October 23, 2023 – The Emerging Leaders Committee of the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC), St. Louis, Mo., presented its sixth Gaining Strength Award to Leo Zhang, Virtual Construction Manager for The Conco Companies, Fontana, CA, at the 2023 ASCC Annual Conference in September. The award was established to acknowledge up and coming individuals aged forty and under, from member companies, who go above and beyond to promote and professionally represent the concrete industry, through their actions in their company and industry organizations. Candidates are judged based on letters of recommendation and letters of acknowledgement from industry organizations, with emphasis on participation, commitment, safety awareness, role modeling, and personal skills and knowledge.
Chad Watson, Senior Project Manager at The Conco Companies had this to say about Leo in his nomination letter, “During his time at The Conco Companies, Leo was initially involved in BIM estimating working with the preconstruction department on BIM software R&D, BIM-based quantity takeoff, 4D planning, and estimating. Leo wanted to go above and beyond by getting his boots dirty to gain more field experience. He proposed a Robotic Total Station Layout and 3D Laser Scan idea, set up demos, evaluated vendors, and connected with field crews to build and further develop this service. Leo has built, grown, and managed the Conco NorCal layout/laser scan team. He has been taking more responsibilities regarding layout/laser scan by covering Conco’s Pacific West offices in Seattle and Portland and the Sothern California office in Los Angeles within seven years.
“Additionally, Leo has worked with Conco’s Estimating, Detailing, Safety, and Scheduling team. Leo is passionate about using advanced visual data-driven methods to improve quality assurance and quality control, scheduling, project management, and safety. Leo is a valued and trusted team member and his team members always put safety first by conforming to Conco safety policy and attending OSHA training. Leo doesn’t stop with existing means and methods. He has also developed the Conco drone program, 360 photo site documentation, and Ground Penetrating Radar scan in addition to the other services he is providing and is looking into testing new solutions such as Layout robot, lean construction (takt planning), sensors for safety, etc.
“Besides exceeding work expectations, Leo has actively participated in organizations like ACI and ASCC since 2018 and demonstrated commitment to our industry. Specifically, he took part and was one of the top performers in the ASCC laser scan study in Walnut Creek, CA in 2018. He also shared his best practices in an ASCC meeting in 2019. In 2021, Leo worked with Bruce Suprenant and Jim Klinger from ASCC on another study regarding textured concrete finish, non-destructive testing for SOG slab, and laser scan on a SOG slab in Conco’s Martinez yard. He was able to publish three articles in Concrete International within 2022. Leo is currently serving as the chair of the ACI 117L – Laser Scanning subcommittee and has been working diligently to develop documents to guide concrete professionals on how to utilize laser scanning for the concrete industry. He also serves as a voting member of the ACI131-Building Information Modeling of Concrete Structures committee.”
The ASCC Emerging Leaders is proud to recognize Leo with this much deserved award.
The American Society of Concrete Contractors is a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the capabilities of those who build with concrete, and to providing them a unified voice in the construction industry. Members include concrete contracting firms, manufacturers, suppliers, and others interested in the concrete industry such as architects, specifiers, and distributors. There are approximately 720 member companies in the United States and thirteen foreign countries. For more information, visit www.ascconline.org or call the ASCC office at (866) 788-2722.