A dinner meeting was held on the evening of January 15, 1958 at the Athens Athletic Club in Oakland for the express purpose of establishing a sponsoring committee to develop plans for formulating a local ACI Chapter.
Present at this meeting were: Joe Kelly, Ed Howard, Orville Jack, Lewis Rural, Ben Gerwick Jr., Al Klein, Mez Newman, Carl Rollins, Milos Polivka, Frank Killinger, Sam Burks, Dick Allen and Harry Thomas. This meeting was presided over by S. D. Burks and resulted in the formation of various task groups to pursue chapter formation and chartering by ACI.
As a result of the work of the task groups, a charter was granted by ACI on November 5, 1958. The Northern California Chapter was the second chapter to be founded. The first meeting of the newly formed Chapter was held at the Leopard Cafe in San Francisco. President S. D. Burks presided, with a featured presentation by T. Y. Lin on the topic "Observation on Concrete in Russia".
A long lasting tradition of meeting at Spengers Fish Grotto in Berkeley started with the Second Annual Meeting in March 1961. (Dinner $3.25 per person, tax & tip included.) Speaker for the evening was Ellis L. Armstrong of the Better Highway Development program. The tradition was interrupted in 1998 with the closing of the restaurant, but resumed in June 2000, after Spengers re-opened. We now meet in a half dozen different locations so that more of the members in our large region can attend during the year.
ACI International Conventions have been hosted by the Chapter on five occasions -- 1974 local chairman, Everett Osgood; 1986 local chairman, Claude Trusty; 1993 local chairman, Chris Crouch; 2004 co-chairs Dean Browning and Bruce Carter; 2014 co-chairs Tarek Khan and Bruce Carter.
Four members have attained the Presidency of ACI International, Joe Kelly (1961), Louis Tuthill (1962) Sam Burks (1970), and Florian Barth (2010).
The Chapter was incorporated by the State of California on April 25, 1961 as the Northern California Chapter of the American Concrete Institute signed by President Milos Polivka and Secretary-Treasurer Wilbur Moulton. The charter was amended in 1984 to change the name and sphere of influence to "Northern California and Western Nevada Chapter American Concrete Institute" signed by President Al Kaufman and Secretary Bob Adams.
The Chapter has been involved in numerous educational and promotional activities over the years. Certification has been a prominent activity of the Chapter since Everett Osgood put on the first program at the San Jose Materials Yard in 1984. Heidy Braverman was the first Field Technician Chairperson. A formal Certification Committee was formed in 1988 with Jim Van Nest as Chairperson. The current Certification Program Co-Managers are Tom Fourre and Kevin Owen. Liese Hironaka serves as Certification Coordinator. In 2018, more than 1,400 applicants participated in the Certification programs offered by the Chapter.
The Chapter typically holds 10 events during the year, including dinner meetings with interesting industry speakers, a golf classic, and a holiday social event. Student Nights feature topics specifically targeted to Engineering and Concrete Industry Management students. The Chapter sponsors two active student chapters: one at San Jose State University, and the other at California State University Chico.
Each fall the Chapter stages its Construction Awards competition, recognizing outstanding regional projects in five different categories. In 2015, ACI began an international awards competition, which requires projects to have won in a local chapter awards program to be eligible. The Chapter has submitted winners each year from its subsequent Construction Awards events.