Posted on October 28, 2024
Michael Johnson served the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA) as president and CEO over the last 11 years, joining the organization in 2013 following a seven-year stint at the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
The next chapter of Johnson’s career will unfold at the American Coatings Association, which he joins as president and CEO. P&Q caught up with Johnson in his final days at NSSGA, touching on his early years at the organization, the progress made and how the aggregate industry is situated as he departs.
P&Q: Congrats on your new position, Mike. As you look back on your tenure at NSSGA, what are your feelings at this moment?
JOHNSON: This is the hardest professional decision I’ve ever made. I love this industry. I love the people that I’ve gotten to know over the last 11 years in this industry, and I love our team at NSSGA. When you put all that together, it was just a really tough call to make. It didn’t come easy, and it certainly is a bit bittersweet.
P&Q: As you think about your 11 years at NSSGA, what are you most proud of?
JOHNSON: It’s not any one thing. It’s really the volume of our work.
I think about standing on the [NSSGA Annual Convention] stage in Las Vegas in March 2014 with [Martin Marietta’s] Ward Nye, the chairman of the search committee that hired me in one of his last acts as chairman of the association. I think about announcing to the membership our first Rocks Build America strategic plan.
I think about our first Legislative & Policy Forum in 2017 and having that lead to us being incredibly effective as an advocacy organization in advancing our members’ interests. I think about seeing the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) signed into law on the White House lawn in 2021.
I think about this year, when we reached 500-plus members for the first time in the organization’s history, knowing that positions us well for next year when we celebrate our 25th anniversary. More than looking back at where we’ve been, [the anniversary] starts to look forward to where we’re going to go for the next 25 years.
I’m really proud of the work we’ve done, and I’m really proud of the team we brought together to do that work. I don’t think NSSGA has ever been positioned stronger to take the 25 years of history we have and to really build upon that for 25 more [years] of being an effective advocacy-as-job-one, squarely focused association for our membership.
It’s great to be able to leave a place feeling like you left it better than you found it. That should be everybody’s goal.
P&Q: Take us back to 2013: What were your goals as you took over as NSSGA president and CEO? How did your goals as NSSGA president and CEO evolve as the years went on? Ultimately, do you feel you were able to achieve the goals you set for yourself and the association?
JOHNSON: I still remember those conversations with the search committee – with Ward Nye, Charlie Luck, Paul Detwiler III, Paul Mellott, Anne Cramer and the folks who were in that room, talking with them about what they wanted from their trade association. They were very clear they wanted NSSGA to be a trade association that was squarely focused on effective advocacy on behalf of this industry.
For me, setting that goal was piece No. 1. I’m really proud of the fact that we’re now in the fourth iteration of our Rocks Build America strategic plan. All those plans were squarely focused on that goal, first and foremost. That wasn’t to the neglect of anything else.
Michael Johnson (left), seen here in 2021 with Vulcan Materials Co.’s Chad McDougal (center) and Bond Construction Corp.’s Karen Hubacz, says the Legislative & Policy Forum has made the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association more effective at advancing the advocacy interests of its members.
Through that period, we also grew sponsorship. We grew AGG1. We grew the M&S (Manufacturers & Services) Division. Those folks are such an important piece of this family. Making sure they were getting what they needed from this association was important.
We had to make sure we were taking care of the business of operating an association at the same time that we were putting the right pieces in place to be that effective advocacy operation.
P&Q: In your view, what would you say the differences are between the NSSGA you joined in 2013 and the NSSGA you’re leaving here in 2024?
JOHNSON: Everybody has a different way they think you should go about advocacy. If you talk to anybody in the trade association business, you’ll find different attitudes about how to be effective advocates.
I have a particular style that I brought with me – and that I believed would work at NSSGA. I think the proof is in the results that we’ve been able to deliver for the members.
