NRMCA's Operations, Environmental & Safety Committee (OES) has named Tom Harris, director of materials at McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing, its 2013 Joseph E. Carpenter Award recipient. This award is named in honor of Joseph E. Carpenter of Rinker Materials, West Palm Beach, FL, who was instrumental in the formation and early operation of the NRMCA Committee on Maintenance. The award was instituted in 1988 and is presented annually to persons who have demonstrated outstanding lifetime contribution to the ready mixed concrete industry in the fields of maintenance, environmental and safety. 

Harris was honored for his longtime commitment to the OES Committee and the ready mixed concrete industry. He has been one of the industry's foremost authorities on concrete mixer trucks for more than three decades. Beginning in the 1980's, he was an integral part of the invention and introduction of extended axle mixer trucks; in the 1990's, he helped invent the Sliding Mixer System (SMS), a trailer mixer which became highly popular and in the early 2000's was a leader bringing the concept of composite drums to the industry. Harris was also an early advocate for the advancement of CNG power in the ready mixed concrete industry.

Harris has served in many capacities and roles within the NRMCA and the Truck Mixer Manufacturers Bureau (TMMB). More than a decade ago he was involved with Middle Tennessee State University when it began the Concrete Industry Management Program. He is a longtime member of the OES Committee and has been one of the leading supporters of the NRMCA's Driver of the Year Program the National Mixer Driver Championship.

Harris lives in Rochester, MN, and has been married to his wife Becky for 36 years. They have three children and four grandchildren. The award will be presented to him in San Antonio, TX, at the NRMCA Annual Convention in March 2013.