NAPA names new chairman

The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) has announced that James Winford Jr. was sworn in as 2020 chairman at the association’s 65^th annual meeting Feb. 3. As chairman, Winford is responsible for guiding NAPA’s efforts to support the asphalt pavement industry.

Winford is president of Prairie Contractors Inc., Opelousas, Louisiana, which operates five asphalt plants across southwestern and central Louisiana. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Civil Engineering from Tulane University and earned his Ph.D. in civil engineering from Auburn University, where he conducted research at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT).

“Ours is an industry that rises to the occasion for innovation and technological advances,” Winford says. “Asphalt pavements are an engineered product and no matter the need or the application, we can devise a solution.”

Winford will also work with NAPA’s professional staff in Washington to engage with Congress over the reauthorization of the nation’s federal surface transportation program and the need for a robust, stable funding stream for construction, maintenance and improvement of the nation’s infrastructure.

Winford has been an active member of NAPA, serving as the state director for Louisiana for three years and on various engineering and pavement-quality committees and task groups. He also served on the NCAT board of directors for 11 years, including four years as board chair, and he has sat on the NAPA Research & Education Foundation board of directors since 2009. Winford is a second-generation NAPA leader with his father, Jim Winford, having served on the NAPA board of governors in the 1960s.