scholarships & awards
GOLDEN SHOVEL AWARD
This year we presented a new award entitled the“ Golden Shovel Award” to recognize someone who has been an“ institution” in the underground utility industry and the trade association world. Our recipient began his involvement with his local Chapter in the late 1980’ s and served on the local Board during three different terms as well as various committees over the years. His proudest moment was being an integral part of establishing the Chapter’ s scholarship program and he currently serves as the Chair of the Scholarship Committee.
For the past seven years, our winner has been a NUCA of Florida Board member, serving as President in 2015-2016, Immediate Past-President in 2017. In his early years of Chapter involvement, he was also part of the Board involved with creating UUCF in its current configuration.
Our award winner is passionate about the industry and the association, and throughout his career has made time to attend nearly every Chapter meeting and event. Moreover, he stays active on legislative and regulatory issues that impact the industry and he actively participates in the NUCA of Florida“ Walk the Halls” Legislative Days. Most recently, when faced with a threat by the Construction Industry Licensing Board to the integrity of the underground utility license for trenchless technology, our candidate became a strong advocate for preserving the licensing standards.
The extent of his committee involvement and accomplishments are unparalleled. To illustrate, in 1987, he was contractor alternate on the local Board, served on the MBE / WBE Committee and Engineers Night Committee; in 1988, he was Chapter Secretary, and served on the Safety, Finance and Soil Cement Standardization Committees; in 1989, in addition to being Secretary, he was Chairman of the BBQ and a member of the Management Review Committee and the next year he devoted to assisting with setting up the local Chapter office. He was Contractor Director in 1995 and on the Scholarship Committee in 2011.
The next two years, he devoted an inordinate amount of time to the local association with membership on the Business Finance & Collections Committee, Pinellas County Liaison, FTBA / FDOT liaison, Scholarship Committee Chair, Government Affairs Committee, Long-Range Planning Committee, PAC Committee, By-laws Review Committee and UUCF Board representative. In 2014, he continued service as Scholarship Chair, a position he has retained until present day and NUCA of Florida Treasurer. He continued to move up the ranks in NUCA of Florida as Vice-President in 2015 and President in 2016. Recognizing his tireless devotion and leadership, our recipient received the prestigious Contractor of the Year award in 2012 from his local Chapter and the Chairman’ s award in 2017.
Throughout his career as a Senior Estimator for David Nelson Construction, Tom Woodward, our Golden Shovel Award winner has provided guidance and service to SUCA, UUCF, and NUCA of Florida. Please be sure to congratulate Tom Woodward on receiving the NUCA of Florida Golden Shovel Award.
30 DITCHMEN • AUGUST 2018