Cement Americas: I realize that you are only about a month into your job, so thank you for being brave enough to talk to any media so soon into your new position.

Brian McCarthy: It has been exciting, though. It really has been 30 days. I effectively started on the first of November, and I take a look at what I've been seeing in those first 30 days and I can't stress enough how excited I am to be here. The reason I say that is that when I think of the people I've met, both some of our volunteer leaders and people who work with cement and concrete on the regional level, whether that be the regional promotion groups affiliated with PCA or regional groups affiliated with ACPA [American Concrete Pavement Association], there's a passion to support the industry that I'm excited about.

And really, that's what brought me into this job, to see the level of engagement and volunteering that exists. I think our challenge becomes, to a certain degree, reclaiming our space. By that I mean, many of our people associated with our industry have done such a wonderful job in showing the value associated with the cement- and concrete-related industries that we probably haven't been telling it as much as we can and haven't been making it the rallying cry. And I think sustainability is the perfect topic for us.

I like to use an analogy. I liken the cement and concrete industry to be very similar to Michael Jordan. Did Michael ever talk about being better than his competition, or did he talk about being the best? Michael talked about being the best. He approached the game of basketball — whether it was in practice or a game setting, regular season or playoffs — by exhibiting being the best, not being better than his competition, but by being the absolute best. And when we start to think about concrete specifically, it is the best solution from a sustainability standpoint, bar none. Whether you're looking at the applications in buildings, homes, pavement, bridges, it is the best. And I think we shouldn't take that for granted and we need to leverage that more.

My first 30 days have really been about the industry, but one thing I've learned is that we've got some absolutely brilliant people affiliated with the cement and concrete industry who really exhibit best performance, but perhaps we need to come together about how we are the best solution.

Cement Americas: Writing so often about sustainability over the years makes me think people in the industry are always talking about this issue, but perhaps it's just because we're asking about it. But environmental issues have always been two tiered: the sustainability issue, which is looked at in a positive light, and the emissions issue, which is more in the public eye, so people tend to focus on that disproportionately.

Brian McCarthy: Getting back to my analogy, let's talk about Hybrid vehicles. Don't we laud the efforts of certain manufacturers who create these Hybrid vehicles that lower emissions and lessen fuel consumption, right? But if we really take a look at what it takes to get to that point, they make these pretty expensive batteries that aren't the most eco-friendly devices. Where do they go when all is said and done? So to a certain degree with any significant gain in the sustainability discussion, there may be points that are temporal. But if we're really looking at long-term gain, if we're looking at issues that talk about affecting energy consumption over the lifespan of a building, not just the energy expelled that helps creates some of the components associated with building it, once again we're the best.

As you say, I think sometimes as an industry I think we focus too much on the very real issue of Tier 2 emissions. Yes, the industry really is concerned with making sure we do the right thing in our corporate citizenship. But that extends beyond that which we're doing today to what we're curing up for tomorrow. And that where I think, hands down, we are the best. If we're going to look a sustainability as simply each step in the process, I think we're selling ourselves short.

We know the research that talks to things the energy consumption requirements to create cement and concrete versus the energy efficiency associated with a concrete building over its life. There's no comparison.

Cement Americas: The general public is just now starting to understand the concept of life cycles, I think.

Brian McCarthy: I guess that's what our charge becomes bridging that gap. We've got a lot of really great people who have been selling absolutely fantastic solutions, but they've been selling a piece of it, not the real long-term value. If we focus on long-term sustainability, then yes we need to practically deal with the emissions issue and cement manufacturing. But as an issue compared with the upside compared to concrete products, it's no longer an issue. And I'm not saying that in a flippant way; I'm saying it in relative terms.

Cement Americas: So is the mission on the promotional level not only to target the more traditional people with this message but also take it to the end users, the people who are living and working in these building or using these roads?

Brian McCarthy: I don't think we're there yet. I think initially, we want to increase our efforts at helping the people who specify what's best for people to live in. So it's still going to the engineers, the architects, the specifiers, the government agencies. But to a certain degree, we need to better equip them to be able to tell the story.

