Pit & Quarry, February 2017

He was particularly good with people Grove says It took somebody who really could roll with the punches to work through the difficulties MEDIATING A MERGER Snyder left Genstar in 1995 to become president of Eastern Industries but he always kept Groves advice about industry involvement and lobbying in mind He remained heavily involved in NSA moving up the ladder of association leadership Snyders mediating skills from his time at Genstar came in handy as he moved his way up the chairs at NSA in the late 1990s as that was when the association was negotiating a merger with NAA There were two leaders with two philosophies Bush says of the merger discussions It took a lot of work for the two to come together Snyder notes that NSA tended to be more business oriented while NAA placed a bigger emphasis on the social aspects of the association Despite the differences between the two groups Snyder continuously watched and listened in on the discussions leading up to the merger to determine a formula to make the alliance work He also maintained a good relationship with Mike Hayes chairman of NAA in 2000 in order to move things forward They were friends Mellott says They got beyond the problems we had and pursued merging to one association Kim was really involved in that and it was a major step for us to take as an industry The two associations officially merged June 19 2000 into what is today known as the National Stone Sand Gravel Association NSSGA Snyder described that day as historic for the industry in an August 2000 article in Pit Quarry After the merger Snyder continued to contribute to NSSGA in different capacities Most notably he helped to lead discussions on co hosting AGG1 Aggregates Academy Expo with the World of Asphalt as he was also involved in chair positions with the National Asphalt Pavement Association By 2010 the two groups officially co hosted their events I was a cheerleader for that he says Its been a great success for both groups LOBBYING EFFORTS Since his time at Genstar Snyder also remained committed to connecting with politicians as Grove taught him Grove said to me Look your largest customer is the government and you should do customer relations with them like anyone else Snyder says He helped me to develop relationships with elected officials both at the state and national level Snyder became a proponent of grassroots efforts particularly during his time at Eastern Industries He hosted a number of meet and greets with legislators at the companys locations and involved all of his employees in the events If I get employees involved in a team of six to eight of them talking to legislators the legislators eyes might then be opened to our concerns Snyder says Snyder has also befriended some legislators like Sen Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania To this day he remains a good friend to Toomey keeping in contact with him and his family Many in the industry also know Snyder for his work with ROCKPAC the associations political action committee For the past decade Snyder has teamed with Mellott to go onstage during the ROCKPAC fundraising event We dress up in costumes each year to portray different characters and just have fun with it Mellott says We make people laugh and thats Kim at his finest pitandquarry com February 2017 PIT QUARRY 77