Energized by the hiring of Executive Director, Chuck Gremillion, the Construction Career Collaborative (C3) Board and Committee Chairs met on February 6, 2014 at Marek Brothers Systems to establish their strategic goals for 2014. Gremillion, a highly-respected industry leader who had run the A&E Graphic Complex, his family’s business until it was sold, came on board on February 1, 2014. He took over from Katrina Kersch, a loaned Marek executive.
The group established three specific goals:
- To raise $200,00 - $400,000 from outside sources (such as Associations, Champions, and other Supporters).
- To have 60 Contractors become “accredited” through C3’s process and pay the $1500 annual fee.
- To have six more projects specify the C3 principles as a requirement. This would double the current six that are underway.
In addition, the group would intensify communications with leading owners in all segments of the markets – with educational facilities, educators and students (perhaps with a dedicated website), and also with debt holders.
The Board also agreed to evaluate and ultimately adopt the strategic recommendations of the Craft Training Committee relative to the knowledge and skills that would be required of a C3 certified craft worker as of a future date.
C3, which was stated in 2011, is an alliance of contractors, specialty contractors and owners committed to creating a sustainable commercial construction craft work force. Its founding principles are to recruit, train and retain qualified workers by ensuring those workers have fair wages and benefits, have verifiable standard and high-quality safety training, and have verifiable craft training as required for their trade. A major goal is to re-establish commercial construction craft work as a viable career option.
Founding C3 Chairman, Jim Stevenson, President of McCarthy-Houston, thanked Katrina and the group for their progress since inception, which included becoming an official 501 C (3) organization, creating a great website, initiating six beta-projects, creating broad-based support and momentum, and hiring a full time executive director.
Following the meeting, I interviewed Gremillion, asking him what drew him to C3 and what he is looking forward to in his new position. In the following 2-minute video, Gremillion answers:
“I passionately believe that when you invest in people and you train people, you get a return on that investment – it is not an expense, it is an investment that generates a return many times over.”
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