October 11, 2024 • 10 mins
In 2014, Bethany was named the Chief of Staff at the District Council a position she maintains today. In March of 2019 she was named the Executive Director of the LECET Fund which focuses on member safety, contractor relations and industry promotion.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
iHeartMedia presents national CEOs you should know. Let's meet Bethany Billy,
Executive Director of Ohio LESSET So.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm born and bred Clevelander.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I lived there for thirty two years before I moved
to Columbus thirteen years ago for a job opportunity with
the Ohio Laborers. I started originally as the office manager
with the Laborers.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
I just sort of ran.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
The office every day, you know, phone calls, administrative things.
And then a few years in I became the chief
of staff at the District Council. The district Council oversees
the twenty three locals that we have throughout our state,
so if any of our locals have major problems, grievances,
or anything like that, they come to the district Council.
So I became the chief of staff of the council
(00:44):
and with administrative support to Ralph Cole, he's our business
manager and secretary treasurer. And then three years ago in
twenty nineteen, I became the LESSON director. Less It stands
for the Labor's Employers Cooperation and Education Trust. We are
sort of the labor management side of the Ohio Laborers.
We work in coordination with our signatory contractors on member safety,
(01:07):
industry promotion. We also work on project promotion and things
like that throughout the state. And I've been the lesson
director and the chief of staff still I've maintained both
my positions since twenty nineteen.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
Well, that's absolutely wonderful. And I know that you have
five people on your team, but you serve over twenty
five thousand men and women, and I imagine that is enormous.
And I can't imagine the schedule that everybody has and
how you make sure you communicate with everybody, take care
of everybody. What what's like in a week? There at
(01:39):
lesson for you and your team.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So I will say, because we do have twenty three
locals throughout the state that represent those men and women
on a direct level, our labors are members of these
each locals. For example, we have two locals in Cleveland,
Local eight sixteen and three ten.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Then we have smaller.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Locals like Local one thirty four Newcomers Town or eight
or nine in Stubenville. So we are throughout the entire
state and those members deal more directly with.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Their locals on a regular basis.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
We do try and do the whole picture so we
do a lot of national work zone safety promotion is
our big thing keeping our members safe.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
A lot of our members do that work out on
the highway.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
System that you see, so you know, they call it
the Ohio State Flower is the construction barrel and they
come out and a lot of our members are those
men and women out in those construction zones. And you know,
they go to work every day expecting to come home
to their family and friends. But unlike you and I,
they are out in a danger zone constantly with cars
(02:39):
flying by them. And you would be surprised on how
many work zone intrusions we have. So what we really
do at Ohio less it every day is we work
closely with our locals to set up national work zone
safety events. We will do public awareness events at rest stops.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
We do public awareness events.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
We partner with the Land Guardians and also with the
Columbus Blue Jackets and the Cincinnati Reds, and so we
do public awareness.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
We have signage we go into the stadiums and you know,
let people know, you know, drive.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Safe and work zones.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
We have a safety pledge that we ask people to
take at our website which is www dot Ohio lesset
dot com and that just sort of states you will,
you know, slow down in work zones, pay attention when
you're in a work zone because at the end of
the day, we all want to make it home.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
To our family and friends at.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
The end of the day, and unfortunately, our members have
a little bit more risk than the average folk.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Bethany, we ask all of our leaders when it comes
to the pandemic. We you know, we know it's affected
us personally greatly on so many different kind of levels.
But at the workplace, a lot of people have had
a pivot over the last two years, extraordinary and doing
some things where they never thought they were capable of
doing or they had the capabilities to do it with
their team and all the people that you serve out there.
(03:56):
So what was it like two years ago and how
did how did you and your team pivot?
Speaker 3 (03:59):
I will tell you you Ohio labors were recognized as
essential workers, so they worked through the entire pandemic. But
like you said, our works on safety events we had
to go virtual. We did a lot of Facebook live events.
We partner with the Ohio Department of Transportation and the
Ohio State Troopers and our locals to do virtual events.
We also try to get you know, members on who
(04:21):
have had you know, work zone intrusions, but have you know,
stayed safe. And unfortunately, surprisingly the pandemic was when we
had our highest death.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Rate based on work zone intrusions.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
We lost five members during a pandemic when traffic was
necessarily down.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
If people were just you know, on their phones getting
updates or what not paying attention, but you know, unfortunately
we tragically did lose members. But we did go virtual
on a lot of our events trying to keep people
posted and to recognize National work Zone Safety Awareness Week
and do some press events and things like that.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
So you mess mentioned Bethany some of the challenges, But
what pauseives came out of this after we all went
through this, and especially with everybody on the team being
their essential workers, Well, what came out of this that
was more positive than anything? For you?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I would say that, you know, we sort of really
had an opportunity to hone our message. We had an
opportunity to really sort of figure out what we can do.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
We don't only have to do in person things.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
We can do you know, virtual things that will possibly
reach many more people. Because it's online. You know, you
sort of didn't think about that. You think that face
to face is the more personal way to connect with people.
