MCA honors James Bush and David Stermer with service awards

The Patrick R. Bush Award honors outstanding volunteer contributions and the Larry A. Swaney Award is bestowed upon an outstanding industry professional.

The Metal Construction Association (MCA) presented its Patrick R. Bush Service Award to David Stermer and its Larry A. Swaney Award to James Bush. The awards were announced on January 21 during MCA's 2025 Winter Meeting in Cape Coral, Florida.

The Patrick R. Bush Award honors the outstanding volunteer contributions of an individual from an MCA member company. This award was created to commemorate Patrick R. Bush, a significant and long-serving member of the MCA board.

This year’s recipient is David Stermer. Stermer has been a member of the MCA board since 2014 and currently serves as MCA secretary. David is the director of engineering at Metal Sales Manufacturing Corp.

MCA Chair Chandler Barden stated that Stermer is "constantly going above and beyond” in his work. In addition to taking on a pivotal role in advancing MCA’s technical standards and codes, Chandler stated that David has been “a mentor and a friend to many, fostering a sense of community and collaboration within our organization. His willingness to share his knowledge and support others has created a positive and inclusive environment that benefits us all.”

The Larry A. Swaney Award is bestowed upon an outstanding industry professional for their contributions to the success of the association and the betterment of the metal construction industry.

This year’s honoree is James Bush, who was described as a “pillar of the industry” by Chandler. Among Bush’s notable projects are developing the MCA Guide Specification for Residential Metal Roofing and establishing standards for pre-painted and natural (unpainted) metal roofing systems.

A longtime employee of ATAS International, James has also served on the MCA board, including a term as chair, and has been an active member of several MCA committees, including roofing, retrofit and nominations. Chandler emphasized James' remarkable dedication to MCA, stating, "I often find myself looking over my shoulder to hear input from Jim." James was inducted into the Metal Construction News Hall of Fame in 2014.

Previous MCA service award recipients can be seen here: metalconstruction.org/index.php/events/other-awards.

About the Metal Construction Association

The Metal Construction Association brings together a diverse industry for the purpose of expanding the use of metal in construction through marketing, research, technology and education. Companies involved in MCA gain tremendous benefit from association activities that focus on research, codes and standards, market development and technical programs. MCA’s market development efforts increase the use of metal materials in construction through the education of the building and design communities about the benefits of metal.