Degussa Admixtures Inc. has appointed Dan Bobrowski to the North Central Area manager position, located in Chicago. In this role, he will direct Northern Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North and South Dakota. For the past eight years, he has served as vice president of sales and marketing for a ready-mix operation in Chicago where he was intimately involved in the startup and successful growth of the company. He worked with Master Builders/Degussa Admixtures from 1987-1997.

Benjamin Obdyke created several new positions and hired to fill those positions. Michael Lerner is sales manager for the mid-west; David Spychalski is a strategic alliance specialist; and Churck Stiener is sales manager for the south. Benjamin Obdyke is a designer and provider of residential building products.

Deep Foundations Institute's newly elected Trustees, Robert Bittner of Ben C. Gerwick Inc., Doug Keller of Richard Goettle Inc. and Sam Kosa of Monotube Pile Corp. began their three-year term on the organization's Board Jan. 1. Officers include Tracy Brettmann of Berkel & Co. Contractors Inc. of Richmond, Texas; Seth Pearkman of DGI-Menard Inc. of Bridgeville, Penn., vice president; Rudolph Fritzzi of Langan Engineering & Environmental Services in Elmwood Park, N.J.; James Morrison of Kiewit Construction Group Inc. in Omaha, Neb., treasurer; and Richard Short of Kleinfelder Inc. in Oakland, Calif., immediate past president.

Modine Manufacturing Co., a provider of heating and cooling solutions, has promoted Margaret "Peggy" Kelsey to the position of corporate treasurer and assistant secretary. Kelsey is currently an officer in the company as senior counsel and assistant secretary.

Al Adamczyk has been named south central regional manager for Outinord Universal Inc., responsible for sales in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Art Paylor has been promoted to central region sales manager of the Ash Grove Cement Co. Paylor will begin his new duties toward the end of February 2006 when current Central Region Sales Manager Ken Gould assumes a new marketing position in the company's western division based in Portland, Ore.

Quad-Lock Building Systems Ltd has promoted sales manager Rhyno Stinchfield to Director of North American Sales. "Rhyno developed Quad-Lock's distribution network for the United States.

American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) President and CEO Pete Ruane has been named one of Public Works magazine's 2005 "Trendsetters." He was recognized for his leadership in helping pass the 2005 highway/transit law, known as the "Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act — A Legacy for Users" (SAFETEA-LU).

Brian Britton has joined Black & Veatch Corp. as its strategic sourcing manager and an associate vice president. In his new role, Britton is responsible for managing and developing agreements with Black & Veatch's key suppliers and enhancing the company's supplier diversity programs.

Valerie E. Richardson has been hired by Leica Geosystems to the newly created position of vice president, strategic marketing and business development, Americas Region, as part of a strategic initiative to enhance product marketing and planning in the Americas. She assumes responsibility for all end-to-end strategic marketing areas, including product marketing, software development center, Web tools marketing, marketing communications, customer care and order entry, channel marketing, management of partners programs, sales and marketing training and market intelligence for North and South America.