One similarity I've noticed between the information technology industry from which I came and the cement- and concrete-related industry, and that is the importance of partnership is readily apparent in both industries. I see the cement and ready mixed industry — and I know we have a very good relationship with the ready mixed association — figuring out how we share our vision on the use of concrete most effectively with those specifiers, with those contractors. And that's some of the messaging we want to bring out more and more. It's not focusing on the value we think we have, but the value they will realize and the value their customers will realize. To get to the ultimate end user and get to the person who lives in that house, yes, I think that's important, but I think we still have a lot of work yet to do with bringing our direct business partners more engaged and fully understanding the sustainability associated with cement and concrete.

I look at some of the best practices that frequently exist in companies and the push-and-pull marketing strategies. I see within the cement and concrete industry an opportunity for us to develop world-class thinking. Within those specifiers, everyone wants to be a world-class thinker when it comes to sustainability. We know it well, but we need to purpose it from their eyes better. I think that's the way we're going to be more successful.

One thing that I said to the staff when I first joined and to members of our leadership, in joining PCA I really became part of a legacy of leadership. There has been phenomenal leadership exhibited by our members through this organization since 1916. And I feel blessed and lucky to be able to be in the position I'm in today, to be a part of continuing that and carrying it forward. But I think that doing that is going to be a little bit different. We live in a different world, where people do care about the environment much more than they ever have. And the truth is that our products have always been environmentally friendly historically speaking, but maybe we need to re-purpose that than we have before.

Part of what I believe the legacy of leadership is going to be moving forward working with our members and partners who also share in the sustainability discussion, is really showing a more wholistic view of what we're capable of and what we really deliver. Don't limit it to what we do; keep it focused on the value we create. Traditionally organization who do things very well sometimes take it for granted, and sometimes don't put the weight behind it that they need to. One time the discussion may have focused on durability and not sustainability, which can be viewed as two very different things. They could have been cost-related discussions. But at the end of the day when you look at the total life cycle of the product, there is not comparison: we are the best. Let's speak more to protecting being the best rather than being incrementally better than our competitors. And let's share that vision and that passion with those people who also share the desire to be environmentally aware or to provide their customers with the ultimate best solution.

Cement Americas: Let's back up a bit. You did not come from this industry. You mentioned you come out of an IT background. Why make that transition?

Brian McCarthy: I was the chief operating officer for the world's largest IT association and was looking to become in a short period of time the chief executive officer. I hadn't been interviewing for quite a while. When the PCA position came up, I knew that PCA was in an association that was rich in its tradition of its members being actively engaged. It is really one of the hallmark associations for that. Being a successful association executive, you may know how to run it, but you're never in your members' chairs. Making sure that they are engaged appropriately in their association is such an invaluable thing to the future success of the association and its executives. When I heard the opportunity existed and that I could interview for it, I was interviewing for what I would think most association executives would view as a dream job, in an industry that actually look to its association first when they want to solve industry issues.

A lot of associations don't have that level of engagement based on their size or the commitment of their membership. But based on the financial and human resource commitment that our board members make to PCA through the dues dollars and the engagement at local activities, the regional promotion groups, our committees and task forces, that's very impressive. To a certain degree, not every organization offers. What I saw this board doing was getting was appropriate engagement and value from their association. That's one of the key reasons PCA has been around as long as it has, the industry looks to them first.

Cement Americas: Do you see any similarities between the two worlds? Or was the idea for you to enter an industry different than what you'd been doing?

Brian McCarthy: I do see some similarities in that, we look at the channel in IT. That's from the manufacturer to the distributor to the reseller to the ultimate consumer. Sometimes when we talk about the value in technology, there is messaging that has to be carrying on by all of those groups. The same too within the cement- and concrete-related industries. We have our channel. We have cement manufacturing, ready mixed, contractors, specifiers, who all support end users, who want to buy a building or bridge or roadway, or someone who wants to design them. The importance of the continuity of leadership through the channel from cement on through is very important, and the same was true in IT.

