Geosynthetics August/September 2020 - 40

GMA NEWS
GMA is dedicated to
our members' success.
GMA actively identifies,
assesses, analyzes
and acts upon market
growth opportunities
and issues that affect
its member companies.
The activities of
the association are
proactive in nature and
center on five areas:
» Engineering support
» Business development
» Education
» Government relations
» Geosynthetics industry
recognition

By Fred C. Chuck

New leadership and socially
distanced activities

he executive council of the Geosynthetics Materials Association (GMA) has a new
chair and first vice chair. Bryan Gee, the director of education and training for Tensar
International Corp., has ascended to the chair of GMA, while Steve Thaxton, the business
development leader of geosynthetics for Owens Corning, has assumed the position of first
vice chair. At press time, the position of second vice chair remained open but hopefully
will be filled by the time you read this.

Bryan Gee: GMA chair
Bryan Gee of Tensar is now GMA's executive council chair, eﬀective May
1, 2020. Gee has been with Tensar for 14 years in sales, product management and marketing roles. He is a licensed professional engineer and
received his B.S.E. and M.S. in civil and environmental engineering from
Duke University.

Steve Thaxton: GMA first vice chair
Steve Thaxton of Owens Corning is now GMA's first vice chair, eﬀective
May 1, 2020. Over the past 23 years, Thaxton has served multiple roles at
diﬀerent companies within the geosynthetics industry. He ﬁrst served on
the GMA executive council in 2011-2014 and returned in 2019 when he
assumed leadership of the global geosynthetics business for Owens Corning.
Fred C. Chuck is the
executive director of GMA.

Division
Geosynthetics is the official
publication of the Geosynthetic
Materials Association.

0820GS_p38-cv4.indd 40

Other activities
During the COVID-19 time of "shelter in" and with no-travel guidelines restricting our
continued visits to Washington, D.C., and our state and local lobby efforts, GMA has still
remained busy in conversations with many congressional offices, particularly those where
GMA members are their constituents. These conversations have covered topics ranging
from language for the reauthorization of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA),
to the potential innovative materials language within the proposed infrastructure bills, to
a new discussion with members of the education committees proposing possible options
for funding expanded geosynthetic education at the university level. Even though we
were unable to meet face-to-face, GMA is now recognized well enough on Capitol Hill
that we were able to schedule virtual meetings and conference calls.
Our focus groups and task forces continued to push on with opportunities to effect
changes beneficial to the expanded use of geosynthetics. The geotextile and geogrid focus
groups worked in conjunction with the National Transportation Product Evaluation
Program (NTPEP) geosynthetics committee and AASHTO's COMP TS-4e tech section on geosynthetics. The NTPEP cooperation worked on revisions and updates to

7/22/20 4:20 PM

Geosynthetics August/September 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Geosynthetics August/September 2020