On Wednesday, January 18, Salt River Materials Group (SRMG) named Ruben Guerrero Jr. as its new CEO. Guerrero had been the director of corporate affairs at SRMG for the past nine years, where he gained knowledge and guidance from the firm’s late president, Roger Smith Jr.
SRMG is a Community-owned enterprise of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. It was established in 1981 as Salt River Sand and Rock, and it purchased Phoenix Cement Company in 1987. Today SRMG provides cements, aggregates, fly ash and gypsum products to construction projects across the United States and Canada.
Guerrero brings to his new CEO position 20 years of knowledge in public policy and government relations, something that interested him when he was a young man in the Young River People’s Council.
Guerrero recalled attending the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) with the SRPMIC Youth Council. “I always had an interest in policy, so for me it was an opportunity to gain experience ….” Guerrero served as an aide in the office of U.S. Representative Raul M. Grijalva in the mid-2000s, then worked in the SRPMIC Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs. In August 2011 he was appointed to the board of directors of Salt River Development Company (DEVCO), an asset management and commercial development company and an enterprise of the SRPMIC, and he was elected chairman of the board in January 2012.
Guerrero said that he had the great pleasure to learn from longtime SRMG CEO Roger Smith Jr. before his passing. He plans to continue SRMG’s Value Statement as the threshold from which the company conducts its business: “Profitability the Right Way … Integrity, Accountability, Excellence.”
Other people who have been a positive influence include former SRPMIC President Ivan Makil, former Legislative Affairs Assistant Jacob Moore, Meldon Fulwilder, Jonah Ray and former SRPMIC President Diane Enos.
“I am a firm believer that if you see people who look like you and talk like you, it gives you that motivation to do whatever you want. Seeing other Indigenous people succeeding within and outside of the Community gave me that motivation to choose this career path,” he said. Guerrero holds bachelor’s degrees in political science and American Indian Studies from Arizona State University.
Guerrero said that the main priority for SRMG going forward is to continue to be a revenue source for the Community and to offer SRPMIC members more employment opportunities.
About Salt River Materials Group
Headquartered at the SRPMIC Chaparral Business Park near Scottsdale, AZ, Salt River Materials Group is a leading supplier of portland and masonry cements, fly ash and other pozzolans, both normal and lightweight aggregates, and natural gypsum products throughout Arizona and the Southwestern United States. SRMG is also a leader in promoting sustainable products and practices throughout the manufacturing and building industries.
