NAPA Met in Miami

From Asphaltpro Staff

What started out as a blustery, rain-soaked weekend turned into a mild Miami meetup for the National Asphalt Pavement Association’s (NAPA) 68th annual meeting Feb. 5-8, 2023. The association reported nearly 1,000 attendees engaged with topics ranging from skiing to sustainability in Miami Beach. Those attendees included officials from asphalt mix producers and pavers, equipment manufacturers, binder suppliers, sustainability experts, consultants, federal agencies, and others from 47 states and the District of Columbia, The Bahamas, Canada, Italy, and Japan.

You might have caught the word “skiing” in that paragraph about asphalt in Miami. Association reps tied the sport to industry in a press release, explaining 2023 Chairman of the Board Christian Zimmermann—whose profile you can revisit in the January issue—is the son of two former Olympians, facilitating the segue to the annual meeting’s keynote presentation. At the meeting, NAPA’s 2023 national officers were installed, including Zimmermann. His mother, Penny Pitou, was the United States’ first alpine skier to medal in the downhill event—achieving the silver medal at the 1960 Winter Games. Lindsey Vonn took the gold medal in the downhill event 50 years later in Vancouver and spoke about her career in front of the NAPA audience.

Attendees watched a video of Vonn’s winning run as they welcomed her to the stage for a conversation with Zimmermann and co-host Katie DeCarlo, a fellow athlete and engineer for Heritage Research Group. Vonn spoke of her perseverance despite injuries, naysayers and elevated expectations— all of which motivated her to become one of the most successful skiers of all time and start her foundation to provide opportunities for young girls.

Zimmermann and outgoing Chairman James A. Mitchell, CEO of Superior Paving Corp., Gainesville, Virginia, along with NAPA President and CEO Audrey Copeland, PhD, PE, updated attendees on the association’s progress. Mitchell unveiled NAPA’s 2022 Annual Report, while Zimmermann teased NAPA’s 2023–2025 Strategic Plan.

“We’re excited to embark on this new strategic plan, because it reflects our successful member engagement of the past few years and is purposefully designed to chart the future we want to see for our industry and our country,” Copeland said.

To round out the annual meeting, attendees gathered to celebrate best-inclass asphalt projects and the men and women who execute those projects coast to coast to keep America moving. Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. and the Texas Department of Transportation Amarillo District were revealed winners of the Sheldon G. Hayes Award, for their work on US 287 in Armstrong County, Texas.

The annual gathering provided working sessions for NAPA’s governing bodies along with networking, an annual business meeting and educational sessions. A significant theme this year was sustainability, following last year’s launch of The Road Forward, the industry’s vision for net zero emission asphalt pavements by 2050. Related sessions covered topics from environmental product declarations (EPDs) to the asphalt plant of the future.

NAPA’s midyear meeting will be held in Kansas City, Missouri, July 9-12, 2023. The organization is already looking toward the 69th annual meeting in Orlando, Jan. 28-31, 2024, and a new Perpetual Pavement Conference coming to Louisville, Kentucky, that autumn. For updates to NAPA’s event schedule, visit AsphaltPavement.org/Programs.