But we found that we really connected with quite a
few people via Facebook and also our web page where
people went and took the pledge based on, you know,
(05:44):
some of the information. We do television commercials, we do
radio spots through the Indians and Reds, and we always
tell people, you know, go to www. Dot Ohio, Lesa
dot com and take that you know, safe Driving pledge.
And we've had a lot of good things come out
of that. We've had to, like you said, pivot and
figure out how to not do those face a face,
(06:04):
but do those reach people on a more widely spread basis.
Speaker 5 (06:08):
Bethany, I know you have a couple of ten pole
events that are coming up very soon that you want
to talk about. So let's everybody know about those.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Sure, we want to.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Really highlight National Safety Awareness Week and that is April
eleventh through the fifteenth. We want to remind everybody to
wear orange, Go orange on April thirteenth, Wednesday. That just
sort of reminds people to pay attention when they're in
work zones and think about the construction workers when they're
out and the bout, so wearing orange represents the safety.
(06:36):
And we also want to talk about our partnership with
Panera Bread and the Build Ohio Right, Build a Union
campaign where we're recognizing Members of the Week members throughout
the state of Ohio who are building Ohio and building
at Union. So we're recognizing people members from each of
our locals throughout the state.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Well, that's outstanding.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Now.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
I know that orange isn't the only sports color in
the data of Ohio, but I have a feeling that
some people might be able to easily hop on board
on that one.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I think so. I think a lot of Ohioan's.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
You know, whether you're from Cleveland or even from Cincinnati,
you'll have something orange in your closet.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
Absolutely gold. Yeah, I couldn't agree more with you. Hey, listen,
but I know how busy you and your team are
and all the people that you work with in the
twenty five thousand people that you service. But when it
comes to anything that is philanthropic or any charity causes
that you or your team like to work on. What's
the latest, what's happening, what's turning everybody on there to.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Work with Sure, so we do several things with charities.
Laborer's Care is our big international charity, and what that does,
it's a foundation that gives monetary funds to those members'
families who lost their lives, whether it was on the
job or you know, in a work zone accident or
(07:54):
you know, we had some building collapses in the last
over the last couple of years, so members who.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Have lost their life on the job, their families get funds.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Also at the Ohio Labour's District Council, we do our
own for anyone who may or may not.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Have been killed on the job.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
We give funds to those families.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
You know, we know it's not going to bring their
family men or back, but maybe it'll ease their mind
a little bit. Funerals cost a lot of money these days,
so we try and ease their mind.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
The other thing that we do is.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
We started back in twenty nineteen a charity golf outing,
a golf scramble that we hold at the deer Ridge
Golf golf Course in Belleville, Ohio. And what we do
there is we get back to a local charity also,
so we gave to.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
The Belleville neighborhood Community Center.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
This last year we were able to give that small
community center ten thousand dollars. So one of the things
that we're doing this year with our golf outing is
we're going to spread the wealth a little bit. So,
like I said, we have twenty three locals throughout the state,
and each local has an opportunity to give some money
to one of their local charities.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
So we also do a partner.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
With the Ohio Contractors Association and we give to the
Ronald McDonald Houseing Columbus also.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Well, those are wonderful charities and giving back like you do.
That's just wonderful to hear, Bethany before we let you go.
When it comes to Ohio, Lesson, is there anything that
you want to make sure that the people and the
state of Ohio need to know about the company and
what you do.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Really, the most important message, like I said earlier, is
we want to get our men and women home to
their families at the end of the day. So we're
really just trying to remind folks to pay attention, don't
drive distracted, put your phone down. You know, nothing is
that important that you might move a hair over and
you know, go into a work zone and hit someoney,
kill them. Think of the impact that will have on you,
(09:47):
on that person and their family. You know, it's a
ripple effect. It just doesn't impact the person that gets hit.
So we really just want people to pay attention. Take
the Distracted Driving and Safe Driving Pledge at www. Datohials
dot com and you know, to look out for one another.
So it's a wild world out there and if you
can just you know, take a moment to pay attention.
(10:09):
I think they say you shave three seconds off getting
into your destination by you know, going ten miles over
the speed limits.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
So is it really that we're someone's life three seconds?
Speaker 5 (10:18):
Couldn't agree more with you, Bethany. I think we're all
on the same page when it comes to that.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Listen.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
Thank you so much for your valuable time. Continue to access.
All the best to the team and also the men
and women that you work with in the state of Ohio.
