2015 Annual Meeting Recap

31^st Annual Meeting held in Newport Beach May 14-16, 2015

After a few years enjoying our “home away from home” in Pismo Beach, we travelled to Orange County and Newport Beach for our 31^st Annual Meeting. We heard that it never rains in Southern California, but we learned that it pours, man, it pours! Many of our meeting and meal locations had to be changed due to the weather, thanks to all our attendees for their patience and their quick study of the hotel event-reader boards.

Golf Tournament at Tijeras Creek and Welcome Reception

The weather attempted to rain on our parade but we had a great time on a beautiful, challenging course. Thanks to all of our sponsors and golfers. A very special “thank you” to Jeff Ohlson, with Williams Form Engineering, for organizing the tournament and his tireless fundraising efforts; Jeff always makes the tournament successful and a lot of fun. Special guest Sue Hubbard, PGA Super Senior Women’s Amateur Champion, joined us for driving assistance which was invaluable with the swirling winds. On behalf of everyone at the WCC, we are pleased that Mike Moore was not seriously injured during the “cart incident”. We are also pleased that Rick Walsh abandoned the cart so was not at all injured – the West Coast Chapter continues to “lead by example”!

We had the chance to dry out and warm up a little bit before the Welcome Reception. The reception has become a happy new tradition for the chapter. It is a nice opportunity to catch up with everyone, share golf (or rain) stories and reconnect with old friends before we get to work with the business of the meeting.

Golf Tournament Winners

1^st: Joe Ontiveros, Steve Wilson, CharlieBower, Jeff Payne
2^nd: Pete Speier, Rob Small, Jeff Veilleux, Darrell Ledbetter
Putting Contest – Jack Bonomi
Long Drive – Charlie Bower

Education

The education and training of our current and future members is one of the main purposes of the West Coast Chapter. Friday’s Education Session, assembled by Will Gehrke, Case Pacific (Paso Robles) and Steve Williams, Condon-Johnson & Assoc. (San Diego) was another informative and useful session with great attendance. The WCC sponsored several ASCE Geo Wall teams from our chapter area to compete at IFCEE; we also invited them to attend the Annual Meeting – we had 15 students and one Professor who were able to join us for our educational session. Thank you to LIEBHERR for sponsoring the student attendees.

Speakers

Tian Dong, Malcolm Drilling (Hayward, CA)
John Bickford, DBM Contractors (Federal Way, WA)
Pirooz Barar, PB&A Engineering (San Rafael, CA)
Scott Douglass, Douglass Law Group (San Francisco, CA)
Colin Perkins, Malcolm Drilling (San Francisco, CA)
Ray Fassett, Condon-Johnson & Assoc. (Oakland, CA)
Josh Hilton, Condon-Johnson & Assoc. (Oakland, CA)
Nick Ayres, Hayward Baker (El Cajon, CA)
Will Gehrke, Case Pacific (Paso Robles, CA)

Auction and Dinner

The amazing Nate Jarrell Jazz Trio provided live music throughout the cocktail reception and dinner. They played for the ADSC when we were at the Loew’s Coronado; it was great to see them again. Many of our engineering students were able to stay for dinner. My special thanks to Gerald and Charles from Cal Poly Pomona for saving me from a PowerPoint nightmare! Rick Walsh handed out President’s Awards and special recognition awards, Mike Moore entertained us with a few good stories and Vinnie Di Fabio was there to make sure everyone had a great time.

The fundraiser included over 35 silent auction items and four live auction packages. Thanks to Joe Patterson, TEI Rock Drills, our Auction Chair, for rounding up a great selection of quality items. We raised almost $25,000 to support the West Coast chapter’s research, education and training, and university outreach programs.

President’s Awards

Associate of the Year
Champion Equipment and Sales

Live Auction Items Provided By:

CETCO – pallet of Shore Pac Slurry
LIEBHERR – LR 1600 Crane Model
RAITO, Inc. – Disneyland Park hopper Passes
Sinclair – pallet of Slurry CDP Pro

Silent Auction Items Provided By:

ADSC International
Atlas Copco
AVAR
BAUER-Pileco
Bay Shore
Becho
Case Pacific
Champion
Condon-Johnson & Assoc.

Con-Tech Systems
DBM Contractors
Dees-Hennessey
Drill Tools
DSI
Hawaiian Dredging
Hayward Baker
Jeffrey Machine
Malcolm Drilling

PACO
Pengo
PJ’s Rebar
Raito
Sinclair
Skyline Steel
TEI Rock Drills
Watson
Williams Form

31^st Annual Board Meeting

Happily we were able to have Saturday breakfast outside in the California sunshine, the rain kept us inside for lunch. We had a very full agenda but the meeting moved along at a healthy pace, allowing us to accommodate three Associate Presentations – Dywidag Systems, Inc.; Skyline Steel; and Champion Equipment. Committee reports as well as a report from ADSC CEO Mike Moore were presented. Rick Walsh, Hayward Baker, was instrumental in getting the engineering students to attend the Education Session, Dinner and Annual Meeting. We will continue to look for ways to get the next generation of ADSC members involved. We hope to make this a yearly occurrence!Mike Kennedy, with Hayward Baker, recently helped WCC members participate in two Constructability Workshops – a perfect example of members working to benefit all members and the industry.

The proposed Bylaw Revisions were overwhelmingly approved and enacted. The WCC voted to provide funding to the ADSC International Faculty Workshop.

Almost 500 photos and video were submitted by WCC members in the Go Pro Contest sponsored by Champion Equipment, after much deliberation Rick Walsh was declared the winner by our webmaster / photographer Hanmi Meyer.

Bill Mobley, Bull’s Eye Drilling, was unable to attend the festivities due to illness so we made sure to call Anne Mobley Friday evening to let her know they were with us in spirit. Our gratitude to outgoing Board Members Rick Walsh, Hayward Baker; Dale Scheffler, D.J. Scheffler; Steve Whisenhunt, LIEBHERR. We are pleased to announce we officially voted our first Associate to the Board of Directors – Jim Close, CZM USA. John Bickford, DBM Contractors, was elected to the Board of Directors for his first time and Steve Williams, Condon-Johnson & Assoc. was re-elected.

New WCC Board of Directors:

From left: Jason Malcolm, Malcolm Drilling, Director; Jim Close, CZM USA, Treasurer; John Bickford, DBM Contractors, Secretary; Will Gehrke, Case Pacific, Vice President; Steve Williams, Condon-Johnson & Assoc., President; not pictured, Bill Mobley, Bull’s Eye Drilling, Director; Jeff Veilleux, PJ’s Rebar, Associate Chair.

And, Many Thanks to…

Mike Moore of ADSC International for including the WCC on his “traveling chapter road show”, we appreciate your support.

Hanmi Meyer, our Webmaster/Photographer/Designer. Thanks for the great photos, the endless help with photos and slideshows, etc. AND for bringing her Mom, Sue Hubbard to help us on the golf course!

Event Sponsors and Exhibitors:

Diamond Sponsors: