Transportation group TRIP names chairman of board

A Fargo, N.D., construction executive has been named chairman of the board of TRIP, a national, nonprofit transportation research group based in Washington, D.C.

Paul W. Diederich, president of Fargo, N.D.-based Industrial Builders Inc., has been involved in the construction field since 1972 and a member of the TRIP board of Directors since 2001.

Industrial Builders, Inc., is a family-owned general contractor that performs bridge, site development, concrete, piling, structural steel, building, marine, sub-soil dewatering, demolition and rotomilling projects.

The company was founded in 1953 by Diederich’s father, Warren, who served as a member of the board of directors of TRIP from 1981 until his death in 2008.

In addition to his service as a TRIP director, Diederich is a member of the American Institute of Constructors, the Consulting Constructors Council, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), where he served as chairman of the Highway Division and president of the Education and Research Foundation.

Locally, Diederich is president of the North Dakota State University Construction Industry Advisory Committee and past president of the AGC of North Dakota and the Fargo Country Club.

“Industrial Builders has supported TRIP’s efforts to increase public awareness of the need to invest in America’s surface transportation infrastructure for over 25 years, and I’m proud to carry on that tradition,” Diederich says in a press release. “Improving America’s surface transportation system not only saves lives and creates jobs, it also impacts our lives every day by increasing our mobility and accessibility, here in North Dakota and throughout the country.”

Diederich obtained a B.S. degree in construction with honors from Arizona State University in 1980. He, his wife Ellen Jean, a professional artist, and his daughters, live in Fargo.

TRIP also elected the following individuals as officers for 2011.

  • Kenneth L. Lanford, president, Lanford Brothers Company, Roanoke, Va., was elected president;
  • W. Brian Burgett, president and CEO, Kokosing Construction Company Inc., Fredericktown, Ohio, was elected first vice president;
  • John C. Hay, vice president, Government Relations, Oldcastle Materials, Inc., Atlanta Ga., was elected second vice president; and
  • R.R. Dawson Jr., partner, R.R. Dawson Bridge Co., Lexington, Ky., was re-elected secretary-treasurer.