INDUSTRY NEWS
F rom a tiny farm community in western Wisconsin to his 2023 Pavement Maintenance Hall of Fame induction in Charlotte North Carolina , Mark McLeod has traveled many roads . His journey started in 1966 when his brother asked him to help seal a school parking lot on a hot July Saturday . “ It was a hot humid day and it was a large parking lot and it felt like I never worked so hard in my life ! After it was completed , there was this beautiful black asphalt we had sealed … and I was hooked !” Mark worked for his family business until he enlisted in the U . S . Navy and served aboard a fast-attack nuclear submarine . After the Vietnam War , he returned and then bought a sealcoating company in Loveland , Colorado . After building that business for a decade , he sold his share to his partner and wanted to try something new . He was approached by the Thorson family , who had purchased Wikel Manufacturing , and started the Sealmaster brand manufacturing . He was hired as the sales director for all the United States . Sealmaster locations were being established . During this 20 + years of working with his teams , Mark realized he had a passion for talking about pavement maintenance and started to set up regional and national shows where he was a speaker and round table contributor . He truly enjoyed teaching new contractors … as he said , “ It was fun to share the tricks of the trade with newbies in the industry .” Mark stated : “ I had found great personal satisfaction in watching contractors grow into successful pavement maintenance companies--all over the world .” That passion led Mark to creating and assisting with franchises and their successes . Mark was awarded his own Sealmaster franchise in Tampa , Florida . While in Tampa , Mark developed a communication forum with his contractors . At weekly donuts and coffee meetings , they could discuss anything that they wanted to chat about . The get-togethers were successful . Mark enjoyed teaching proper crackseal , and sealcoat application techniques as well as effective sales approaches . Mark said , “ Training was what i loved to do ! I love watching people grow professionally .” After successfully developing the Tampa business , Mark sold his interest and moved back to Wisconsin to again work with the family business .
MARK MCLEOD
PRESIDENT / CEO OF MAINTENANCE INC .
Inducted into the Pavement Maintenance Hall of Fame
By Jeff Winke
A few years later , Mark received a call from Bill Neckerman , the president / CEO of Maintenance , Inc ., located in Wooster , Ohio . Mark was invited to come tour the facility in Wooster with hopes of building a business connection . “ I loved the area and the people were so welcoming ,” Mark said . He was hired as the company ’ s vice president and business development champion . “ I hit the road setting up seminars , round tables , and conducting regional shows . Everywhere I went I was teaching pavement maintenance and proper use of additives in sealcoats to contractors .” Things went so well that Mark was asked to join the Paveman Pro website as a moderator for sealer additives and pavement maintenance troubleshooting . Paveman Pro is an asphalt pavement and repair resource for pavement maintenance contractors specializing in asphalt paving , sealcoating , line striping , crack filling and infrared pothole patching . Additionally . Mark has become a regular contributor to industry trade magazines and wrote articles regularly for Allied Pavement Equipment magazine . Both his “ My Happy Sealing ” articles and his “ On the Parking Lot with Mark McLeod ” columns provided a platform to educate contractors . In 2015 , Mark purchased ABLE industries to have an equipment line and bolster the company ’ s portfolio . He created with his team , the largest hands-on parts and equipment showroom in the country . Mark has more than 55 years experience in the pavement maintenance industry and he continues to teach pavement maintenance best practices . He is President / CEO of Maintenance inc ., Wooster , Ohio , which has over 350 distributors worldwide . The company has been in business since 1938 . “ Working with all the great people in our industry has been an honor . To be included in the Pavement Maintenance Hall of Fame is a personal achievement for me , but my induction would not have happened if not for the contractors , industry experts , and magazine platforms that were available to me . I thank all of our industry leaders who taught me--some whom are now with me in the Hall of Fame . I plan to carry on the traditions of leading and teaching pavement maintenance for some time and will continue even after I one day retire from Maintenance Inc .
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