Press Releases

Wendel Stewart, CAE joined the Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association (CMHA) as Chief Operating Officer on September 25, 2023.

A veteran of the association community with more than three decades of experience, Stewart recently served as Interim Executive Director and Vice President of Finance and Administration for the National Society of Professional Engineers in Alexandria, VA.

In his new role with CMHA, Stewart will work to ensure operational excellence for the association while overseeing day-to-day operations of membership, meetings and events, and education programs.

“Wendel is the ideal choice to lead CMHA’s operations at a time when the association is growing and pursuing critical goals for its members,” said Robert Thomas, CMHA President and CEO. “Wendel’s breadth of talent, experience, and dedication will make a positive impact in our industry and we are thrilled to welcome him aboard.”

Stewart has also held senior leadership positions with the National Court Reporters Association and the American Heart Association (Heritage Affiliate) where he oversaw finance, administration and business operations. He is also a member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Engineers, Finance and Administration Round Table and the Grace Covenant Church. He holds a Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential from ASAE. 

Originally from New York, Stewart holds a BBA in accounting from Bernard Baruch College, City University of New York.

According to the Remodeling 2023 Cost vs. Value Report (CVV), released by Zonda Media, costs and values had fallen with an average project value declining to its lowest level since the report was initiated.

Twenty-three remodeling projects were assessed for this report and compared average costs for each with the value retained at resale in 150 U.S. markets. Factoring multiple economic challenges, including a rise in mortgage rates, the surge in inflation, dwindling real estate sales, and supply chain disruptions, this year’s CVV report featured projects that maintained being a premium to homebuyers – even when times are tough.

The study revealed the return on investment for installing manufactured stone veneer (MSV) on the exterior of a home at an impressive 102.3 percent. This placed MSV as the third highest return on investment of projects and is number one in all cladding projects from the study. Fiber-cement siding replacement was valued at 88.5 percent, while vinyl siding replacement came in at 94.7 percent.

“It’s been incredible to see how well MSV continues to showcase a strong return on investment year after year,” said Amerimix Program Director Garen Graves. “Homeowners continue to express interest in household projects and to witness the consistent upward trend with MSV products, even during a challenging economic time, is a testament to what this industry has to offer.

More than 6,000 Realtors were surveyed from which value figures were derived. From those surveyed, an assortment of project specifications was provided along with a response to, “What value does this project add to the sale price of a home?”

With the state of the economy in mind, real-estate professionals heavily emphasized the high returns on investments made to exterior projects – largely because buyers’ decision on a property is significantly based on first impressions from the outset.

The study indicated “buyers are more particular on maintaining extra cash and avoiding putting a dent into their savings,” however, it continued to illustrate the fact that while “homeowners may be conservative when choosing fixtures and finishes, they continue to trade the savings on lower-priced items for the ability to afford higher-priced items they deem more essential or more desirable.”

“Our industry holds great confidence in the outcome of this annual report,” states Graves. “MSV has ranked amongst the top three projects on a national scale in recent years. It’s not only exciting for our industry to appreciate but for our customers. Rarely do you see 100 percent return on home projects.”

In addition to ranking third nationally, MSV was predominantly among the top three projects when considered regionally, as well. Among the nine regions across the U.S., MSV ranked as the top four projects for ROI out of eight regions and topped at sixth in the remaining regions.

Manufactured Stone Veneer’s 2023 cost vs. value return of 102.3 percent was based on an average project cost of $10,925, and a return at the time of sale of $11,177.

© 2023 Zonda Media, a Delaware Corporation. Complete data from the Remodeling 2023 Cost vs. Value Report can be downloaded free at www.costvsvalue.com.

ICPI-NCMA announced during their 2023 Annual Meeting in Columbus, OH, that they will now operate as one entity after co-founding the Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association (CMHA).

The CMHA namesake nods to the rich heritage and expertise of each predecessor, whose origins date back more than 100 years. “Where we’ve been absolutely informs where we’re going,” said CMHA President and CEO Robert Thomas. “Already having a solid foundation in place allows our next chapter to be written from a position of strength. Bringing together the best of both worlds…our members are really going to benefit from that synergy,” said Thomas.

On paper, the unification of the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute and the National Concrete Masonry Association officially took effect July 1, 2022. The unified association assumed an interim moniker of ICPI-NCMA. Since then, an appointed branding task group has been working diligently to navigate the intensive rebranding process.

Matt Lynch, who leads the new association as Chair of its Board of Directors, stressed the importance of ensuring that existing members of both organizations felt seen and heard every step of the way. “We took every imaginable measure to invite members to share their perspective through surveys, interviews and a series of hands-on workshops,” Lynch said. This collaborative approach culminated in the recommendation of “CMHA” by the Board of Directors, which general membership voted to approve in December with an overwhelming majority.

