Ohio-based Gerken joins The Road Forward
NAPA welcomes The Gerken Companies as a partner in The Road Forward, an industry-wide vision for sustainable communities and commerce.
This partnership helps fund ongoing efforts to engage, educate, and empower the U.S. asphalt community, driving forward the milestone of achieving net zero carbon emission asphalt pavements by 2050.
Founded in 1959 in Napoleon, Ohio, The Gerken Companies has been a NAPA Producer member since 1991. Gerken’s asphalt services throughout northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan include paving, milling and grinding, quality control and testing, decorative asphalt, and asphalt material production, including environmentally friendly warm-mix and reclaimed asphalt.
According to Susan Witt, Civil Engineer at Gerken, community support is one of the company’s core values.
“We do more than work in the communities our companies serve,” explains Witt. “We live here, too. So, we are continually considering our impact on society and the environment.”
Witt served on NAPA’s Climate Stewardship Task Force, which developed The Road Forward. Other Gerken employees serve NAPA and the industry as well. Mandy Gerken-Snyder, Vice President of Legal, Risk & Compliance, sits on NAPA’s Board of Directors as Chair of the IMPACT Leadership Group. President Brent Gerken serves on several committees, including as the Ohio State Advisor for the Northcentral Region Advisory Council.
“Meeting our industry’s bold sustainability goals requires that we all work together,” says Brent Gerken. “Toward that end, we’re proud to partner with NAPA in The Road Forward initiative.”
“We are grateful to The Gerken Companies for their role in developing and supporting The Road Forward,” remarked NAPA President & CEO Audrey Copeland, PhD, PE. “Gerken’s work has earned numerous Quality in Construction Awards and Diamond Achievement Sustainable Commendations, demonstrating that sustainability and performance go hand in hand.”
The Road Forward brings together the entire U.S. asphalt community to conduct research, implementation, and ongoing education. Opportunities to join the program in 2024 end August 30 and will re-open for annual enrollment in conjunction with NAPA’s 2025 Annual Meeting, February 2-5 in Maui.
The Road Forward Partners are NAPA members that actively support this work through financial contributions, leadership, and expertise. New this year, NAPA invites nonprofit organizations, likeminded associations, and agencies to support the industry-wide effort through a tiered program. The new tiered program invites all stakeholders to the table to collectively propel the vision toward net zero. Find your company’s opportunity to support sustainability at AsphaltPavement.org/Forward.
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About The Gerken Companies
For generations, Gerken has been constructing highways and commercial infrastructure and supplying materials for the industry. Its dedicated workforce includes more than 500 men and women devoted to providing excellent customer service, work quality, and technical expertise. Gerken companies have continuously evolved to handle technological advances, workforce needs, and industry regulations, and its track record demonstrates a unique ability to respond to any challenge. Learn more at gerkencompanies.com.
About The Road Forward
An initiative of the National Asphalt Pavement Association, The Road Forward: A Vision for Net Zero Carbon Emissions for the Asphalt Pavement Industry calls on the U.S. asphalt community to advance technologies, products, and processes to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Launched in January 2022, the multi-year effort engages, educates, and empowers the U.S. asphalt community to produce and construct net zero carbon emission asphalt pavements.
About NAPA
Founded in 1955, the National Asphalt Pavement Association (AsphaltPavement.org) is the only trade association that exclusively represents the interests of the asphalt pavement material producer/contractor on the national level with Congress, government agencies, and other national trade and business organizations. NAPA supports an active research program designed to improve the quality of asphalt pavements and paving techniques used in the construction of roadways, parking lots, airports, and environmental and recreational facilities. NAPA provides technical, educational, and marketing materials and information to its members and supplies product information to users and specifiers of paving materials.
