The Snow & Ice Management Association (SIMA) awarded John Allin with its Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization’s annual banquet during the 2014 Snow & Ice Symposium.
The SIMA board of directors presents the award to an individual who’s shown a deep dedication and commitment to the snow and ice management industry. The award only has been given five times in the history of the association and Allin, the 2014 recipient, is the founder of SIMA.
Founded in the basement of his home in Erie, Pa., in June 1996, Allin served as board president of SIMA from 1996 to 2002. The Snow & Ice Symposium was also the brainchild of Allin as was the Certified Snow Professional (CSP) program monitored by SIMA.
Allin’s former company, Snow Management Group, had the contract for managing all snow and ice at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. Snow Management Group was recognized as the largest snow and ice management company in North America from 2001 to 2004. Allin sold the company in 2004 and then went on to invent and patent the Snow Dragon Snowmelters as a result of the Winter Olympic project. Allin ran Snow Dragon Snowmelters for five years. He founded Snowfighters Institute in 2010 and John Allin Consulting in 2008.
Through his tenure, Allin has written and published two books on managing snow companies and created an estimating package for those who plow snow. He also was on the team that developed the ANSI-ASCA A1000 Written Snow Industry Standards and the ISO SN 9001 certification program for snow and ice management contractors.
Tammy Johnson, former SIMA executive director and also of John Allin Consulting, nominated Allin for the award and wrote in the nomination submission: “I firmly believe that it is long overdue. John’s dedication to this industry is unprecedented. John’s ‘dream’ has always been to professionalize the industry, to have people look at those that ‘plow snow’ as more than ‘plow jockeys’ but instead as professionals that keep the roads, parking lots and sidewalks safe for vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Today some 18 years after that initial meeting in the basement of his house, John’s dream is a reality.”