Piece No. 1 to the secret of our success is engaged members – engaged in our grassroots [efforts], in ROCKPAC and in the Legislative & Policy Forum. We’ve had a number of members come in to testify on Capitol Hill over the last 11 years. It’s just amazing. You can’t be effective at any of this without an engaged membership.
The second piece is the team we’ve built. Man to man, woman to woman, top to bottom, I believe this is the strongest trade association team in the Washington, D.C., metro area. They are going out working for our members’ best interests every day – and being very effective at doing so.
P&Q: In talking with industry leaders in recent days, we’ve heard compliment after compliment about the staff at NSSGA. How would you characterize the staff there? What qualities or characteristics did you seek out in people when looking for candidates to join the association?
JOHNSON: First, it’s about culture. I wanted to bring in department heads who I felt would be models of the culture – not people who would talk about the culture, but people who would demonstrate every day the culture we wanted at NSSGA.
I wanted to bring in department heads who understood that this association’s job is to give our members the organization they want, need and deserve. I wanted people who were fully bought in and understood their role and how what they did – whether it was meetings and events, communications or finance – fits into being effective advocates for our members.
Equipping and motivating those department heads to build out their teams with great people who also understand that was also the goal from Day 1, and I couldn’t be prouder of the folks we have on this team right now.
Frankly, it’s a real honor and a pleasure for me to see that Michele Stanley’s going to get the shot to be the interim president and CEO. You know that hire was very important for us when we made it nine years ago, and to watch Michele’s growth, to be able to be part of that, and to see how she’s grown, is just outstanding. She’s super important to a lot of our advocacy wins, and I know she’s going to be a great leader for the organization going forward.
P&Q: I’m sure you will keep tabs on the aggregate industry ‘from afar.’ But what do you think the future holds for the industry? For NSSGA? What are you optimistic about, and what are the next challenges you envision the industry at-large – and NSSGA – having to conquer?
JOHNSON: I think the aggregates industry is stronger today than it was 11 years ago. I think that’s only going to continue to evolve as we go forward.
The need for our products hasn’t lessened; it’s increased as we try to meet the policy proposals and the ideals that were envisioned by the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act.
It’s important to know – and I think this is the thing NSSGA’s members should really be proud of – that no matter what happens in the election this November, no matter who has the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or the gavels in either chamber, [that] because of our engaged members and because of our fantastic team and the work that they’ve done together, we’re positioned to make sure that no matter what happens in that election, we’re ready.
We’re ready on Day 1 to advocate for this industry – and ensure that, no matter who is in charge of making policy, that they hear from us in one loud and united voice about how those policies will impact our ability to provide the materials that are crucial to anything significantly built in this country.
It was amazing to be on the White House lawn with then-NSSGA chairman Darin Matson, watching President Biden sign that historic legislation (IIJA) into law. But here’s where we are: that has to be reauthorized. It runs out. It ends. It sunsets in 2026 without congressional authorization to either continue that spending, or frankly, what they need to do is grow that spending into a new bill that replaces IIJA and takes us into the next five to six years down the road.
The work to get that done can’t wait. It has to begin now. And in January, when the new Congress is seated, the fact of the matter is a lot of the people – if not most of the people who voted for that legislation that was signed into law in 2021 – won’t be in their leadership posts anymore. Many of them won’t even be in Congress anymore. There’ll be a whole new cast of characters that need to be educated about the importance of infrastructure legislation to this country.
I know this team, the engaged members and this staff are ready to get that done.
P&Q: Any final words you’d like to impart on those in the aggregate industry? Anything you’d like to add?
JOHNSON: The last 11 years have been the best years of my career to date. I love the aggregates industry. I love the people in this industry. I love the team we built at NSSGA. I am super proud of what we’ve accomplished for the industry, and I am incredibly optimistic and excited to watch what these engaged members and this team do going forward to grow this industry and make it even stronger.
Under Michael Johnson’s leadership, the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association sometimes partnered on key events with the National Asphalt Pavement Association and the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association.
