This past year, Doug Watson has served as the UAPA President. We had the chance to sit down with him to learn more about his favorite experiences as President, the importance of membership, and what he hopes to see in the industry’s future. The following are excerpts from our conversation.

How were you involved in UAPA before you became President?

I became involved with UAPA about 10 years ago. I have always believed that our industry needed an organization like UAPA in order to collectively improve the working environment and to act as a bridge between the owners and the asphalt industry.

Was your previous experience helpful?

Absolutely, in several different areas. UAPA is an organization supporting relationship building within our industry. To our members and cities and state entities, we offer the technical support of our membership. In addition to working with the owners, we assist in creating specifications that accomplish the goals of the owner while integrating the operational perspective of the supplier. Technical and administrative knowledge is a prerequisite in order to be effective in our goals.

What would have helped you be better prepared?

I wish I had more time to dedicate to UAPA. My day job keeps me very busy, which makes it hard to provide the amount of time I feel this position requires.

Please tell us about a memorable experience — good or bad — that took place during your tenure. Why was it memorable?

Working with the members is my fondest memory — such a great group of people from every job description working to improve our industry. Event-wise, I was surprised by the pandemic’s lasting effect on our industry, and UAPA’s response illustrated the flexibility of our organization and memberships. We are all driven by a common goal of industry improvement.

What are your biggest accomplishments as President?

UAPA is in the final stages of adding a new position to our full-time staff: Technical Director. This person’s main focus would be to expand the technical support UAPA provides to its member organizations. This is also a first step in preparation for expanding our training and certification modules selection; this position will manage that program.

Why is UAPA membership important?

Membership in UAPA brings with it the resources of knowledge, agreement, and community.

• Knowledge: with our educational endeavors — i.e., Lunch and Learns and the annual conferences (Southern Utah, Central-Eastern Utah, Northern Utah and our Annual Conference in Sandy) — UAPA is focused on providing technical training at all levels.
• Agreement: it is common for a specification to be interpreted differently from its original intent, causing problems in the delivery. Within the membership body resides most of the technical expertise in Utah. We work with agencies to help create specifications that accomplish goals while avoiding unintended consequences.
• Community: by attending our events, conferences, Lunch and Learns, and membership activities (i.e., axe throwing, skeet shooting, etc.), you will have an opportunity to meet others in our industry, both City and State representatives, and your peers.

Become connected. If you feel that you have knowledge or perspective you would like to share, join one of our technical groups. These people discuss the technical issues up for debate and form opinions based on the technical merit.

What is the most important issue or problem the asphalt industry faces?

I feel the most serious issue facing our industry is a lack of labor. It has become very difficult to recruit new people into our industry over the past several years. I think it is going to take a paradigm shift on our part to connect with young people so that our industry can provide good jobs with competitive pay.

What are your thoughts about the direction UAPA is headed?

UAPA is on a path to provide something a lot of associations fail to provide — that is to “make a difference.” The current activities are working to improve our industry by bringing all parties into a single group to talk about areas that they feel are not fair and to participate in a forum to create a solution. All aspects of this process are accessible to all parties, thus providing transparency.

Any advice for the incoming president?

Our next President will be Bup Minardi. He is well qualified, and I have confidence he will provide the leadership needed to add 2023–2024 to the list of UAPA successful years.

My only words of advice are “be patient.” Nothing happens as fast as you want it to.

Any last words?

I have truly enjoyed working with UAPA in this role. I believe that UAPA has and is improving the industry l love, and the people of Utah are the recipients of work products they are not even aware of, such as better-quality roads.

I can’t fully express my gratitude to Reed and Keri for their patients and guidance. I think Keri spent too much time telling me to answer my emails.

Thank you.