Page 77 - 2021 Sustainability Report

EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING

Hired directly out of college in 2017, Beardslee spent the
bulk of her first year at Martin Marietta in the High Achievers
Management Associate Program, which aims to train
future company leaders. In 2018, she jumped at the Among the Tuition Reimbursement Program participants
chance to become a safety specialist in the Central earning degrees this year are:
Division’s Alden District. Later, she became an engineer for
the Indiana District. Looking to lead a team, Beardslee What’s Your Major?
spoke to division leadership about how she could best At any given time, there are scores of Martin Marietta
serve Martin Marietta while moving her own career people utilizing the Company’s Tuition Reimbursement
forward as well. Program. Spread out across the company’s footprint,
these students currently attend such institutions as Penn
“I knew I wanted to get back into operations and I came
State University, Colorado State University, Georgia
to believe that an MBA would improve my chances,” she
Tech, the University of North Carolina, the University of
says. “I had learned all about safety and the technical
pieces of mining, but this program helped me focus on North Texas, and more. Degree specialties include:
management – of both projects and people. Much of the
course work was about conflict management, problem Civil Engineering
solving and leadership. It’s all been incredibly helpful.”

In May 2021, Beardslee earned her MBA from The Business Administration
University of Missouri – Kansas City. Early in 2022, she was
promoted to assistant plant manager. She now helps lead
teams at both the Kokomo Stone and Kokomo Sand & Project Management
Gravel operations north of Indianapolis.
Both Pollard and Beardslee utilized the Tuition Accounting
Reimbursement Program while taking separate paths to
positions of leadership, but there is another equally
important shared element in their respective stories. Organizational Leadership
“I received a great amount of support from across the
district and division. (Central Division Vice President of
Communications
Human Resources) Tom Nelson was especially helpful,”
Beardslee says. “He and I sat down at the beginning of this
journey and he helped me go through the various MBA
Occupational Health and Safety
programs I was considering. My direct supervisors were
important, too. They always asked about my classes. We
often spoke about ways I could incorporate what I had
learned into our work environment.”

Pollard, too, says her leadership team was incredibly
helpful as she worked to balance her personal, professional
and academic responsibilities.

“I am so grateful to our management team in the
Arkansas District,” she says. “(Vice President-General
Manager) Todd Wheeler would often check in to ask about
my program and to make sure I had all the support I
Katie Beardslee seen here with Stamper Mine
needed. At times, I was able shift some of my hours at the
Asst. Plant Manager Scott Brennan
quarry to work around my testing schedule. The team here
really helped out.”

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