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GEOCOALITION
By Alan Macnab, P.Eng., D.GE, Macnab Consultants
In 2005, four organizations came together to form
the GeoCoalition (GC). These organizations consisted
of Geo-Institute of ASCE (G-I), the International
Association of Foundation Drilling (ADSC),
Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) and American Society
of Foundation Engineers – now called the Geoprofessional
Business Association (GBA).
The group agreed that if we had a major issue
that needed industry support, it might be possible to
undertake some advocacy initiatives. However, the more
immediate need was the creation of an atmosphere
wherein the member organizations were able to:
•• Work together
•• Avoid conflicts
•• Avoid conflicting or duplicative publications and
committee work
The founders recognized that the most valuable
assets any volunteer organization has are its volunteers.
The volunteer effort of a group, provided by its members,
is finite and precious. To waste that effort by competing
with each other, or duplicating work, was not in anyone’s
best interest. The GC founders realized that to accomplish
even these modest goals, they needed to develop a
culture of trust. To do so, they decided to keep the group
small and only add to its number other geo-organizations
that fit the culture.
It was agreed that those who would attend a GC
meeting would be each organization’s executive director
and two volunteer members, preferably the organization’s
president and president-elect.
The first GC meeting was held in 2005, and despite
the bullet points above, cards were held close to the
chest. The member organizations had, until then, considered
themselves to be competitors. However, after
several meetings it became obvious that the individual
organizations were duplicating efforts, to the detriment
of each. Having technical committees in three different
organizations, all discussing the same matters, was a
dysfunctional duplication of effort. Holding meetings on
the same weekend in the same town also made no sense.
Early breakthroughs included the establishment of
a GeoCalendar – where all members would post their
committee meetings, seminars, etc., as well as their proposed
dates and locations. This calendar posting would
act as a caution to others to “check in” with each other
before locking in a date that another organization was
considering.
As a result of this early success, two more organizations
were invited to join the GC: the Pile Driving
Contractors Association (PDCA), representing 900
international corporate and individual members, and the
Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists
(AEG), representing 3,500 engineering geologists.
Once the new members were assimilated into the
culture, the United States Universities Council on
Geotechnical Education and Research (USUCGER)
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