J. Don Brock

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J. Don Brock

Chairman & CEO, Astec Industries Inc.

Education

  • B.S. 1961, Mechanical Engineering, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville
  • M.S. 1963, Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Ph.D. 1965, Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Brock spent four years as Vice President of Chattanooga Systems, Inc., prior to being named Vice President of CMI Systems in Chattanooga. Between 1970 and 1972, he served as President of CMI Systems, President of Textiles Systems, Inc. (a subsidiary of CMI Corporation), and Corporate Vice President of CMI Corporation in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In 1972, upon its founding, he became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Astec Industries Inc. Astec is the leading manufacturer of equipment for asphalt road building, aggregate processing, pipeline and utility trenching, and wood processing in the United States. Brock holds approximately 100 U.S. and foreign patents on construction machinery and drying equipment.

In 1983, Brock was honored as the “Man of the Year” by the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA). The Chattanooga Area Engineering Societies named Brock “Engineer of the Year” in 1984 and “Inventor of the Year” in 1988. In 1996, he was the first active industry member to be inducted into the NAPA Hot Mix Hall of Fame.

Additional industry honors include the 1996 Engineering Manager of the Year from the American Society of Engineering Management; the 1997 Private Partnership Award/Transportation Science & Ethics from the Alliance for Transportation Research Institute; the 1999 Captain C.D. Mitchell Award from the Chattanooga Manufacturers Association; the 1999 Hall of Fame Award from the Construction Equipment Industry; the 2001 Ronald D. Kenyon Research and Education Award from the NAPA Research and Education Foundation; and the 2003 Norman McLeod Award for Innovation from the Ontario Asphalt Pavement Association. In 2004, he was included in the American Road & Transportation Builders Association Top 100 Private Sector Transportation Construction Professionals of the 20th Century. In 2009, Brock received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and in 2010 Brock received the Engineer of the Decade award during Chattanooga Engineers Week.

On September 11, 2012, ARTBA permanently honored Brock by renaming the yearly Transovation Award which is awarded to foster innovative thinking within the transportation industry to publicly recognize proven innovators. The award is now known as the J. Don Brock Transovation Award in his honor.

Brock serves as Chairman of the Steering Committee for the National Center for Asphalt Technology at Auburn University and as a Board Member of The Dixie Group. Additionally, Brock served on the Tickle College of Engineering’s Board of Advisors at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2002 and 2003.