Mitch DeBlois, President of DeBlois Electric, has been elected Chair of the Board for Associated Builders and Contractors of Maine for 2021 and 2022. At the organization’s virtual holiday party, DeBlois formally accepted the position and addressed the membership for the first time. His remarks follow:
I’m Mitch DeBlois, your incoming chair for 2021and 2022
I am President of DeBlois Electric
An Electrical Contractor serving central and southern Maine
I am honored to be your incoming Chair and look forward to the opportunity to meet, listen, and know you better. We are here to serve you, guide you through any challenges you may have, and listen to suggestions and solutions on how we can improve as an industry. When we all lean in, we create an environment that supports everyone.
We want to thank Tawnya Brown our outgoing chair for her leadership and support the past two years. Tawnya has been a great team member and we look forward to her continued leadership and support as past chair.
I also want to thank my wife Peggy and team members at DeBlois Electric for their support to allow me the opportunity to be your incoming chair.
We can all agree that COVID has made 2020 a challenging year. It is amazing that we all came together through meetings, workshops, and seminars to support each other through these times of uncertainty. We all leaned in, and with your support, we continue to hold our industry together.
I want to take a few moments to discuss Why ABC, Strategic Goals for 2021, and most critically, how we can lean in, do the work and make a positive impact. We have a voice, we have influence. Through each of our strengths we can be stronger together by leaning in and doing the work.
Why ABC
I want to begin by sharing my why… 30 years ago in 1990 I was asked to join ABC. As they shared the benefits and the passion they had as members, it was clear that ABC was a great association. I felt the passion, was excited and thought this would be a great opportunity for DeBlois Electric. I asked my dad if we could discuss joining ABC. You can only imagine the first words he said, how much? Dad let me tell you why and then you can ask me how much. I started to explain: ABC has quality contractors that care for one another, we can share and learn best practices, networking, and they can help us develop our safety program that will help us work safely and improve moral. Dad looked at me and saw the passion that I had for the company to be a member and said, when do you want a check? I said this afternoon.
The reason I share this story is we all have a similar story. Also perhaps similar to you, at one point I decided to not be as involved and thought I should take a break. I soon realized that not being involved produces no results. I say this because you can only get value by adding value. I started to lean in and get involved. My fellow team members at DeBlois Electric learned the importance of ABC and I encourage you to do the same, without succession our why and passion fades. I can honestly share that getting involved improves passion, taking the experience from good to better with results.
ABC’s mission was founded on the merit shop philosophy, to help members develop people, win work, and deliver that work safely, ethically and profitably for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work.
Now that I have shared why I leaned in to ABC, here are some of our strategic goals for 2021. Let’s think carefully about what each of us can do to lean in, to be proactive, and work together starting in the first quarter of 2021.
We have a great staff with Hope and Tammy, our board of directors, and our committee chairs who are ready to help. I am happy to report that Dan Coffey of Cianbro has accepted to be Co-Chair for 2021 and 2022, congratulations Dan.
Here are some of our 2021 strategic goals:
- Environmental Health, Safety and Workforce Development is working to create and develop a safe and healthy construction workplace for the state of Maine.
- Increase Step participation by 30% from 27% to 35%
- Virtual Trade Event for Students… Happy to say we had our 1st virtual trade event on Nov 19th and was well received. Planning to have another in the 1stquarter of 2021.
- Increase Cents for CTE by $10,000
- Develop a strategy to help guide and facilitate an apprenticeship program to implement within your company.
- Offer training and OSHA certifications
- Membership Committee is committed to building relationships with ABC members and providing the opportunity to grow ABC’s membership.
- Retaining our current members
- Increasing membership to 200 by 2022
- We have created a new sub-committee Social Media/Marketing to execute a strategy clearly communicating and promoting ABC Maine’s mission in the industry. We will be reaching out in January to recruit members for this sub-committee.
- Continue to be creative on networking opportunities.
- Government Affairs works for ABC to become the industry leader by speaking for/against legislation that can impact our employees, projects, businesses, and communities.
- Increase PAC Donations
- Create a strategy to reach policymakers with our mission and goals.
As part of ABC National Cares, I am happy to announce that this coming year ABC Maine’s charitable recipient will be the Boys and Girls Club of Maine. This is a state-wide organization that supports underserved children with safe places to learn, have fun, and develop skills and interests.
Lastly, our challenge is to lean in and add value people first. I will be reaching out to you to set up an in-person or virtual meeting to learn about your company, what you are passionate about and how we can work together.
My hope for ABC Maine is that we all lean in, do the work and make a positive impact. We have a voice, we have influence, and our combined strengths make us stronger.
Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts and look forward to leaning in with you and adding value people first as your incoming chair.
Be Safe and Happy Holidays
