AGC of America delivered an impressive program last week at its 97th Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas, complete with interesting speakers, great educational sessions, a robust Expo hall, and plenty of networking opportunities for 2,350 construction professionals.

 

The party started Tuesday night at the Welcome Reception, where attendees reconnected with old friends and networked with new ones in a fun and festive environment. A few were even bold enough to give the mechanical bull a spin. It was a great start to what became a great conference.

At the Opening Convention Session, outgoing President Chuck Greco highlighted the year's many accomplishments — achievements in advocacy, membership, workforce development, relevance and non-dues revenue. Greco introduced incoming President Mark Knight, with the assurance that the membership will be in good hands for the coming year under his leadership. Knight talked about his presidential theme: AGC, ready, willing and able to meet the industry's needs. "I love being a contractor," Knight says. "[I] love being in the industry. We know how to give back to our industry and community." With this passion, Knight is eager to get the ball rolling and keep AGC moving forward.

 

CEO Stephen Sandherr wrapped up AGC's year in 10 words: 1) effective, 2) responsive, 3) supportive, 4) creative, 5) innovative, 6) intuitive, 7) adaptive, 8) collaborative, 9) comprehensive, and 10) definitive. The diverse membership of the association requires AGC to engage in every issue and look after everyone's interests, challenges the association is more than willing to tackle.

Other highlights included insights from Stephanie Cutter and Ed Gillespie, strategists in the Democratic and Republican parties respectively, on the current election climate;  updates from AGC staffers Ken Simonson, Mike Kennedy and Jeff Shoaf on what's in store for members on the economic, regulatory and legislative fronts; a variety of educational sessions available with topics ranging from recruiting the next generation of workers to solving working capital problems; and the more than 90 exhibitors that provided a multitude of solutions to attending contractors.

 

Everyone goes home a winner from an AGC convention, but only a select few get special recognition. At the Willis Towers Watson Safety Awards breakfast on Thursday, March 10, David Walls, president and CEO, Austin Industries, Inc., delivered a passionate presentation on the importance of a zero-accident mentality in construction and how commitment, vision and leadership play a key role in that.

Following Walls' insightful speech, AGC and Willis Towers Watson honored those construction companies that have demonstrated excellence in safety and health performance. From the 52 finalists, Sundt was named the Grand Award winner, or "best of the best" of the 2016 Construction Safety Excellence Awards.

The Alliant Build America Awards took place at lunch on Thursday and bestowed awards to projects that have excelled in state-of-the-art achievement, excellence in project management, innovation, superior client service, and more. Sitka’s Blue Lake Expansion Project was the most impressive construction project of 2015. As a result, the project’s contractor, Barnard Construction Company was the Alliant Build America Grand Award winner and best Federal and Heavy Renovation project. This project was one of 23 winners to receive an award and one of nine to receive a Merit Award.

Winners were honored again in the evening at the Celebrate Construction gala, sponsored by Willis Towers Watson and Alliant, where there was live music, lots of dancing, and plenty of Tex-Mex. With a send-off like this, everyone went home a winner from the 97th Annual AGC Convention.