January 2002

U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray
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Datamining

State by State

Exemplifying Professionalism and Patriotism

Exemplifying Professionalism and Patriotism

Bill Sandbrook—2001 AggMan Professional of the Year

By Therese Dunphy

If I had to sum up Bill Sandbrook in one word, it would be focused. Sandbrook has used that ability to a achieve a number of goals in his life.

Following his love of education, Sandbrook earned a bachelor’s degree in management from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.; a joint master’s of business administration and master’s of science in systems engineering from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; a master’s of arts degree in public policy and strategic studies from the Naval War College; and a master’s of arts in international relations from Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I.

During his military career, he served in Germany during the Cold War, led a 135-person combat engineer construction company, served as a social aide to former President Ronald Reagan, accelerated production of more than 1,200 Patriot missiles during the Gulf War and found time to teach courses in mathematics and management at West Point.

Less than five years after joining the aggregate industry, he was promoted as president and chief executive officer of Tilcon New York. Since that promotion in 1995, he has built the business from gross revenues of $30 million to nearly $400 million and demonstrated industry leadership as chairman of the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association’s (NSSGA) Government Affairs Division.

Finally, following the events of Sept. 11 in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., Sandbrook launched what may have been the industry’s most ambitious effort to provide aid in the immediate aftermath of the World Trade Center collapse.

For these accomplishments and many more, Bill Sandbrook was selected as the AggMan Professional of the Year for 2001.

“Bill Sandbrook richly deserves this honor, not only for his many leadership contributions to the aggregate industry, generally, but also for his personal courage,” said Joy Wilson, president and chief executive officer of NSSGA. “In reacting to the events of Sept. 11, Bill Sandbrook and his Tilcon team demonstrated a heroism that brought honor to our industry and to America. His organization and persistence at the World Trade Center site in the face of incredible odds and unimaginable tragedy are character attributes that we admire and respect.”

The Military Man

Sandbrook set his educational agenda at an early age. “When I was in the sixth grade, I lived in Hudson, N.Y., for a year,” he said. “I went to visit West Point and must have been suitably impressed. I came back and told my teacher I was going to go there.”

That goal never wavered. As a high school senior, Sandbrook applied to only one school—West Point. Uncle Sam wanted Sandbrook, too. He received nominations from both his congressman and then-vice president Nelson Rockefeller to attend the military academy.

After completing his bachelor’s degree at West Point, Sandbrook went through Ranger Training to receive his Ranger qualification and spent a four-year stint in Bamberg, Germany.

“At that point, our mission was guarding the West German border with East Germany and Czechoslovakia,” said Sandbrook. “During that time, the Cold War was a real war.”

While in Germany, Sandbrook decided to take his military career in a new direction and transferred to the Corps of Engineers where he served in a combat engineer battalion. He got his first taste of the construction industry while building roads and performing demolition work with the Corps.

Coming back stateside, he continued his academic achievements at Wharton and the Moore School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.

“The good thing about the army is that if you have a good military record and a good academic record, there are a lot of opportunities to go back to graduate school in preparation for a teaching assignment,” said Sandbrook. “You owe a couple more years of additional service commitment, but that is a small price to pay, especially when you go out into industry and see how hard it is to have a career and attend night school to get an advanced degree. The army let’s you immerse yourself. It’s your job to be a student.”

After completing two master’s degrees, Sandbrook returned to West Point and taught such subjects as calculus, linear optimization, differential equations and a management course.

In late 1988, Sandbrook had a memorable weekend assignment as a social aide for President Ronald Reagan.

“I was picked for a 10-member team to assist Ronald Reagan during his final farewell address to the United Nations,” said Sandbrook. “It was a very big thing back then. He had had a very successful presidency.”

Through the assignment, Sandbrook participated in a formal receiving line at the reception where he introduced all of the foreign dignitaries to President Reagan.

Sandbrook was then picked up “below the zone” (before his peers) and became a major. He was then sent to the Naval War College where he trained with the navy for a year and received a third master’s degree.

