The GeoCoalition: What Is It? Why Does My Association Belong? In 2005, four organizations came together to form the GeoCoalition (GC): • The International Association of Foun- dation Drilling (ADSC), comprised of 2,000 corporate and individual members throughout the world, but primarily in the U.S. and Canada • Geo-Institute of ASCE (G-I), with 12,000 individual members and 80 Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute (COPRI) members as well • ASFE/The Geoprofessional Business As s o c i a t i on, now c a l l ed the Geoprofessional Business Association (GBA), with 250 corporate members in Canada and the U.S. who employ over 100,000 geoprofessionals • Deep Foundations Institute (DFI), with 3,100 corporate and individual members throughout the world, but primarily in the U.S. and Canada. The group agreed that if we had a major issue that needed industry support it might be possible to undertake some advocacy initiatives. However, the more immediate need was the creation of an atmosphere wherein the member organizations were able to: • Work together • Avoid conflicts • Avoid conflicting or duplicative publi- cations and committee work The founders recognized that the most valu- able asset any volunteer organization has is its volunteers. The volunteer effort of a group, provided by its members, is finite and precious. To waste that effort by competing with each other or duplicating work was not in anyone’s best interest. The founders real- ized that to accomplish even these modest goals, they needed to develop a culture of trust. To do so, they decided to keep the group small and only add to its number other geo-organizations that fit the culture. A recent GeoCoalition meeting It was agreed that those who would attend a GC meeting would be each organi- zation’s executive director, and two volun- teer members, preferably an organization’s president and president-elect. The first GC meeting was held in 2005; cards were held very close to the chest. The member organizations had, until then, considered themselves to be competitors. After several meetings, however, it became obvious that the individual organizations were duplicating efforts, to the detriment of each. Having technical committees in three different organizations, all discussing the same matters, was a dysfunctional duplication of effort. Holding meetings on the same weekend, in the same town also made no sense. Early breakthroughs included the creation of an ADSC-DFI Joint Micropile Committee that met alternatingly at DFI and ADSC meetings, and establishment of a GeoCalendar where all members would post its committee meetings, seminars, etc., as well as the proposed dates and locations. This calendar posting would act as a caution to others to “check-in” with each other before locking in a date that another organization was considering. “In short, we can all benefit from cooperating with one another. GC is effectively breaking down barriers and making member-to-member access easier.” As a result of this early success, two more organizations were invited to join, one was, the Pile Driving Contractors Association (PDCA), representing 840 corporate and individual members in Canada and the U.S., and the other, the Association of Environmental & Engineer- AUTHOR Alan Macnab, P.Eng., D.GE, Macnab Consultants, Chair of the GeoCoalition DEEP FOUNDATIONS • SEPT/OCT 2016 • 117
