2016 TMS Service Award presented to Jergenson, Thompson, and Throop

At TMS’s 2016 Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon, Darrell McMillian , Vice President of TMS, presented TMS Service Awards to Pam Jergenson, Jason Thompson, and Diane Throop.

Pam Jergenson, who is a Senior Project Manager at INSPEC, Inc. in Minnesota was recognized for assisting the Society in numerous ways including as a member of TMS’s Board of Directors and as a Secretary of the Existing Masonry Committee. She has offered numerous excellent technical presentations that are always enjoyable, and highly rated. Beyond this service though, she was nominated for an award this year, for stepping up to lead a Board Task Group to carefully consider 2 procedural appeals to offer insight and recommendations to the Board of Directors. Under her leadership, the Committee painstakingly considered issues related to the appeals, which had to be done carefully to provide a fair and impartial vetting of issues raised in the appeals.

Few embody “service” as much as Jason Thompson, who is Vice President of Engineering at the National Concrete Masonry Association. He serves on numerous committees, answers dozens of technical inquiries, and promotes TMS and membership in the Society. Recently, he initiated and led the Arrival Day Events at TMS’s Annual & Spring meetings offering attendees a fun, informal, get-together prior to meetings, while removing this burden from staff. This winter and spring, he drafted, cosponsored, and spoke to changes to the IBC and IRC for TMS, assisted in the development of several new standards, reviewed countless documents, papers, and guides, and mentored a number of new members.

Diane Throop helped plan, coordinate, and host the 2015 Annual Meeting, which included under her leadership, the Masonry Day Event, Masonry Jeopardy, and the Member/Guest Reception at the NCAA Hall of Fame. Her ideas and support helped ensure the success of this event that provided an enjoyable and educational meeting for attendees. Diane also was instrumental in finding sponsors for the meeting to help offset the cost of the events. For this service, along with the many other countless ways Diane assists the Society, she is deserving of a Service Award.

The Masonry Society started the Service Award in 2006 to recognize individuals who volunteer in special, and typically unseen, ways. The intent of the award is to recognize those who continually assist the Society, but who are not normally recognized for their efforts.