In his final military assignment, Sandbrook worked as a military representative to the Raytheon Company where he directed senior management in the manufacturing, engineering, quality and distribution and sub-contract operations of the multi-billion dollar Patriot and Hawk missile programs.

That assignment came during the Gulf War when quick and efficient weapons production was key to the operation’s success.

In 1992, the armed forces began drawing down mid-grade officers in the military and offered an incentive to buy out their retirement.

At that point, the Cold War was over and the military was changing into a different entity than the one he and many of his peers had signed up for.

“Our war had been fought and won, and most of us went on to pursue civilian careers,” said Sandbrook. “But every one of those things—the education, the leadership experiences, the teaching experience, the experience with Raytheon on the civilian side—is of value to me today. You couldn’t have picked a better preparatory background to have for our industry.”

The Executive

When he decided to leave the military, Sandbrook discussed career options with his father, Dean, who then served as president of Tilcon New York. At that point, Tilcon was owned by British Tire and Rubber, a publicly held company with approximately 1,600 holdings, including only two in the aggregate industry.

His father suggested that he speak to the chairman and chief executive officer of Tilcon Inc. The logic was that he could review Sandbrook’s experience, suggest suitable industries and provide potential contacts.

At the same time, Sandbrook’s father had a serious health scare and was believed to be terminally ill. “The CEO called me and told me that he hadn’t talked to my father, but he wanted me to come into the company as my father’s vice president so he could teach me as much as he could, then I would take over for him,” said Sandbrook. “My dad needed me, and they had confidence in me. That’s how I entered this industry.”

With his experience, the aggregate industry might have seemed like an unusual choice. According to Sandbrook, 95 percent of Wharton graduates go into corporate finance, while only 5 percent go into manufacturing.

“I was one of the 5 percent of the guys who had no interest in corporate finance, but wanted to build a product,” said Sandbrook. “I wanted to lead men and women in the accomplishment of that goal. That was basically how my whole life has been structured.”

From 1992 to 1995, Sandbrook learned the in’s and out’s of the industry under his father. In 1995, he was promoted to president and chief executive officer when his father, who had been mis-diagnosed, retired from the industry.

In 1996, Tilcon was acquired by Oldcastle. At that point, Tilcon New York had two quarries, an asphalt plant and roughly 90 employees. Over the last five years, Sandbrook oversaw huge growth in the company.

“Through Oldcastle’s confidence and belief in me and in the markets and in the viability of opportunities in the Northeast, we have grown through a series of acquisitions and organic growth to 1,500 employees, 16 quarries and 21 asphalt plants,” said Sandbrook. “They continue to show confidence in me and what we do. It’s the best company to work for because of the autonomy they give you. There’s measured performance and standards, of course, but it’s a wonderful company.”

Those acquisitions have provided Sandbrook with one of his greatest challenges in the industry—to assimilate the various corporate cultures into a single entity.

“The integrations have been my biggest challenge—to make sure that this whole diverse group is moving toward a common goal,” said Sandbrook. “One of the companies was a publicly held company, New York Traprock, that came from Lonestar. It was more similar to our culture than any other of the acquisitions. The other acquisitions have been very challenging because they’ve been very entrepreneurial.”

To make that integration process work, Sandbrook said that there must be a clear, unambiguous set of standards and goals, but the culture must also be made palatable to individuals who have never experienced any overriding structure.

“Some things are written in stone: honesty, integrity, protection of the environment, safety of the workers,” said Sandbrook. “On strategies, manpower issues, market issues, that’s where you have to softly guide the ship and keep the entrepreneurs tuned into their goals and objectives and company performance. The trick is to keep them motivated and not smother their entrepreneurial instincts. That is where patience comes in.”

For example, the former owner of an asphalt plant learned that there is a difference between running an owner-operated plant and being part of a publicly owned company. In the past, the owner hung a “Closed” sign up whenever he decided he had made enough money for the year. After being acquired by Tilcon, he thought that it was okay to hang up that same sign in November after meeting budget for the year. That led to a lesson in patience for Sandbrook and a lesson in the operation of publicly held companies for the asphalt contractor.