But you also have to understand that at each step in that chain there is maybe a little different perspective. Each level adds value. The cement people sell to the ready mixed people, who add to the product, who sell it on to the contractor or specifier. Hopefully what we're talking about is that our real value isn't solely found in that initial product; it is found in how it all comes together in enabling something. Cement's value is important to the ready mixed industry, but if its not juxtapositioned appropriately to that end specifier — and that goes back to our sustainability discussion again — it's not complete. Hence the reason our board has suggested and we're embracing aggressively regrowing our market development activity. We realize that although there is value in building the best cement products, if they're part of a larger equation, we need to be addressing that larger equation.

Cement Americas: I'm curious about the crash course you've received on the industry in the last 30 days. Have there been anything about the industry that has surprised you?

Brian McCarthy: Surprises? No. Reinforcement of the intrinsic value that is here in this industry that isn't in others? Yes. The technical capability of the cement and related industries is fantastic. We talked about technical industries in terms of where I worked previously, this is a very technically competent industry. Even just in the people I've met, the intellectual capability on technology discussion is phenomenal. Humbling is the best word I can use. It reinforces that we know what we're talking about when it comes to the value of cement and concrete. We really know it; we don't just hype it. What I've learned is that we are all passionate about our knowledge, but how are we really sharing that knowledge? What is our rallying cry? That's something I'm hoping that through cooperation with our member companies, through work with affiliated organizations we'll be able to do. We'll be able to get on some universal messaging. That's the piece that I'm learning that is perhaps missing. We all believe in it; we all know it. But we don't always communicate it consistently. That's something our board has asked me to address in terms of our market development activities.

Cement Americas: In your first year on the job, all the forecasters are saying that cement consumption and construction in general is really going to trend down in 2008. How does the industry counteract the changes in the economy, or is it more an issue of riding it out?

Brian McCarthy: If you take a look at the cycles that any industry goes through, I thing to a certain degree we have to ride out the economy. You can't control the economy. However, what we can do, is take the time to really focus on more of our mid- and long-term goals and strategies. We can't lose sight of that. What this industry has learned is that these cycles shall pass. This is really a time to say, okay, we're going to see a dip in 2008 and part of 2009, how do make start building to shorten that dip a bit so that maybe during 2008 we're building activities and market awareness programming that starts to shorten this dip cycle.

You have to look at these downturn periods as periods of investment, not ones where you can immediately remediate and turn something around right then. That's where you become short sighted and likewise a little improbable. But instead, invest in a more mid-term look and say, how do we speed up the remediation cycle that's going to occur in the next year and a half? How can we make that 14 months instead of 18 months? I think that's the approach we have to take.

We also touch as an industry so many various places. So we see downturns in residential housing, but there are other markets that are growing. We're not going to neglect the housing market — obviously we have to continue to invest and bring our message to groups like the National Home Building Association — but while we're keeping our place there, we continue to exploit in a positive sense the success we may be having in the bridge market or public works. In a sense, maybe we need to alter our focus a little during this time but not give up on those markets that are experiencing a downturn, because that would be short sighted.

I'll tell you what, based on some of the energy cost, I sure wouldn't want to be in some of the other industries that are involved in paving, for instance, because that's a tough market right now when you look at what we represent from a sustainability standpoint and an energy standpoint. There's a fine example of a market where we are the best.

Cement Americas: In previous years, the thinking has been cement promotes cement and concrete promotes concrete — a bit of church and state. But the way vertical integration has been ramping up over the last few years, clearly that's an impossible way of looking at things. With that in mind, what you envision as the mission of PCA today?

