NRMCA’s  Vice President of Education and Training Eileen Dickson and Educational Activities Committee Chairman Patsy Bergquist of Chaney Enterprises, Waldorf, MD, recently spoke at the University of Maryland's Smith Graduate School of Business, Executive IMPACT Conference. The Smith School’s strengths in both academics and research are reflected in its rankings and other accolades. Bloomberg BusinessWeek magazine ranks the school's full-time MBA program as one of the top 30 programs in the U.S. The Financial Times also ranks the school’s full-time MBA program #18 in the U.S. (2011). Companies benchmarking NRMCA’s technical certification programs included Lockheed Martin, McCormick Spices, Target, Clark Construction, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Defense’s National Security Agency.

NRMCA’s audience was senior human resource officers from technical companies. They heard about the role of trade associations setting nationally accepted industry employee performance standards through member committee participation in establishing measurable certification programs. The attendees’ specific interest was focused on the rigorous stands set by the ready mixed concrete industry membership through NRMCA’s STEPS program as well as certification for hourly/entry level jobs, as exemplified by  the Concrete Delivery Professional Program.