The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s (PCI) 2025 PCI Committee Days September 16–19 in Rosemont, Ill, brought together precast concrete professionals for a week of collaboration, innovation, and networking. Attendance totaled 615, one of the largest in the event’s history. This is the third consecutive year more than 600 people attended PCI Committee Days. 

With more than 60 committee and council meetings, attendees worked to advance technical standards, sustainability practices, and industry growth. Highlights included the Women in Precast Dinner, Leadership PCI social event, and the Concrete Chefs fundraiser for the PCI Foundation. More than 30 tabletop exhibitors showcased the latest in precast technologies and solutions.

"Committee Days is the engine that drives PCI’s mission forward,” said PCI President and CEO Bob Risser. “The dedication and expertise of our members during this week are what keep our industry strong and evolving. Thank you to all of PCI’s volunteers and event sponsors for making 2025 PCI Committee Days a tremendous success.

Many distinguished leaders of the precast concrete industry were honored at the PCI Membership Luncheon on September 17:

• Edward Knowles received the T. Henry Clark Award honoring someone who delivered a resource that improves or enhances the quality of precast and prestressed concrete products or processes. During his distinguished career, Knowles helped develop and promote glass-fiber-reinforced concrete (GFRC) panel design. He retired in 2023 after a long career at Walters & Wolf Precast. Watch the award video.

• Roksana Taghizadeh Daloui was honored with the Irwin J. Speyer Young Professional Engineer Award. She has been involved in the precast and prestressed concrete industry since 2007 and is currently a principal with AG&E in Austin, Texas, where she manages a team of 28 engineers and drafters. Watch the award video.

• The Norman L. Scott Professional Engineer Award was presented to Venkatesh (Venka) Seshappa. Throughout this distinguished career, Seshappa has successfully managed engineering departments and advanced concrete product testing. After working many years at engineering firms and 12 years at Thermomass (now Leviat) he joined GATE Precast (now Wells) in 2020 as an engineering manager. Watch the award video.

• Jane Martin, director of marketing for GATE Precast (now Wells) received the PCI Marketing Individual Achievement Award. Martin is a mentor and trainer for other marketers and is an advocate for women in the precast concrete industry. Among her many accomplishments, Martin’s work on the PCO Design Awards has elevated the perception of precast concrete. Watch the award video.

• FINFROCK of Apopka, Fla., is the recipient of the PCI Marketing Company Achievement Award. The company is a leader marketing and promoting precast concrete as a safe, durable, sustainable, and cost-effective building material. Watch the award video.

• The Leslie D. Martin Certificate of Merit Award recognizes a PCI-published document judged to be technically outstanding and worthy of special commendation in advancing precast, prestressed concrete. The recipient is the ACI/PCI CODE 319-25, Structural Precast Concrete –  Code Requirements Commentary, developed by the outgoing Design Standard Committee members. 

• The Martin P. Korn Award recognizes authors of outstanding papers published in the PCI Journal during the previous year. The award was presented to Baha’a Al-Khateeb, Christopher Garcia, Mark P. Manning, Jon Mohle, and Yahya C. Kurama for their paper, “Seismic Precast Concrete Shear Walls with Short-Grouted Ductile Reinforcing Bar Connections,” published in the January-February 2025 issue of PCI Journal.   

• The Robert J. Lyman Award honors papers dealing with construction, production, and/or erection of precast concrete. The award was presented to Mustafa Mahamid, Ines Torra-Bilal, and Eray Baran for their paper, “An Investigation and Design of Novel Moment-Resisting Beam-Column Connections for Precast Concrete Construction,” published in the July-August 2024 PCI Journal. 

• The George D. Nasser Award is presented to young authors for the best design, research, or state-of-the-art paper on precast concrete during a single year. Mostafa Abo El-Khier and Adam D. Sevenker received this award for their paper “Measurements of Rotational Stiffness for Precast Concrete Girder Transport Vehicles, Part 2,” which was published in the July-August 2024 PCI Journal. 

• The Charles C. Zollman Award honors authors of the best transportation infrastructure paper in the PCI Journal. Recipients were Alla Addine Acheli, Hema Jayaseelan, Bruce W. Russell, Walter Peters, and Chris Filip for their paper “Assessment and Validation of Prestress Loss Prediction Models Using Real-Time Prestress Loss Measurements,” published in the September-October 2024 PCI Journal.