“Those issues are all people issues,” said Sandbrook. “We made a lot of mistakes, but every single one gets easier.”

And, some acquisitions can go more smoothly based on geography.

“Out-of-market issues are much easier because you don’t have the cultural issues, but when you’re in market and buying a competitor or buying something to become more vertically integrated, it becomes more difficult in my estimation. You can only go forward with one culture and one strategy. You try to take the best of all,” said Sandbrook. “It’s hard on people, either for existing people or incoming people, because everyone’s routines are disrupted.”

That culture of change is one that Sandbrook said he sees as pervasive to the industry as a whole, not just Tilcon New York.

“It’s a very big issue because of the consolidation in the aggregate industry—the management of change—because change is the one constant that they are going to have to get used to,” said Sandbrook.

He noted that both large and small companies are challenged by issues of change. Small companies may be short staffed and are frequently based on a culture that has been handed down through generations in a family. Larger companies are frequently in a perpetual state of change because of growth.

“That’s what makes it interesting, because there’s a new challenge every day,” said Sandbrook.

The Industry Leader

As a young executive without any industry leadership, Sandbrook said he prepared himself for some of these challenges by quickly developing a peer network within the industry.

“Because I had such a learning curve in the industry, I made sure I took advantage of all of the NSSGA offerings—at that point the National Stone Association (NSA)—I could, including conventions and meetings,” said Sandbrook. “I became very active on the Young Leaders Steering Committee at its inception.”

Through the Young Leaders Council, Sandbrook became involved in a project to make young executives more politically savvy and more politically active. He became chairman of the Congressional Contact Committee which was designed to build constituent relationships between young leaders and their congressmen. Eventually, he went through chairs in the Government Affairs Division and, through the merger between NSA and the National Aggregates Association, co-chaired the joint committee in its first year. He now serves as chairman of the merged group.

“Bill Sandbrook has consistently provided the kind of direction that has helped build NSSGA and the aggregate industry into a significant presence in Washington,” said Charles E. Hawkins, III, executive vice president and chief operating officer at NSSGA. “We’re indeed fortunate to be the beneficiaries of Bill’s commitment and dedication.”

“Bill’s been an extremely effective chairman of NSSGA’s Government Affairs Division. He’s responsive, great to work with and very knowledgeable. He was particularly helpful in the development of NSSGA’s recommendations for TEA-21 reauthorization and, along with John Steele, presided over NSSGA’s first and highly successful Congressional Awards Conference,” added Pamela J. Whitted, NSSGA’s vice president of government affairs.

The group’s task, in terms of TEA-21, has been a particularly difficult one following the events of Sept. 11.

“We’ve been set back because of the event,” said Sandbrook. “We were solidly focused on the reauthorization of TEA-21, which is a huge piece of legislation and will require a coalition effort.”

Sandbrook credits Wilson’s and Whitted’s leadership and understanding of the situation in helping the association move forward with work on the highway bill.

“After Sept. 11, we’re in a bind because it’s almost unpatriotic to go ask for something. Everybody’s giving and sacrificing right now… The needs are so great, in terms of enhanced security and rebuilding those areas, and the government has a war on its mind,” he said. “We’re overcoming that as we can show that a stimulus package and highways are good for America and good for the economy. There’s a huge push to get people spending again. We can contribute to the economy, both through jobs and through improvements in efficiencies in transportation, by making sure that the Eisenhower system is up to speed. The people at the association and our coalition partners understand that. They are very astute.”

The Humanitarian

When it comes to the events of Sept. 11, Sandbrook has a deeper understanding of the tragedy than most. He was there on Sept. 12 to see the devastation and assist in the search and rescue mission.

According to Sandbrook, he was in a meeting in his office on Sept. 11 when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Since it was a perfectly clear day, Sandbrook said that he immediately assumed that the crash was no accident, a theory quickly confirmed when a second plane hit.

“Everybody here was basically in a state of shock. We have husbands and wives and neighbors who work down there,” said Sandbrook. “An hour later, the towers started collapsing and we didn’t know who had made it and who hadn’t.”