Brian McCarthy: All it's suggesting is the importance of consistent messaging throughout the value chain. Vertical integration is something that's going to occur in any industry when it attempts to maximize resources and drive the greatest and most controlled value to its customers. So yes, vertical integration is here. Does it dilute focus? No. I think it heightens focus, because now we are sharing not just cement but our ready mixed components and driving value to the end user and customers. It's not just the cement industry standing out there; it's the cement and ready mixed industries. So vertical integration helps focus the message on value; it augments it.

When I think back to the initial meetings with the search committee, I saw some extremely astute business people who saw themselves not as an island but as a chain of islands, all being linking by a common message. Hence the reason our board wants us to focus so much on concrete market development as a cement association. Our board is committed that this association should provide leadership in that discussion in that area, and they've committed resources for that. They've integrated their businesses to reflect that. I think it's an excited time. Messaging should be a lot simpler to create and to deliver.

Cement Americas: When I saw you at Greenbuild, we talked about how people joked that people don't consider cement a “sexy” industry, but the environmental aspect may be changing that perception. But we were talking about it in terms of getting new blood into the industry, as well as employee retention. Where do you see PCA role in that effort headed in the coming years?

Brian McCarthy: I'll give you an example. I used a phrase earlier when I talked about the legacy of leadership. We're starting to see among college graduates today, we're starting to get back to the days where people were more comprehensive in their thinking, more inclusive in their thinking. So you're seeing individuals coming out of school wanting to claim their space and make a mark, but they know where their mark is being made in a bigger context of that their contribution to society will be.

If we back up and talk about how the cement and concrete industry has had a profound effect on society. And in some ways, if you look back historically at some of the edifices and structures that are tributes to the accomplishments of man, I think you start to see that if we tell people that they can be a part of creating a future legacy by being involved in the cement and concrete industry, I think we're playing the right message. Young people entering the work force today, yeah, they want to make a good living and make an impact, but they want to have context for that impact. And that's where it's not purely making the cement and concrete industry sexy, but it's about making it powerful in that what young people can do today can positively impact generations to come. I think that is a message that will play well; it is a message about what we currently do today. It's simply a matter of couching it correctly. I think young people today really do have a propensity to think beyond their own nose. I think they probably are a lot brighter than I was when I was just starting in the work force.

Cement Americas: Where do you go from here in the next 30-90 days? What are your priorities in terms of continuing your education about the industry?

Brian McCarthy: I'd like to learn more about what keeps industry leaders awake at night. What is the void that needs to be filled that potentially PCA can fill? And as it relates to this marketing development discussion, the team here have come up with excellent materials and thinking around concrete thinking and the next level, concrete action. So in part making sure that the concrete actions we take are addressing those issues that are keeping people awake at night in our industry.

The goal of trade associations is two-fold. We help members take costs out of their business through standardized processes and best practices, and we create opportunities for market development. So, when I think about what I want to do over the next 60 to 90 days, I want to find out about those issues so we can continue to drive value to our members and new programming that may focus around market development, market leadership, government relations, and whatever the other issues are that are of concern to their business sustainability.

I just want to make sure that by meeting with these people, as I said at the beginning of this discussion, I have a lot of respect for the capabilities and the leadership that is found in the cement and concrete industries. I need to make sure I'm listening and learning from them.

After the retirement earlier this year of John Gleason — PCA's president and chief executive officer since 1986 — the Board of Directors of the Portland Cement Association (PCA) named Brian A. McCarthy its new president and chief executive officer at its annual meeting on October 23. “PCA has an outstanding and well-earned reputation as a top trade association. I hope to continue that tradition while moving forward to meet new challenges and opportunities,” McCarthy told the board.

McCarthy previously served as chief operating officer for the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), a trade organization representing all sectors of the information technology industry. In that capacity, he led efforts to expand the group's membership and its products and services. With membership encompassing 100-plus countries, CompTIA is the world's largest provider of vendor-neutral IT certifications.

Prior to joining CompTIA in 1999, McCarthy was executive director of the International Reprographic Association, Printing Industry of Indiana, and the Master Printers Association of Illinois. He is a graduate of University of Illinois.