The ACI Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of new chair of Trustees— Jeffrey Coleman, election of two new trustees — Khaled Awad and Keith Kesner, and the re-election of an existing trustee — Robert Frosch. The ACI Foundation is honored to have these outstanding individuals continue the work of the ACI Foundation. They join Ronald G. Burg, Joseph M. Bracci, Antonio Nanni, Michael Paul, and William Rushing on the ACI Foundation Board of Trustees.
The ACI Foundation is a non-profit organization established by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) to make strategic investments in ideas, research, and people to create the future of the concrete industry. ACI Foundation supports a wide range of research and educational initiatives that contribute to keeping the concrete industry at the forefront of technological advances in material composition, design, and construction.
Jeffrey W. Coleman, FACI, is a licensed professional engineer, Attorney at Law, and Principal Partner of The Coleman Law Firm, LLC, Minneapolis, MN. He is an ACI Past President, a Fellow of ACI, and has been an ACI member for 40 years. Coleman is the author of the book “Legal Issues in Concrete Construction,” published by ACI in 2004 (second edition published in 2014), and previously authored the “Concrete Legal Notes” section of Concrete International.
Coleman served as a member of the ACI Board of Direction from 2012-2015 and has served as a member of ACI Committee 301, Specifications for Structural Concrete. He has also served as a member of the ACI Construction Liaison Committee, TAC Specifications Committee, Financial Advisory Committee, and Conventions Committee and was Chair of the Responsibility in Concrete Construction Committee (now ACI Committee 132), where he continues as a member.
Coleman received both his BS in civil engineering in 1976 and MS in structural engineering in 1977 from Iowa State University, Ames, IA. Coleman is licensed as an engineer in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and as a lawyer in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and North Dakota; however, he practices regularly in other states through admission “Pro Hac Vice.” In 2013, he founded The Coleman Law Firm, LLC—committed to continuing his representation of engineers, architects, and the concrete construction industry, including concrete contractors and suppliers.
Coleman is the Past President of the Minnesota Concrete Council (MCC) and a former Board member. He is also a sustaining member of the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC). Coleman has served five terms on the Board of Directors of the American Council of Engineering Companies, Minnesota. He is a past member of the Minnesota Board of Architecture, Engineering, Land Surveying, Landscape Architecture, Geoscience, and Interior Design (the Minnesota Licensing Board), having served from 2000 to 2004. He is a past member of the University of Minnesota Concrete Conference Planning Committee. In 2020, he was recognized by Concrete Construction magazine as one of “The Year’s Most Influential People” in the concrete industry.
Khaled W. Awad, FACI, is the Chairman and Founder of Advanced Construction Technologies (ACTS), a material and geotechnical consulting firm based in Beirut, Lebanon, and operating in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and several other countries of the Middle East.
An active member of ACI, Awad is Chair of the Standards Board of ACI, serves on Certification Programs Committee, ACI Board Committee Chairs Committee, and the International Certification Subcommittee, of which he is a past Chair. Awad is a past Trustee of the ACI Foundation and past ACI President. He is a member of ACI Committees 130, Sustainability of Concrete, and C630, Construction Inspector Certification; and ACI Subcommittees 130-E, Design/Specifications/Codes/Regulations; 130-F, Social Issues; 130-G, Education/Certification; and C601-E, Concrete Construction Sustainability Assessor. Awad is the past Chair of the Financial Advisory Committee and previously served as a member of the ACI Board of Direction. He received his BE in civil engineering from the American University, Beirut, Lebanon, and his MA in business administration from the Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon. Awad is also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and ASTM International, and a Fellow of the UK Institute of Concrete Technology.
He is the founder of Grenea, an investment firm advancing and providing technical assistance to eco-developments around the world. Prior to establishing Grenea, he was the founding Director of Property Development at the Masdar Initiative in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Masdar is a multifaceted initiative advancing the development, commercialization, and deployment of renewable and alternative energy technologies and solutions. He oversaw the development of emission-free Masdar City, the world’s first development aiming to become carbon-neutral.
Awad worked in the real estate and construction industry in the Arabian Gulf for more than 30 years. He was the Founder and CEO of various construction and real estate companies, dealing with the supply chain and information technology side of the industry, as well as the development of large-scale projects.
He received the ACI Henry L. Kennedy Award and the ACI Chapter Activities Award in 2007, and the ACI Certification Award in 2011 and is an ACI Fellow.
Keith E. Kesner, FACI, is among a small group of Key Personnel at CVM Engineers, a multi-faceted professional engineering firm with a diverse staff of engineers, architects and materials scientists serving premier institutional and commercial clients.
Kesner is a structural engineer with over 25 years of professional experience. His specialties include evaluation of existing structures, nondestructive testing, corrosion evaluation, and repair / rehabilitation design. Kesner has received numerous awards for his contribution to the engineering profession, including the 2021 ACI Henry Kennedy Award and the 2020 ACI Delmar L. Bloem Award for contributions to the development of building codes for existing structures. He was previously awarded the ACI Young Member Award for Professional Achievement and co-awarded the ACI Construction Practice Award.
An active participant in industry organizations, Kesner is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the International Concrete Repair Institute. He has authored/co-authored over 125 publications and presentations on a variety of structural engineering topics. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and Structural Engineer in several states. He received his PhD and MS degrees from Cornell University and his BSE degree from the University of Connecticut.
Robert J. Frosch, PhD, PE, FACI, FASCE is a Professor of Civil Engineering, Senior Associate Dean of the College of Engineering, and Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives in the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research & Partnerships at Purdue University.
Frosch is a current ACI Foundation Trustee, Editor-in-Chief of the ACI Structural Journal, and Member of the ACI Structural Concrete Building Code Committee for which he Chairs the subcommittee on Members. He is a former ACI Board Member and former Chair of the ACI Financial Advisory, Codes and Standards Advocacy and Outreach, and Cracking Committees.
His research, which focuses on the design and behavior of structural concrete, has resulted in changes to engineering practice and the building codes for buildings and bridges. He has received numerous awards for this teaching, research, and service including the ACI Young Members Award for Professional Achievement, the ACI 318 Distinguished Service Award, the 2014 Concrete Research Council Arthur Boase Award, and the 2020 ACI Joe Kelly Award.
A Fellow of the American Concrete Institute and American Society of Civil Engineers, he is a licensed Professional Engineer in Indiana and Louisiana. He received his BSE in civil engineering from Tulane University in New Orleans and his MSE and PhD in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
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The ACI Foundation was established in 1989 to promote progress, innovation, and collaboration and is a wholly owned and operated non-profit subsidiary of the American Concrete Institute. Three councils make up the ACI Foundation; the Concrete Innovation Council, which identifies technologies and innovations and helps to implement when appropriate; the Concrete Research Council, which funds and assists in the research of new concrete technologies; and the Scholarship Council which facilitates student fellowships and scholarships.
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