Executive Director Message January 2016

Welcome to 2016!  The year is off to a great start with the association busily engaged in the planning and preparation for the 2016 Utah Asphalt Conference happening on the 24th and 25th of February at the South Towne Expo Center.  You can read more about the conference and why you should participate in this great event by reading the rest of the newsletter, but I do hope you will join us for what promises to be another great conference and equipment show this year.

Beyond the conference preparation, the Board of Directors for UAPA has worked hard to set forth the 2016 Strategic Plan for the association.  It’s clear from their discussions that there is much more we can do to effectively and fairly tell the story of asphalt.  Not only from an educational perspective, but also in a renewed commitment to our core values of Commitment to Industry, Unified Voice, and Value to Members.  It will be exciting to work through our committees this year to achieve some very specific goals that will enhance the membership experience of UAPA, develop better communication strategies, and solidify the long-term stability and success of this organization.  We’ve come a long way in just a few short years as an organization, and I am excited to see what the next few years have in store - starting with 2016!

-Reed Ryan

Executive Director

The Utah Asphalt Pavement Association

2015 Uintah Basin Asphalt Summit

Special thanks to everyone that helped make the first-ever Uintah Basin Asphalt Summit a great success!  We had over seventy people in attendance at the newly-constructed Uintah Conference Center in Vernal, Utah on the 16th of December.

Attendees were welcomed by Brandon Pack with Burdick Materials and given an excellent Morning Keynote Address from Adam Massey, the Director of the Uintah Transportation Special Service District.

The Summit then moved to three excellent educational sessions helping attendees understand the importance of building a durable asphalt mix, the roles and history of asphalt binders, and the UAPA Pavement Preservation Matrix.  We closed the summit out with some great dutch over catering and a brief message about UAPA from Reed Ryan.  Special thanks to our Presenting Sponsor, Burdick Materials, for helping to make our first-ever Summit in the Basin a success!!

 

Executive Director Message December 2015

Wow!  What a year and what a month for UAPA.  Before I get any further along, I want to take just a brief moment to thank you for all you have done for the association in 2015.  It’s always fun to look back on the year that was and examine challenges and opportunities that were presented for the growth and sustainability of the association.  Personally, I count 2015 as a great success, and to cap it off, here are just a few of the things that happened in December:

• In early December, UAPA’s Board of Directors held a comprehensive strategic planning session to reassess and prioritize UAPA’s core values and how they relate to the direction of the association moving forward.  It was a great session, and I am personally eager to get to work on some of the opportunities we identified for 2016.
• Later on in the month, UAPA was fortunate enough to receive an invitation from the Northern Utah Chapter of the APWA to present at their monthly luncheon in Logan on the 15th of December.  Waylund Ludlow with Geneva Rock Products presented on “Best Practices for Cold Weather Paving.”  Anyone who has seen this presentation from Waylund knows he does a great job with his presentation along with a hands-on demo that is both effective and entertaining.  Thanks to the Northern Chapter of the APWA and to Waylund Ludlow for helping to make the luncheon a success!
• Finally, on the 16th of December UAPA hosted the first-ever Uintah Basin Asphalt Summit.  More details on the Summit are included with this newsletter, but special thanks needs to be given to a few key members of UAPA for helping to make the Summit a resounding success.  They are, Brandon Pack with Burdick Materials, Victor Johnson with Geneva Rock Products, Craig Fabrizio with Staker Parson Companies, and Craig Haskell with (up until yesterday) Nu Rock Asphalt Coatings (congrats Craig on your retirement!).

Looking ahead, I am excited for what 2016 holds for UAPA.  If you have not done so already, now is the time to sign up to be a vendor or attendee at the 2016 Utah Asphalt Conference happening on the 24th and 25th of February.  More importantly, as we look to 2016, UAPA’s Board of Directors will soon be setting some goals centered around our core ideologies of Value to Members, Unified Voice, and Commitment to Industry.  I look forward to sharing that vision and those goals with you in the New Year.  Until then, stay warm, enjoy the snow, and have a wonderful and joyous season of Christmas as you celebrate the holidays with those closest to you.

Best regards,

Reed Ryan

Executive Director

The Utah Asphalt Pavement Association