Inaugural Hammer of Honor Recipients

Inaugural Hammer of Honor Recipients

This year’s Managers’ Summit brought together representatives from ACRT Services and all four of our operating companies (Bermex, ACRT, ACRT Pacific, and EnviroScience) at Deer Creek State Park in Mt. Sterling, Ohio.

During the Summit, managers from each company had the opportunity to recognize their peers as the top manager of the year with the Hammer of Honor. Each hammer was hand-crafted by ACRT Services CEO Mike Weidner himself.

Hammer of Honor Recipients

• ACRT – Eric Morales
• ACRT Pacific – James (Jim) Erskine
• Bermex – Andrea Hawco
• EnviroScience – Laura Sayre

The Hammer of Honor is awarded to the operations leader who has hammered home their leadership skills, nailed teamwork, chiseled out innovative solutions, and consistently built a sturdy foundation of success. They must be a true master of the craft, demonstrating their ability to drive results and nail every aspect of their role with precision and impact. The winner is the one who truly struck the right chord with their peers, forging success through their outstanding qualities, and dedication.

The individuals each shared how they felt about being selected as the inaugural Hammer of Honor recipients for their companies.

Eric Morales, ACRTWhen they passed out the cards at the Summit, I voted for Pat Paternostro. I had no earthly idea; I was so taken aback. I cannot even lie about it, I did not expect to be the recipient of the Hammer, so I was floored. Puls got up there and started giving his little spiel and it kept going on and a little lightbulb went off and the more he kept talking, I said to myself, “Dadgummit, I think he’s talking about me.” I started getting real nervous and sure enough, he said, “Eric Morales.” I was extremely honored to have those folks vote for me. I have my hammer on my bookshelf in my living room and just wait for people to ask what it is so I can tell them it’s an award I got at work. It’s in full-frontal display in my living room. – Eric Morales, ACRT

I am overwhelmed.  There is such a talented group of managers I work with and to be singled out is quite the honor. – Jim Erskine, ACRT Pacific

Humbled – I have worked hard this year to learn the business and pour everything I have into it. With that, I found a tremendous sense of passion that this was my calling. I leaned in a lot to others to ask for guidance and certainly know I still have so much more to learn. But to know that I work for a company that celebrates your hard work fuels me even more. I am grateful for the relationships I have built with my peers and others around the organization and to know they supported me gives me a great sense of pride – that I do work for the best company. – Andrea Hawco, Bermex

Generally, any recognition makes me feel pretty awkward and embarrassed. Most of all, I am just really proud of everyone on my team. Currently, there are 43 people on the NR team, and they are all dedicated, hard workers who really make me look good and make my job pretty easy. I am proud that as a group we take on challenges and work together to get what sometimes seems like an insurmountable amount of work done each year. I know that I can count on all of them, and I hope they all feel the same way about me. Personally, after a stage 3 triple negative breast cancer diagnosis in December 2021 and subsequent treatment, receiving the Hammer of Honor was the ‘I’m back’ moment I have been needing and the validation that while I don’t feel like I am back to 100% yet, my contributions are still recognized by my colleagues.  – Laura Sayre, EnviroScience

Pictured L to R: Jim Erskine, Laura Sayre, Mike Weidner, Andrea Hawco, Eric Morales