L ocal Level PDCA
Sean Spatz talks about his experience with the
PDCA of the Gulf Coast Chapter
This section of PileDriver magazine tells the stories of members from PDCA’s local chapters.
Read about their experiences to find out how your local chapter can benefit you!
Sean Spatz grew up around the pile driving industry, watching
his father, Bill, go to work each day for International
Construction Equipment, Inc. (ICE®). As an adult, he joined
the same company when ICE® realized it needed to start preserving
the institutional knowledge of its long-term employees before
they retired. Sean was able to learn from his father and his father’s
coworkers, and has spent the last 13 years working for ICE®. He’s
currently in sales for the Gulf Coast Region and loves that no two
days are the same.
Almost immediately after beginning his role at ICE®, he joined
the PDCA of the Gulf Coast Chapter. Sean has been an active member
of his local PDCA chapter for more than 12 years.
He took the time to tell PileDriver about how being part of the
PDCA of the Gulf Coast Chapter has benefitted him.
In what ways do you participate in the PDCA of the
Gulf Coast Chapter?
Sean Spatz: I was the chapter treasurer for about four years; I’m
no longer on the board but I try to attend most quarterly meetings
as well as any extracurriculars the chapter puts on, which tend to
change. We’ve done sporting clay shoots, and the chapter puts on
CHAPTER CONNECTIONS
some driven pile seminars – engineering conferences. That conference
has been a good resource to keep engineers thinking about
the driven pile instead of alternatives.
Would you say that being part of the chapter has
positively affected you professionally?
SS: This is one of those intangible things. You can’t really put a
dollar amount on it, but you know based on the relationships that
you’ve grown that it’s affected you. Some of the people that I served
on the board with, I still have good relationships with them today.
In fact, I just got off the phone with a former chapter president
about 15 minutes ago. Being part of the chapter has definitely
firmed up relationships and made them more personal, instead of,
“Hey, it’s a customer.” And that helps when you’re in sales.
As a supplier to the industry, how does participating in
the Gulf Coast Chapter benefit you the most?
SS: As a non-contractor member, the strongest thing that we as a
supplier use PDCA for is the networking. We’re not so much utilizing
the organization as a resource for specs or more technical
information like a contractor or an engineering company would.
By Jill Harris, Lester Publications, LLC
www.piledrivers.org PILEDRIVER | 33
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