Pub. 3 2020-21 Issue 2

22 2022-2023 INCOMING PRESIDENT DOUG WATSON How did you become involved in the asphalt industry?Was this career an evolution or a choice? It was both, actually. One led to the other. I got into this industry while in school, and it was a natural fit for me. I am a technical geek, I admit, and I think that has been my contribution to the industry. First through my work experience, and then through my company, CMT Group Companies. We’re consultants in the construction industry. We design asphalt, and we design roads. We satisfy both sides of the equation in that we work with both contractors and owners, which makes for an interesting perspective. Do you have family members in the industry? Yes, my son, Braden, works for CMT. Describe your educational background. What did you study? I started college in mechanical engineering and switched to business management. But, it was my “work” education, if you will that really inspired my career. I was working in the lab at Gibbons and Reed, and had for about three years, when we were bought by Granite Construction, Inc. I realized that I was really good at materials. Materials and I just got along, and I really liked what I was doing. I worked my way up and eventually ran the lab. I was there for 20 years. Once Granite Construction, Inc. came into the picture though, I was exposed to a higher level of sophistication and more complex problems to solve, from design to forensic research of asphalt. I loved it. I had the opportunity to continuously learn.” In 2000, I made a move to CMT. I negotiated ownership and eventually owned a majority of the company. The path from there to here became the educational background. It’s been a wonderful journey in a wonderful industry. Are there any specific individuals that had a major impact on your career? Yes, the engineering group at Granite Construction, Inc. John Epps was one of the engineers at Granite. He had a Ph.D. – I think he’s teaching at Texas A&M now. But back when I worked with him, he and Adam Hand headed up the pavement engineering group at Granite. I learned so much about asphalt. They talked industry geek for hours – they were born teachers, and I just wanted them to pour as much into my brain as it would take. I was fascinated. Working with themwas like my own personal asphalt graduate program. What is the most rewarding part of your career? The people. I like the people. There are such good people in this industry. I love the work. I enjoy the challenge of seeing both sides of a project – when the owners and the contractors come together. It’s really rewarding to see a good solution based on good specifications come together. What are some of the challenges you see in this industry, and how would you fix them? I think at one time, there was some definite dysfunction in the industry, which is really the “why”behind UAPA’s formation. Everyone was out for themselves. We needed one voice to deal with agencies in a way that made sense. For instance, in the early 90s, the federal government changed the way the industry looked at asphalt. There was so much information and very little standardization. To some extent, this is still the case, and getting better specifications – standardized specifications – will solve a lot of this. I am a big proponent of specifications. What do you think will be some of the dominant trends within the asphalt industry in the next 5-10 years? I think a lot of the focus in future years will be on specifications – quite frankly. It has to be. There’s been a lot of focus on infrastructure, and it certainly needs attention. But as we weigh in on how to spend money and on what, it will become clearer that we need to get better at what we do. We need outcomes that last – outcomes that give us the most value for the dollar, and to do the specifications that need attention. If we could settle on certain predictive tests for individual areas, that would be a great start. For instance, Alaska and Arizona need different specifications when planning projects.