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More than 100 people attended the ceremony, including the presidents and past presidents of both societies, members of the boards of directors, area business people involved in the project, and staff members. Alexander Scott and David Kanagy, TMS and ISS executive directors, respectively, served as hosts for the brief ceremony, which was followed by a picnic at Cranberry Community Park.
"We're ready to go; we're excited to go," said Scott as he welcomed everyone to the ceremony.
With the same shovel used 20 years earlier for the groundbreaking ceremony at the existing joint headquarters building just one kilometer away, Robert Wagoner and Douglas Ashton, TMS and ISS past presidents, respectively, jointly unearthed the first shovelful of dirt. Wagoner and Ashton were presidents of the societies when initial talks and plans began for the new building. A QuickTime video clip of the past presidents' efforts is available for downloading.
"There's probably nobody more pleased than Doug and I," said Dr. Wagoner. "A year ago when we met to talk about this we hoped, at best, we could be here today, and I don't think we could have expected anything better. The gods have smiled, not only in the weather today, but over the past year to get to this point."
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| The honor of excavating the first shovelful of dirt from the site of the new headquarters building went to the societies' past presidents, Robert Wagoner (TMS) and Douglas Ashton (ISS). Shown are (left to right) David Kanagy, ISS executive director; Bob Jones, 1998 ISS president; Dr. Ashton; Dr. Wagoner; Euel Cutshall, 1998 TMS president; and Alexander Scott, TMS executive director. | The current society presidents also broke ground. Shown are (left to right): David Kanagy, ISS executive director; Douglas Ashton, ISS past president; Bob Jones, ISS president; Euel Cutshall, TMS president; Robert Wagoner, TMS past president; and Alexander Scott, TMS executive director. |
Current society presidents Euel Cutshall (TMS) and Bob Jones (ISS) also donned hard hats and took a turn with the shovel.
"I would like to say thank you to the staffs of the societies," said TMS President Cutshall. "It was your hard work, your actions, and your success that really made this possible. It enables you to support the memberships of the societies in a more effective manner, and again, that's what we're all about."
After the groundbreaking, the attending board members from the two societies were recognized. The various business people involved in the project were also recognized and presented with commemorative shovels in miniature. Those present were Marcus Diniaco, Indevco, project manager; Fred Denig, Atelier Denig Architects; Al Fidazzo, Rycon Construction; and Debra Casaday and Frank Livorio, Mellon Bank.
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| Members of the TMS Board of Directors were in Pittsburgh not only for the groundbreaking ceremony, but also the June board meeting and retreat. Attending were (left to right) Iver Anderson, Dan Thoma, Greg Hildeman, Joe Defilippi, Toni Grobstein Marechaux, Darrel Frear, Y. Austin Chang, Wayne Hale, J. Wayne Jones, Indira Samarasekera, William Imrie, and Alexander Scott. |
The new building, which was approved by the TMS Board of Directors in a mail ballot vote in November 1997, will be a one story, 2,200 square meter building with a central common space (817 square meters) and two wings of equal size (692 square meters) for each society's offices.
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| Area business people that are helping bring the project to fruition were recognized. Shown are (left to right) David Kanagy, ISS executive director; Al Fidazzo, Rycon Construction; Fred Denig, Atelier Denig Architects; Marcus Diniaco, Indevco; Debra Casaday, Mellon Bank; Frank Livorio, Mellon Bank; and Alexander Scott, TMS executive director. |
The TMS office wing contains a perimeter of offices surrounding a center core of support services in which all of the functioning TMS departments are self-contained. The area contains 55 work stations/offices and three conference rooms to accommodate six, eight, and 16 people. Within the work stations are a specially designed production and graphics design area and a centralized customer service area. There are also centralized equipment and collating areas and a secured computer equipment room to house the Society's servers.
The design and layout of the building is expected to accommodate the staffing needs of both societies for the next 20 years. If expansion is necessary, there is an additional 464 square meters for both societies designed into the plan. The parking lot can accommodate 168 cars, which is double the size of the current lot.
The existing headquarters building and property were sold to the neighboring Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania. The sale of the building will contribute to offsetting the costs of the new project.
 Sue Ashton (left) and Robyn Wagoner, the wives of the societies' past presidents, made the first dig into the official TMS/ISS groundbreaking cake at the picnic. |
 The official groundbreaking cake. |
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