Co-workers, friends and well-wishers gathered April 24 at Vulcan Materials' Roseville facility to celebrate the long and successful career of Lucinda Powell, District Sales Manager. She recently announced her retirement at the end of April.

She began her career with Industrial Asphalt on April 5, 1984 as a dispatcher working at the Rancho Cordova Asphalt Plant. After five years, she was moved into sales for what became Vulcan Materials, and quickly was promoted to District Manager.

Considered a pioneer in the industry, she built and maintained

Vulcan's Lucinda Powell (right) and Sean Harrigan.

relationships with customers in Northern California, and was a friend and mentor to countless co-workers and colleagues.

"I have worked with the same group of people for 30 years - they are like family," Powell said on Friday. Asked for her keys to success, particularly as a woman in a male-dominated field, she said, "Know what you are talking about, and build relationships. Your word is most important part of your reputation - I don't make promises I can't keep."

More than one Vulcan employee or former employee spoke fondly of how Powell took them under her wing and helped them learn the industry and strategies that are important for success in business and in life.

"She's taught me a lot," said Sean Harrigan, District Operations Manager. "She has great relationships with our customers. She's a good lady - I'm going to miss her a lot."

Add Vulcan District Sales Manager Dom Didio: "She is one of the coolest, most sincere people you will ever meet in your life." He also commended her for her vast knowledge of plant operations, her work ethic and integrity. "She is just a super person."

Powell, who lives in Woodland, says she is looking forward in her retirement to relaxing, gardening, traveling and "sleeping in."

She said she will miss her co-workers and her company. "Vulcan is a great company to work for. They are committed to their employees, the environment and the community. They do what they say they are going to do."

For more photos of the Lucinda Powell retirement event, click HERE to visit the CalAPA Facebook Page. 

"The Australian road construction and maintenance community is extremely lucky to have Rita's expertise for the 2015 AAPA National Workshop Series: Quality Roads, Fixed Budgets," Kohby Poole,

Dr. Rita Leahy presents at a recent CalAPA conference.

Director of Communications and Strategy for the AAPA, told Asphalt Insider. "Rita is the perfect fit for our workshop, having the public and private experience and expertise to speak directly to our theme of Quality Roads, Fixed Budgets. Her experience in delivering pavement design and analysis, design-build-maintain strategies, next-generation asphalt technology, and implementation of new materials and concepts will be timely and valuable to the Australian road sector."

To learn more about the workshops, click HERE. Leahy's official CalAPA bio is HERE. 

"Our members are very interested to learn from U.S. best practices, particularly when it comes to pavement maintenance and product development," Poole said. "Rita's involvement in implementing hot and warm mix asphalt and Superpave will be invaluable. Rita will help to paint a compelling picture of what a 'Quality Road' looks like in the USA, from which our Australian attendees can consider and build upon."

All technical presentations delivered at CalAPA conferences and events are available for viewing and downloading at CalAPA's "SlideShare" page. Click HERE to check it out. All the presentations from CalAPA's Spring Conference & Equipment Expo in Ontario have recently been added.

The special website is a user-friendly way for anyone to access important information about asphalt pavements delivered via CalAPA's many educational events.

CalAPA's SlideShare page is rapidly growing in popularity, and is already among the top 1 percent most visited SlideShare sites worldwide, according to the company.

For more information about CalAPA Technical Committee meetings, click HERE to view a flier. To be added to a regional Technical Committee meeting notification list, contact Sophie You at CalAPA at (916) 791-5044.

"In the new world, it is not the big fish which eats the small fish, it's the fast fish which eats the slow fish."