to all ACI members, staff, and my companions on the Board of Direction and the Executive Committee for helping me direct ACI during this challenging and interesting year.

Luis E. García
American Concrete Institute
luis.garcia@concrete.org

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