Industry leader honored for a career built on leadership, collaboration and service
Last month, during the Concrete Masonry & Hardscape Association’s Midyear Meeting in Grand Rapids, MI, Rick Roach was inducted into the CMHA Hall of Fame.
CMHA recognized Roach for a lifetime of leadership dedicated to strengthening both the concrete masonry industry and the national association through collaboration, technical advancement and service.
David Biggs, P.E., S.E., of Biggs Consulting, introduced a tribute video highlighting Roach’s career and the lasting influence he has had on the industry.
“Some people lead through position or personality, but the most respected leaders, often lead through consistency, through the standard they set every day,” said Biggs. “Rick leads through professionalism, honesty, and generosity of time and materials, and modesty too,” he added.
Building Consensus
Throughout decades of national association leadership, Roach became known as a consensus builder who brought together members with different viewpoints to advance the industry.
Beginning with the Engineered Concrete Masonry Design Committee, he progressed through committee leadership to serve on the Executive Committee, as chairman of the national association in 2001, and later as chairman of the NCMA Foundation in 2016. Along the way, he helped resolve technical issues, guided strategic planning efforts and encouraged members to work together for the long-term benefit of the industry.
As chairman-elect in 2000, Roach urged members to better communicate the association’s technical achievements and ensure that research and educational programs were actively used by producers. During his chairmanship, he emphasized marketing, member engagement and strategic planning while challenging the industry to prepare for future opportunities rather than simply respond to change.
Roach also helped facilitate member forums that encouraged producers to share ideas and shape the association’s direction. His colleagues frequently described him as someone who listened carefully, found common ground and helped transform discussion into action.
Ideas into Action
Roach consistently applied what he learned through the national association to his work at Barnes & Cone in Syracuse, New York.
He credits the association’s Structural Feasibility Program with helping the company secure the largest block order in its history, a correctional facility requiring more than one million concrete masonry units in 98 different sizes, shapes and strengths. Throughout his career, he championed innovation, technical service and industry cooperation over treating concrete masonry as simply another commodity product.
His leadership also extended to important industry initiatives, including helping build consensus on technical standards and playing a key role in improving the relationship between the National Concrete Masonry Association and the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute. Those efforts helped lay the groundwork for the organizations’ eventual reunification as today’s Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association.
A Family Legacy
Concrete masonry has been part of the Roach family for generations.
Roach began working at Barnes & Cone while still in high school, following the same path as his father, Dick Roach, who started at the company unloading railcars and hand-cubing concrete block before eventually becoming an owner. The experience gave Rick a lifelong appreciation for the men and women who manufacture concrete masonry products and the masons who build with them.
That appreciation shaped both his professional career and his personal life. Rick and his wife, Randi, raised their family in an all-concrete masonry passive solar home inspired by ideas they discovered through the national association. Over the years, the association also became a source of lifelong friendships, learning and family experiences that extended far beyond committee meetings.
Credit to Others
Throughout the Hall of Fame tribute, colleagues described Roach as a leader, mentor and unifier who consistently placed the industry’s long-term interests ahead of his own.
For Roach, however, the story has always been about the people who helped shape his career.
When others speak about his accomplishments, he prefers to recognize the mentors, coworkers and friends who challenged him, shared ideas with him and strengthened the industry alongside him.
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About CMHA
The Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association (CMHA) represents the manufacturers, suppliers and professionals behind concrete masonry, segmental concrete pavements, manufactured stone veneer, segmental retaining walls and other hardscape systems across North America. CMHA serves as a central resource for the industry, supporting its members through education, technical guidance, research, advocacy, industry expertise and collaboration.