2026 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Jim Lang

Jim Lang was in the concrete industry 40+ years. Originally based out of Denver, he moved to Seattle and then eventually Portland. Jim’s titles throughout his years of service include: Apprentice, Cement Mason, Foreman, Superintendent, Branch Manager, President, Owner, and Board Chair. Jim was part of the vanguard LaRusso crew at the second branch in Seattle, where he was then responsible for opening the Portland Brance in 1996. Prior to 1996, he worked as a Union Cement Mason, Foreman, and Superintended for LaRusso.

In 2007, Jim purchased LaRusso Concrete and owned it until selling to his employees in 2018. He stayed on the Board of Directors as President until retiring in 2023. Jim is still the Board Chair, and makes sure to stop by the office on a regular basis; checking in a saying ‘hi’. In the field, Jim always championed sharing his knowledge, and continued that in the office even when learning alongside the admin staff.

Jim was involved with OACI for about 20 years in various roles, including serving on the Certification Committee as the Examiner, serving on the OACI Board for 6 years, holding the role of Board President. He served on both the OCAPA Golf Committee and EIC Committee for 6 years, 2 of those as EIC Chair. Other organizational involvement includes serving on the ACI 302 Committee to give both contractor and finisher experience perspectives.

Jim always pushed LaRusso towards training and educating the next generation of leaders. He was a strong advocate for utilizing apprentices and was an open book when it came to sharing his knowledge. Jim always looked for ways to innovate or optimize processes, both in the office and out in the field.

Jim made it a point to seek out motivated young people to train as the next generation of leaders and experts at LaRusso, serving on the JATC Board to help train and support new cement masons entering the industry. As part of that role, he helped find new ways of recruiting and promoting, organizing new high school recruitment days where they had not been held before, and finding creative ways to communicate that concrete could provide a good living.

Jim was also very big on educating customers and owners in an effort to deliver the best product possible. It was never in the cards for him to be complacent in installing concrete if the design didn’t support the customer’s needs, because a bad concrete project in the owner’s eyes could mean a missed concrete project next time that owner builds new.

It was easy to see that concrete meant more to Jim that just a way of making a living. Quality work and customer service were always stressed to his employees, more than anything. Jim was big on building relationships, as his philosophy was never to be the cheapest options, but to always be the best option for the customer.