Once the shock passed, Sandbrook, like many others, wanted to do something to help. Knowing that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) command center had been destroyed in the attacks, Sandbrook said that he expected a certain amount of chaos at the site. On the morning of Sept. 12, he called his secretary, and they both went into the office at 4:30 a.m. On his way into the office, he dictated an e-mail and a fax which his secretary sent to his congressman, the governor’s office, the mayor’s office, FEMA and the Port Authority. The correspondence was all sent out simultaneously because they didn’t know who would be in charge or able to respond.

By 7:30 a.m., Tilcon received two responses, one from FEMA and one from the Port Authority. Both welcomed whatever assistance the company could provide. At that point, Sandbrook contacted his area managers and asked for equipment and personnel. He told them all to arrange for their own transportation escorts and to meet at the George Washington Bridge. He also called some of Tilcon’s subcontractors such as Mount Hope Trucking Co. to request assistance. Mount Hope came through with 30 trucks.

Sandbrook had no problem finding volunteers for his team. “I told area managers that I wanted volunteers. It was an indefinite mission so I had no idea how long they’d be gone, and it might be somewhat dangerous,” he said. “Just about everybody in the quarries volunteered. It was up to the area managers who to pick, and they basically ended up picking their best operators—their go-to guys.”

The group met at the George Washington Bridge, which had been closed to general traffic.

“They had closed down the city and there were a lot of contractors trying to respond and a lot of people trying to drive in to help,” said Sandbrook. “It was too unorganized, so they shut down the access.”

While many other contractors and volunteers were held off at the George Washington Bridge until they received approval, Sandbrook’s group was the first to cross.

“We were escorted right across the bridge. Our convoy of equipment stretched 10 blocks long and three abreast along the Avenue of Americas,” said Sandbrook. “It was amazing. There were thousands of people along the Henry Hudson Highway cheering us because we were the first major response that was tangible to people. They had seen the ambulances and fire trucks—the triage units—but we were the first large heavy equipment company coming in from the outside.

“One of the things I think we did was just add a little bit of hope to the people seeing such a massive response. I think that played a very big part in our effectiveness.”

That effectiveness faltered for a little while during the hand-off between the Port Authority and the on-site emergency control management.

“Everybody forgot we were there,” said Sandbrook. “It was like we fell off the face of the earth. Finally, another subcontractor and I took his pickup truck and talked our way through the police and fire road blocks. We went to the site and found a fire chief who was in charge of one sector around One World Trade Center. He had a couple hundred people digging through the rubble by hand and a couple of Bobcat loaders cleaning the street.”

The chief gave Sandbrook authorization to move on site. Because the fire chief was busy with the search and rescue efforts and didn’t have a real understanding of the equipment capabilities Tilcon was providing, Sandbrook drew on both his military and construction expertise and deployed his people where they could do the most good: clearing the access roads, moving debris and removing structural steel after it had been cleared by rescue workers.

Because there were no support facilities for the construction workers, Sandbrook worked them in 24-hour shifts and then had them taken home and fresh operators brought in.

By Friday, Sept. 14, the search and rescue effort evolved into a demolition project and Sandbrook said he felt his job was complete. The impact it had on those involved, however, will be enduring.

“My first line leadership came through for me in a manner that was much more similar to a military situation than a plant management situation,” he said. “Our operators, who are hourly union guys, were brave and professional, and I look at them in a different light, too. Three times while we were down there, we had to be evacuated because the site was unstable. Our guys were as brave as the toughest fireman, the toughest FBI agent, the toughest policeman.”

According to Sandbrook, the way his team pulled together also taught him something about the industry’s ability to respond to great challenges: “In our industry, you have to be juggling so many balls that it prepares you to handle crises. It prepares you to handle challenges. This effort led me to believe that the talent is out there to accomplish any mission—whether that be environmental, safety, profitability or an operational issue.”

And those are the challenges that Bill Sandbrook, the AggMan Professional of the Year for 2001, seems to thrive on: “I can honestly say that I’ve come to work every day for the last 10 years looking forward to the challenges, successes and setbacks that day may bring. If I can retire still saying the same thing, I’ll be a very lucky person.”