About The Concrete Countertop Institute - Your complete resource for concrete countertop success.
Our Mission
The Concrete Countertop Institute's mission is to help concrete countertop professionals succeed.
We do this by providing
- Intensive training (CCI Training)
- Membership programs (Concrete Connections)
- Events (Concrete Countertop Industry Conference)
Our History and Instructors
Jeff Girard
The Concrete Countertop Institute was founded by Jeffrey Girard, P.E., in early 2004. It grew out of Jeff's long term desire to raise the standard for concrete countertops through quality manufacturing and education.
Jeff is a licensed, professional civil engineer with a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Massachusetts.
Jeff has over fourteen years experience with innovative, cutting-edge civil engineering. After completing his Master’s degree from UMass in 1993, he worked for the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory in Port Hueneme, California. There he worked on advanced civil engineering projects for the United States Navy. Much of his research is classified, but the experience enabled him to approach complex challenges from new and different directions.Jeff started making concrete countertops in Raleigh, NC in late 1998-1999. When he decided in 1998 to make a concrete countertop for his own kitchen remodel, he approached the project as only an engineer would: by pulling his engineering textbooks off the shelf, performing months of research, testing and design, and treating the countertop as an engineering project.
In the course of Jeff's research, he saw that there was a demand for concrete countertops. So he put up a website, set up shop, and his company FormWorks was born. FormWorks grew to be a national force in the concrete countertop fabrication industry. Jeff's unique approach, keen eye for craftsmanship, and strong engineering background made FormWorks a success.
Over the years, as demand grew across the U.S., Jeff saw the need for quality training, to make sure that concrete countertops continue to grow in popularity. Jeff’s mission is to raise the standard for concrete countertops through quality standards and comprehensive education, and this lead to his founding of The Concrete Countertop Institute (CCI) in early 2004. Through The Concrete Countertop Institute’s training programs (www.ConcreteCountertopInstitute.com), Jeff provides intensive training that helps contractors succeed in the business of making concrete countertops.
In 2006, Jeff developed the Concrete Connections website, located at www.ConcreteCountertops.net. The website provides information for contractors, the trade and homeowners that helps educate and inform about concrete countertops, promoting their use and helping to grow the concrete countertop industry. The website also offers a membership program that is a networking group and informational resource for concrete countertop professionals. Jeff also works with manufacturers as a resource for designing and distributing the best possible products for making concrete countertops.
One of Jeff ’s most recent projects is the Concrete Countertop Industry Conference (CCIC), an annual conference that provides contractors with the latest information about concrete countertops by bringing together industry experts and manufacturers representing all of the resources available for successful concrete countertop making. The first annual conference was held November 6-7, 2006 in Raleigh, NC, with 250 people from around the world in attendance. The second annual conference was October 25-27, 2007 in Charlotte, NC, and drew over 400 people. CCIC 2008 is planned for August 21-23, 2008 in Sacramento, CA. Visit www.ConcreteCountertopConference.com for details.
Jeff is an active member in the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Concrete Institute and the American Society of Concrete Contractors.
Lane Mangum
Lane Mangum was marketing and sales manager for Jeff's concrete countertop manufacturing business in the early 2000s. She transitioned the company from a hobby-level business to the dominant regional fabricator of concrete countertops in just a few short years.
Lane’s background is actually in software. She has a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Massachusetts and a Master’s degree in computer science from the University of California Santa Barbara. Lane started out in 1995 as a computer programmer. In a few short years, she transitioned to project management, technical product management, product management and finally to product marketing and sales support. She then applied her sales and marketing experience to a new industry: concrete countertops. She likes to say that she transitioned from software to hardware.
When she started marketing and selling concrete countertops, Lane took principles of relationship marketing and figured out whom to market concrete countertops to and how. She set up a showroom and had a showroom grand opening. She started booking meetings with kitchen designer and interior designer organizations. She started doing lunch and learns for architecture firms. Her sales and marketing efforts were the driving force behind the growth and success of the company.
Lane now teaches other concrete countertop companies how to do the same, as Customer Service Director for The Concrete Countertop Institute. She developed The Concrete Countertop Institute’s self-study courses Sales & Marketing 101 and Project Management 101, and has spoken about marketing and selling concrete countertops at multiple events including the Concrete Countertop Industry Conference in October 2007. Her passion is helping to accomplish The Concrete Countertop Institute’s mission of helping contractors succeed in the business of concrete countertops.
Jeremy French - CCI's newest instructor!
Jeremy French is the President of Mandala Design in Asheville NC. Mandala Design was created in 1997 as a design build company focused on landscape architecture and ecological land planning. As the company evolved and took on new and different challenges, the preferred medium for expression evolved as well. Through edible and native plantings, stone, large boulder water features, complicated deck designs, and finally to concrete. The spirit and mission of Mandala Design has always been the same, to push the envelope, to make more with less, to challenge the perceptions of our living and working spaces in order to bring something fresh and fulfilling into the lives of all involved, and to do all that in a work environment that is healthy and inspiring. Through many trials and triumphs Mandala Design has emerged as a company that is focused, inspired, and set for great success in this mission.
Jeremy is currently focused on advancing the capabilities of concrete. With the introduction of GFRC into the mix, a number of new avenues and possibilities have opened up. The most obvious possibility is in the area of expanded 3-D options that were previously unattainable or simply prohibitive with wet cast concrete. It is these 3-D options that Jeremy and Jeff explore in the class Advanced 3-D Design with GFRC and More. Examples of Jeremy's curtting-edge designs can be seen on the web page for that class.
Jeremy's background of experimentation, creativity and design complements Jeff's engineering background. Jeremy approaches his role as an instructor through his belief in the vast possibilities of this industry. He also believes that the industry's potential cannot be reached without the lines of communication and information becoming open and accessible to all. Much of Jeremy's creative inspiration has come, not from a place of secrecy, but rather from creative collaborations with colleagues. He is opening this door in hopes to continue passing this information and inspiration on.