10th Washington Energy Summit 2025 Confirmed Distinguished Speakers Include

In the late 1960s, a young Joe Penland Sr. began working as an ironworker, carrying his tools and climbing hundreds of feet in the air. Mr. Penland traveled from Mississippi to Texas hanging iron for many of the bridges in the gulf coast region that are still standing today. Mr. Penland recognized that after a large rain, the ground conditions prohibited all work using heavy equipment and this of course prevented Mr. Penland from working as well.

• Joe from Texas is a family man with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who has had tremendous success and lived the American dream. His beliefs are both straightforward and deeply held. He believes in God, his family, and the United States of America.
• Joe began his career working as an ironworker in the late 1960’s, carrying his tools and climbing hundreds of feet in the air. He traveled all over the country hanging iron on many buildings, and bridges in the gulf coast region.
• Joe recognized that after a large rain, the ground conditions prohibited all work using heavy equipment and this of course prevented him from working as well.
• As a company man and a quick learner, Joe realized that if he could help the company continue to work during wet and muddy conditions, he could continue hanging iron and could better support his family. So, he borrowed $2,750 and purchased the materials needed to build what would become the first 10 crane mats that he built. His mats were a huge success allowing him and his company to continue working in poor weather conditions.
• Soon after, his employer asked if he could build more mats. As word spread, other companies requested mats as well, and Joe’s family-owned company was born. In the following decades, he would patent several designs and grow the company into the oldest and one of the world’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of ground protection and construction mats.
• Through the years, Joe’s business has continued to grow through hard work and innovation. He has continually worked to improve his products and develop new products to meet emerging needs and, during this time, he has come to hold many patents.
• Joe also has experience in the banking industry, having served on several bank boards for over 26 years.
• Joe’s faith has been a pilar in building his business as he has always sought to follow the golden rule of treating others the way that we would like to be treated. Building personal relationships with others has been a major contributing factor in his success and has led him to seek to give back.
• Joe, his company, and his family have long been involved with a number of charitable organizations that seek to help those are who in need.
• They believe the best America is one in which fellow citizens look out for one another instead of waiting on the government as the main source of help.

Based in Beaumont, Texas; Quality Mat has grown into one of the largest mat producers in the world and is one of the oldest companies in the business – with the capabilities of producing everything from logging mats to temporary road matting. Today, our annual mat production exceeds 250,000 and our products carry exclusive patents that serve a variety of major industries. Ever since those early days in Nederland, Texas, Quality Mat has been innovating new products and construction techniques. We’ve expanded our facility to ten times the size of what it was two decades ago. We’re able to service any type of industry with custom logging mats, contractor equipment rental mats, or temporary road matting. As long as our customers are in need of high quality mats, we’ll be committed to growing our operations to serve their needs.