Cemstone’s Business Development Engineers

John Lee is the Director of Business Development at the Cemstone Companies, holding over 15 years of experience with our organization. In his prior role at Cemstone, he successfully oversaw the civil and engineering sales group.

With over 30 years of experience, John has actively contributed to the development of numerous large commercial and municipal projects in the Twin Cities construction market. He spent 17 years at Twin City Testing/Element, where he led the development and implementation of International Code Council Evaluation Service testing programs for various building materials, including concrete anchorage.

John earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota. He is a registered professional engineer in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, and North Carolina.

Lee says, “I am continually fascinated by the challenges we encounter in pushing the boundaries of concrete and how both the material and we, as individuals, respond to them. For me, seeing how the expectations of slab on grade performance has increased in the last 8 years is remarkable. Being a resource to homeowners, designers, and contactors on the use of fibers and joint reduction, like Cemstone’s Latitude system, has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my 32-year career.”

Jim Grothaus is a Senior Business Development Engineer for the Cemstone Companies. Jim has been working in the transportation, infrastructure, and construction industry for over 25 years. Early in his career, Jim worked for Short Elliot Hendrickson (SEH) as a project engineer where he was responsible for the design and construction of municipal capital improvement projects. After 3 years at SEH, he joined the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies where he led the development and delivery of numerous transportation outreach, education, and research projects for the state of Minnesota, local communities, and the civil engineering industry.

In 2017, Jim went to work for Hancock Concrete Products as a technical resource engineer. There he provided technical information to local and state specifiers on the benefits of concrete pipe and box culverts.

Jim joined Cemstone in 2021 and has contributed to numerous projects as a Business Development Engineer.

Jim attended the University of Minnesota where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 1997. In 2015, he received the Donald C. Stone Award for Excellence in Education from the American Public Works Association, and he is a registered professional engineer in Minnesota.

Grothaus says, “During my time at Cemstone, I have enjoyed educating the public transportation sector about the resources and solutions that our Cemstone team of companies can supply. We are consistently known for our blue trucks delivering quality ready-mixed concrete, but what I am really enjoying is learning more about all of the products and services that we create, produce or supply.”