Get To Know Your ASCC Staff
Jim Klinger
Concrete Construction Specialist
If you want to get Technical about it all, 2023 marks the third year covering the Hotline phone bank here at the ASCC Technical Division- while at the same time taking on modest little writing assignments such as the monthly “Guidance for Concrete Contractors” column you read when you visit the ASCC VOICE.
How did I land here at ASCC after a 41-year career in the concrete business? Some might say it was divine intervention. On the other hand, Matt and Steve Gonsalves (ASCC member Conco) used to advise us “You always have to try to position yourself to get lucky…and the harder you work, the luckier you get.” So, which was it, and does it really matter?
I still keep a manila folder full of dog-eared copies of articles torn from industry trade publications that industry legends (and previous ASCC Hotline operators) Bruce Suprenant and Ward Malisch wrote going back more than 30 years that helped me (and countless other Owners, engineers, and concrete contractors) avoid typically unsavory, sometimes unnecessary, and usually costly situations.
If you really want to know the truth, the only regret after all these years in the concrete business is not getting involved with ASCC and ACI until rather late in my career. I didn’t meet Bruce until the 2015 World of Concrete (see photo), and later met up with both Bruce and Ward at the 2017 ACI Convention in Anaheim.
Thanks to ASCC for the opportunity to try to catch up – to make things right- and give something back…however small…to fellow engineers and concrete contractors in the concrete industry that has treated this humble Hotline Operator so well. |
