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Jerry Lang, the vice president of Ready-Mix Operations for Knife River’s North Central Region office, based in Sauk Rapids, is being honored this week with a lifetime achievement award from the Aggregate and Ready Mix Association of Minnesota. Lang has nearly 40 years of experience in the aggregate industry in Minnesota, and has been nominated by his peers for this prestigious honor.
Lang was honored Tuesday, Dec. 1 at the Depot and Renaissance Hotel in Minneapolis during ARM’s Annual Convention.
“Jerry Lang has been a well-respected leader in this industry in Minnesota, and a driving force behind the growth and success of ARM and its members,” said Fred Corrigan, executive director of ARM. “Add to all of that his work in service of our country, and his decades of volunteer work in his community, and Jerry is well deserving of this salute.”
Starting as a ready-mix driver with Bauerly Brothers in 1976, Lang is now in his fifth decade of work in the industry, spending 25 years with Bauerly Brothers until the company was acquired by Knife River in 2001. He was a general manager with Knife River for more than 10 years before being promoted to his current position in 2014.
Lang also served in the armed forces for more than 40 years, retiring from the U.S. Army in 2014 with the rank of Major General, and having served tours of duty in Bosnia/Herzegovina in 2003-04 as part of a NATO Stabilization Force, and in Iraq in 2009-10 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
A long-time volunteer with dozens of service organizations in central Minnesota, Lang has been very active and well-known within ARM for many years:
• Lang has served on the ARM board of directors and was the organization’s president in 2014.
• Lang served as chairman of the ARM Technical Committee for a dozen years, developing the first ARM brochures on curing, sealing, pop outs and durable concrete.
• Lang served as chairman of ARM’s Project Awards for 15 years, developing the award criteria, judging criteria and application worksheets, and creating a cross section of impartial and fair selection committee members.
• Lang served as ARM ACI/MNDOT Training and Certification Coordinator for 13 years. Lang and Ron Harless proposed the first structured training program to the ARM Board of Directors and acted as a liaison between ARM and MNDOT. After much lobbying of ARM members, Lang was successful in and continued on to help develop and implement a MNDOT Plant Certification program. This became a model for the country with other states researching Minnesota’s standards and certification process and Lang, along with the MNDOT office, traveled to other states, training them on Minnesota’s program.
A 1970 graduate of Milaca High School, Lang holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from St. Cloud State University, and a master’s degree in strategic leadership from the U.S. Army War College.