We’re kicking off 2023 with some exciting news. The vote to change the name of the association to Concrete Masonry and Hardscapes Association (CMHA) has passed by a vote of 114-8. Many thanks to all of our voting members that took the time last month to participate in this important vote. The association has been working with an agency to rebrand. The new look and feel for CMHA will officially launch during the 2023 Annual Meeting, February 20-24 in Columbus, OH. The rebrand rollout will take time, and as you can imagine, will not be completed overnight. You can expect to see some changes right away but others (a new website, branding for technical resources and certification credentials) will take more time. Stay tuned for more details. Thank you for taking the time to vote in this important initiative.  

Craig Walloch will join CMHA as Director of Materials Science on July 1, 2023.

Walloch’s experience has spanned all aspects of the concrete masonry and hardscape industry. After graduating with a Chemistry degree from MIT, he has led R&D and Technical Services groups in the masonry admixture industry since 1992, most recently as Vice President of Technical Support and Education for ACM Chemistries. He has extensive experience in materials, dry-cast concrete production, the ASTM standards process, and technical education.

Walloch is a past Chair of the Technical Committee of the Interlocking Concrete Paving Institute (ICPI)  and the NCMA/ICPI Joint Committee on Plant Quality Assurance Certification. He is currently the Chair of the ASTM Subcommittee C15.04 on Research, which he has led since 1999. He has spearheaded many projects for both ICPI and NCMA over the years, most recently chairing the task group developing specifications and test methods for pedestal-set paving slabs and chairing the task group evaluating carbon sequestration in concrete masonry products as well as authoring a recent ASTM symposium paper on measuring carbon sequestration of CMU.  

Shoaib Yosoufzai recently joined CMHA as the Structural Engineering Projects Manager, Masonry.

Yosoufzai’s background includes working as a Chief Engineer for Hyperion Inc. and working with the government of Afghanistan and Ministry of Defense as Director, Portfolio Manager, Project Manager and Engineering Specialist on Joint US / NATO defense and civil sector projects focusing on design of various structures, structural design training, capacity building, research, innovation and stakeholder management. He also worked as a research analyst with the University of Nebraska, as an engineering intern with HDR, Inc. and as an engineering intern with the US Air Force Academy.

Yosoufzai immigrated to the US from Afghanistan in August of 2021 after the collapse of the government in Afghanistan. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the US Military Academy at West Point and was the first Afghan national who was admitted to West Point. He completed a Master’s Degree in Civil engineering with specialization in structural engineering from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He also completed a second master’s degree from Durham University in the United Kingdom in Defense, Development and Diplomacy focusing on postwar reconstruction and program management.

“Technical expertise is incredibly important for the staff of CMHA,” said Bob Thomas, President and CEO. “It is included as one of the six overarching goals of our strategic plan. Craig’s 30 years of experience in the concrete masonry and hardscapes industry is extremely valuable to our organization moving forward. With a background in civil/structural engineering and experience in project management, Shoaib will be able to contribute immediately to the association and meeting our strategic goals.”

Walloch and Yosoufzai will be primarily engaged in the masonry side of the engineering department, reporting to Nick Lang, Vice President of Engineering & Advocacy, Masonry. They will also support efforts on the hardscapes side as appropriate and needed.

The ICPI-NCMA rebrand process has been underway for several months. The Branding Task Group, led by Dean Jurik, has met multiple times with our branding consultants, CLUTCH Performance. The group and CLUTCH have performed background research and conducted over 30 interviews with a range of industry stakeholders to inform the process.

The ICPI-NCMA Branding Task group has identified four names as finalists for the organization. We are asking for your feedback on the proposed names for the organization. During the Town Hall, members will have an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the member vote to rename ICPI-NCMA.

After the Town Hall, the Branding Task Group will make several name recommendations to the ICPI-NCMA Board.

Once the ICPI-NCMA Board selects the best name for our new association, they will forward their recommendation to the entire voting member roster for approval.

On Friday, September 16, members of the rebranding task group, along with other ICPI-NCMA members and staff met in Minneapolis, MN, at CLUTCH headquarters for a day-long workshop. Several members also participated virtually. ICPI-NCMA has partnered with CLUTCH for the rebranding efforts for the organization. During the workshop, attendees prioritized potential organization names, worked to develop a position statement for the new organization, worked on audience identification and prioritization and identified messages by audience and identified key touchpoints/activities for the brand rollout. Stay tuned for more updates throughout the process. The new brand will be rolled out during the 2023 Annual Meeting in February in Columbus, OH.