The Masonry Advisory Council hires a New Engineering Services and Architectural Education Outreach Representative

Words: Gary PorterThe Masonry Advisory Council is pleased to announce that Kevin Cavanaugh has joined us as our new Engineering Services and Architectural Education Outreach Representative.

“With the addition of an industry veteran like Kevin, The Masonry Advisory Council is excited to continue broadening our reach while serving the needs of architects, engineers, builders, contractors and the public,” said Gary Porter, executive director for The Masonry Advisory Council. “Kevin is strategic, knowledgeable and results oriented; he is a tremendous leader in the masonry industry.”

Cavanaugh will be responsible for providing technical support and conducting Continuing Education Seminars and “Lunch and Learns” to these same audiences to emphasize masonry’s many traditional features, benefits and built-in resilience. He will also introduce new software tools and review building code changes that are making masonry a much more robust and modern material in terms of structural capacity and energy efficiency.

While earning his BSME at the University of Maryland, Cavanaugh interned at the National Institute of Standards and Technology where he first became involved with the concrete and masonry industries. After graduation, Kevin accepted a position as the National Concrete Masonry Association’s (NCMA) Energy Engineer. After two years, and to better understand what NCMA’s members faced in their markets, Kevin launched his current 25-year career in technical sales, marketing and product development of lightweight aggregate, concrete masonry and associated concrete and masonry products and systems.

“The Masonry Advisory Council is on the move to bigger and better things and I am glad to be part of their team,” stated Cavanaugh. Masonry is an excellent building material and my job is to simply remind the design community of this fact. I am looking forward to presenting Lunch & Learn Seminars throughout Chicagoland on all things masonry and masonry related.”

Kevin’s industry-wide activities include having chaired ACI Committee 122 on Energy Conservation, several NCMA Committees and, Task Groups and serving on his governor’s Building Code Legislative Advisory Council in Wisconsin.
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