“Charlie has always been the consummate professional,” said Marshall Brown, president and owner of ACM Chemistries. “He is a person who always believed we should be member-led and staff-supported. In 1998, Charlie took a leap of faith to leave Bostrom and work full-time for us. That was not easy -- imagine this relatively young trade association, full of entrepreneurs with a lot of passion and a lot of opinions. Charlie took that challenge. He put in the strategy, and he put in the structure needed to grow the concrete segmental pavement industry.” 

Following the video presentation, David Smith, CMHA's former vice president of research and development, pavers, reflected on his many years working alongside McGrath.

“I think there's a couple things that allowed us to work together so well. First of all, Charlie let me do pretty much anything I wanted as long as it sold more pavers,” Smith laughed. “But the other thing is we’re both from New Jersey so there was a sudden bonding there. I think the theme of this story is that Charlie was absolutely made for ICPI.”

Smith noted that when the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute (ICPI) was established in 1994, he filled the sole staff position. Under McGrath’s leadership, ICPI grew dramatically in membership, programs and influence before merging with the National Concrete Masonry Association to form CMHA in 2022.

In accepting the award, McGrath reflected on what made his years at ICPI unique. “Throughout my association management career, I had the opportunity to lead 12 associations,” he said. “But ICPI was different. ICPI was special. It was built on a true partnership between members and staff, a shared commitment to achieving our goals together.”