William B. “Bill” Allen, Founder
1930 – 2012
Bill Allen spent almost seventy years in the ready-mixed concrete and construction aggregates industries. He began his career when he was 14 years of age, driving a 3-yard mixer for his father’s ready mixed concrete business in Memphis, Tennessee. He assumed the management of the company from his father in the 1970s, and grew it into the largest ready mixed concrete, sand and gravel, block manufacturing, and building materials company in Memphis market. In 1981, he sold the business and became an industry consultant for several years before joining with Pierre Villere in 1997 to provide their consulting and mergers & acquisitions practices together, and formalized their relationship with the founding of Allen-Villere Partners in 2003. He was active in the firm until the time of his death in March, 2012.
He lectured to more than twenty-six ready mixed concrete and aggregate State Associations, participated in all twenty-one RMC 2000 Implementation Workshops, and conducted workshops for numerous national NRMCA conventions, numerous state industry association conventions, and the CONEXPO-CON/AGG trade show. He also published articles on valuation in several trade magazines.
Throughout his career, he valued over 600 ready mixed concrete, aggregate, and concrete products companies in more than 45 states. He was the principle author of Module III-General Business Skills of the NRMCA Sales and Sales Management Certification Program. He served as Chairman of the Board of NRMCA in 1981, after serving as Treasurer in 1978 and Vice Chairman in 1979 and 1980, and chaired the Membership, Promotion, Long Range Planning and Joint Financial Management (BAC) Committees including the NRMCA/RMC Industry Data Survey Task Group.
The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association created a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 as an annual recognition of an outstanding industry leader who has made a significant contribution to elevating the business acumen and sophistication of the ready mixed concrete industry, and called it the William B. Allen Award. Bill was the very first recipient. The trophy with the names of the award recipients permanently resides in the lobby of the NRMCA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. The Concrete Producer magazine honored him by naming him an Industry Influencer in 2011.
Bill was a graduate of Rhodes College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps’ Platoon Leaders Class in 1951. He served on active duty from 1953 through 1955 as Battalion Equipment Officer for the Eighth Engineer Battalion, attached to the 2nd Marine Division, in charge of all equipment and aggregate pits while building several air strips at Cherry Point, NC and Vieques, PR. He was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain in 1960. In his younger days, he was an avid participant and instructor in competitive judo (1st Degree Black Belt) and was active as an Assistant Boy Scout Master and Post Leader.