(Left to right: Michael McCormick, Don Surrency, John King, Sonny DuPre, John Skinner)

A 2022 objective of the South Carolina Chapter of PDCA and current president John King is to recognize the contributions of some of the region's important figures who spent impactful careers serving the Charleston market and helped shape the driven pile industry into what it is today. During its third quarter dinner meeting on August 18th, President King arranged for four retirees to receive The Harry Robbins Chapter Award. Three contractors and one supplier were introduced by a family member or close colleague and presented with a unique pile driving rig trophy to signify their contributions to the industry. Those recognized in August included Sonny DuPre who followed his father at the helm of Cape Romain Contractors, Michael McCormick who was a co-founder of Pile Drivers, Inc., John Skinner who retired after a long career at Parker Marine Contracting in 2021, and Don Surrency who was a leading representative at Koppers, Inc. for more than 30 years. PDCA thanks the four gentlemen for helping shape the modern, driven pile industry into what it is today.

In addition to the special recognitions, Chapter members and friends gathered at the Town & Country Inn & Suites in Charleston for a networking reception, buffet dinner featuring various southern cuisine favorites, a Chapter business update and a feature presentation from Kathy Harper of the PDCA national office in Orange Park, Florida. There, Kathy is the Manager of Education and Events; she provided dinner attendees with a 'behind the scenes' look at the evolution of such industry staples as the PDCA Annual Conference, DICEP, the PDCA Value Driven Webinar Series and Contractors Foundation Institute: Driven Pile Academy, among others. Members from the South Carolina Chapter are active in national level PDCA events and enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about their origin.

 

The capacity event attracted more than 60 attendees.

Kathy Harper from PDCA

A popular networking reception preceded the meeting.

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The week prior to the "Mixer," the PDCA Texas Chapter was one of several partners with JD Fields & Company, Inc., which held The Houston Ports Seminar: Design & Construction of High Modulus Port Marine Geostructures on July 19th at the Fields' local offices. The half-day seminar featuring seven technical presentations from various stakeholders in the industry enabled attendees to earn up to 3.5 PDH's.

Several PDCA members were among the seminar presenters, including Dean Abbondanza and Alwyn McDowall of JD Fields, Temi Kusemiju of Lloyd Engineering, Inc. Adeel Malik and Kyle Plaisance of McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. and Chris Lowe and Garrett Hogancamp of GeoQuip, Inc.

Scenes from the July 19th seminar:

Are you a recreational, or even competitive shooter? Coming July 22, 2022 to Coplay, PA is the 7th Annual Sporting Clays shooting event from the PDCA Northeast Chapter. Contactors, suppliers, civil engineers and other stakeholders in the pile driving industry throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and surrounding areas gather each year for this event featuring networking, fellowship and fun.

Registration is now open for the event which begins promptly at 8:00 AM EDT at Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays (2750 Limestone Street, Coplay, PA 18037) and lasts through 3:00 PM. Shooters will descend into the scenic course featuring shooting stations for competitors of varying abilities. The event concludes with a lunch for all participants, during which awards will be presented for exciting challenges they encountered throughout the course. 

PDCA members are encouraged to attend this exciting event; click the button below to reserve your spot at the PDCA Northeast Chapter: 7th Annual Sporting Clays:

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The PDCA Northeast Chapter will host the 7th Annual Sporting Clays event on Friday, July 22, 2022, at the spectacular Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays in Coplay, Pennsylvania.  Come join us for some exciting sporting clay action and take the opportunity to reconnect with your friends and associates in the pile driving industry. With 15 different sporting clays presentations, you will compete for the highest score.

A continental breakfast will start our day along with registration that will begin at 8:00 AM.  We have all the fixens' for lunch that will be served at the conclusion of the sporting clays shoot.

Don't own a gun? No problem!  Gun rental and shot gun shells are included in your registration fee.  If you are bringing your own gun, it needs to be a 12GA gun with a barrel length of not less than 24". No pistol grips and no collapsible stocks.

There will be a resource table available at the event so please bring information about your company, products, and services to display and share with participants.

For more information, to register as a participant, or sponsor the event, please click the button below:

2021 Pacific Coast Chapter Scholarship Recipients: (L-R): Karen Siqueiros, Erick Medina, Andrew Ballinger, Sophie Robinson, Zhixiang Jesse Chen

 

L-R: Mike Elliot and Jim Duffy with son Charles Duffy, hold up trophies the Chapter presented them for their years of contribution to the industry.

The PDCA South Carolina Chapter has identified several key players in the pile driving industry who are retired but were critical in its earliest days to shaping PDCA into what it has become today. During each of the Chapter's 2022 quarterly dinner meetings, it is recognizing these individuals and presenting them with a special PDCA trophy. Chapter President John King stated that 'it's important for some of the younger guys to see and meet the guys that built this organization. We should continue to celebrate them while they are still here to join us for an occasional dinner or event."

During the May 12th dinner meeting, Chapter founder Harry Robbins was first on the agenda, tasked with giving a short presentation on two individuals who have been champions to pile driving in the Charleston region; Mike Elliott who recently retired from Equipment Corporation of America after 50 years in the pling machinery business and Jim Duffy who retired 18 years ago from Soil Consultants, Inc. in Charleston after a notable career as an engineer who worked for optimization and QC/QA of prestressed concrete piles.

Also during the Chapter event, Board Member Scott Nigels (below) of Palmetto Pile Driving who delivered the evening's program, used a wheel barrow to cart in to the meeting facility, a variety of props that he used to supplement his presentation. The materials are commonly used to manufacture pre-cast/pre-stressed concrete pilings, a subject on which he gave an overview covering the history, best practices, and quality control/quality assurances for the concrete piles.

Three attendees (below) at the dinner event were randomly selected as winners of PDCA Bucks during a drawing of business cards that happens each meeting and awards those whose names are drawn, with $50 coupons good for purchases at The PDCA Store, an online retail property of PDCA which contains a variety of logo swag, as well as various other industry resources.

Joseph Cook of Thomas & Hutton

Candi Stegall from Parker Marine Contracting

Jeff Harmston of ECA