TalentObituaries

Bruce Woolpert, CEO of California Materials Firm, Dies in Boating Accident at 61

Bruce W. Woolpert, who left a career at Hewlett-Packard to lead Granite Rock Co., a family-owned Watsonville, Calif., construction materials supplier and paving contractor that grew with the state's once- booming economy, died on June 24 in a Lake Tahoe boating accident, says the firm. He was 61 and had been president and CEO since 1987. Granite Rock named as interim CEO Mark Kaminski, a board member and former chief of a metals producer. Granite Rock has 600 employees but did not disclose revenue.

WOOLPERT

Granite Rock's roots date to 1900, when Woolpert's grandfather, A.R. Wilson, launched the company and its rock quarry. The firm was the parent of Granite Construction Co., also in Watsonville. Granite spun off in 1936 and now is publicly traded. Woolpert implemented many production and workplace innovations, winning the U.S. government's Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1992 for "expanding the terms of competition." Says William G. Dorey, who stepped down in 2010 as Granite Construction's CEO, "I was a customer of Granite Rock as well as a competitor. Bruce embraced innovative management techniques long before they became popular."

As ENR Editor-at-Large for Energy, Business and Workforce, Debra K. Rubin has a broad vantage for news, issues and trends in global engineering and construction related to key areas of global energy development and transition, corporate business and management, regulation and risk and next-generation workforce development.

Debra also launched and manages ENR's Top 200 Environmental Firms annual ranking, which defines key players in the dynamic global market for environmental services; and is editor of ENR WorkforceToday e-newsletter on industry talent management news and trends. Click here to receive this free monthly newsletter.

She also is a key organizer of ENR's annual Groundbreaking Women in Construction conference, a major AEC industry forum for talent management and women's career advancement. Click here for more detail on plans in formation for the next live event.

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