Contractors got into some honest conversations about diversity and inclusion goals at the St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers diversity workshop held at Ameren recently, said St. Louis Construction News & Review Publisher Tom Finan.
Prime and minority contractors were speaking openly about issues they face in meeting inclusion goals, he said. And those are the types of conversations that Finan hopes to continue through the Construction Forum STL, a new nonprofit organization dedicated to holding discussions of local construction industry issues.
“It doesn’t have to be posturing,” said Finan, who co-founded the forum with attorney Joseph Blanner of McCarthy Leonard Kammerer. “Let’s gets some new heads in the room and talk about what works and what might work.”
Construction Forum STL is hosting a free breakfast kick-off and networking event at the Missouri Botanical Garden on Friday, December 13, 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.
“My number one rule is there is no good business with bad people,” Finan said. “So, how do you build those relationships?”
He feels the networking event will give people an opportunity to drink some coffee and get to know new faces. The event will also feature a presentation by KP Development President Terry Barnes and Vice President Scott Haley on redevelopment of the former Chrysler site in Fenton.
In the future, the forum plans to produce annual or bi-annual executive-level “leadership summits” modeled after TED Talks, with online summaries. The forum also will offer webinars, industry statistics, links to construction blogs and discussion forums, a periodic e-newsletter, position papers on key issues and access to relevant university research.
Blanner has organized a LinkedIn ConstructForSTL group, which currently has almost 800 members.
Major issues the forum plans to address include labor and the role of unions, the current construction project award environment and the impact of political division on the construction environment.
Retaining diverse talent will also be a topic of discussion
“We are a polarized city, and we lose a lot of smart people,” Finan said. “If you are of color and smart, you have to think long and hard about whether you want to stay here.”
Finan pointed out that the organization has two board advisors who are often on the frontlines of inclusion issues – Nicole Adewale, president of ABNA, and Byron Witherspoon, supplier diversity managing executive for power generation at Ameren.
The board of advisors also includes Bruce Edwards, vice president of development and construction services for Kaplan Real Estate Company; John Gaal, director of education for the Carpenters District Council; Todd Jacobs, principal at Christner; Pat Kozeny, president of Kozeny Wagner; Emily Martin, president of Aschinger Electric; and Mary Schanuel, Synergy Group Public Relations; plus the forum’s directors.
Directors are Blanner, Finan, Steve Bannes, director of the Sever Institute for Construction Graduate Studies at Washington University; Mark Carlie, chairman of Stone Carlie accountants; and Mike Chollet, CEO of St. Louis Construction News & Review, the forum’s media partner.
“We want to gather information from all the different sources – that’s the purpose of this,” he said “There is no agenda other than making things better. We are trying to create a wall-less room where all points of view are welcome.”
A continental breakfast and networking session will precede the program in the Botanical Garden’s auditorium. The event is free of charge to persons active in the St. Louis construction industry.
Construction industry professionals can RSVP to jblanner@mlklaw.com. For more information on Construction Forum STL, visit ConstructForSTL.com or contact Tom Finan at 314-716-3939.