We really appreciate you joining us today.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
Thank you, Dennis, I appreciate having me.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
You've been listening to iHeartMedia's national CEOs You Should Know
podcast to hear more interviews from this series, visit the
iHeartRadio app and search for CEOs you should know
iHeartMedia presents national CEOs you should know. Let's meet Bethany Billy,
Executive Director of Ohio LESSET So.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm born and bred Clevelander.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I lived there for thirty two years before I moved
to Columbus thirteen years ago for a job opportunity with
the Ohio Laborers. I started originally as the office manager
with the Laborers.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
I just sort of ran.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
The office every day, you know, phone calls, administrative things.
And then a few years in I became the chief
of staff at the District Council. The district Council oversees
the twenty three locals that we have throughout our state,
so if any of our locals have major problems, grievances,
or anything like that, they come to the district Council.
So I became the chief of staff of the council
(00:44):
and with administrative support to Ralph Cole, he's our business
manager and secretary treasurer. And then three years ago in
twenty nineteen, I became the LESSON director. Less It stands
for the Labor's Employers Cooperation and Education Trust. We are
sort of the labor management side of the Ohio Laborers.
We work in coordination with our signatory contractors on member safety,
(01:07):
industry promotion. We also work on project promotion and things
like that throughout the state. And I've been the lesson
director and the chief of staff still I've maintained both
my positions since twenty nineteen.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
Well, that's absolutely wonderful. And I know that you have
five people on your team, but you serve over twenty
five thousand men and women, and I imagine that is enormous.
And I can't imagine the schedule that everybody has and
how you make sure you communicate with everybody, take care
of everybody. What what's like in a week? There at
(01:39):
lesson for you and your team.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So I will say, because we do have twenty three
locals throughout the state that represent those men and women
on a direct level, our labors are members of these
each locals. For example, we have two locals in Cleveland,
Local eight sixteen and three ten.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Then we have smaller.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Locals like Local one thirty four Newcomers Town or eight
or nine in Stubenville. So we are throughout the entire
state and those members deal more directly with.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Their locals on a regular basis.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
We do try and do the whole picture so we
do a lot of national work zone safety promotion is
our big thing keeping our members safe.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
A lot of our members do that work out on
the highway.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
System that you see, so you know, they call it
the Ohio State Flower is the construction barrel and they
come out and a lot of our members are those
men and women out in those construction zones. And you know,
they go to work every day expecting to come home
to their family and friends. But unlike you and I,
they are out in a danger zone constantly with cars
(02:39):
flying by them. And you would be surprised on how
many work zone intrusions we have. So what we really
do at Ohio less it every day is we work
closely with our locals to set up national work zone
safety events. We will do public awareness events at rest stops.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
We do public awareness events.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
We partner with the Land Guardians and also with the
Columbus Blue Jackets and the Cincinnati Reds, and so we
do public awareness.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
We have signage we go into the stadiums and you know,
let people know, you know, drive.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Safe and work zones.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
We have a safety pledge that we ask people to
take at our website which is www dot Ohio lesset
dot com and that just sort of states you will,
you know, slow down in work zones, pay attention when
you're in a work zone because at the end of
the day, we all want to make it home.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
To our family and friends at.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
The end of the day, and unfortunately, our members have
a little bit more risk than the average folk.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Bethany, we ask all of our leaders when it comes
to the pandemic. We you know, we know it's affected
us personally greatly on so many different kind of levels.
But at the workplace, a lot of people have had
a pivot over the last two years, extraordinary and doing
some things where they never thought they were capable of
doing or they had the capabilities to do it with
their team and all the people that you serve out there.
(03:56):
So what was it like two years ago and how
did how did you and your team pivot?
Speaker 3 (03:59):
I will tell you you Ohio labors were recognized as
essential workers, so they worked through the entire pandemic. But
like you said, our works on safety events we had
to go virtual. We did a lot of Facebook live events.
We partner with the Ohio Department of Transportation and the
Ohio State Troopers and our locals to do virtual events.
We also try to get you know, members on who
(04:21):
have had you know, work zone intrusions, but have you know,
stayed safe. And unfortunately, surprisingly the pandemic was when we
had our highest death.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Rate based on work zone intrusions.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
We lost five members during a pandemic when traffic was
necessarily down.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
If people were just you know, on their phones getting
updates or what not paying attention, but you know, unfortunately
we tragically did lose members. But we did go virtual
on a lot of our events trying to keep people
posted and to recognize National work Zone Safety Awareness Week
and do some press events and things like that.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
So you mess mentioned Bethany some of the challenges, But
what pauseives came out of this after we all went
through this, and especially with everybody on the team being
their essential workers, Well, what came out of this that
was more positive than anything? For you?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I would say that, you know, we sort of really
had an opportunity to hone our message. We had an
opportunity to really sort of figure out what we can do.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
We don't only have to do in person things.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
We can do you know, virtual things that will possibly
reach many more people. Because it's online. You know, you
sort of didn't think about that. You think that face
to face is the more personal way to connect with people.
But we found that we really connected with quite a
few people via Facebook and also our web page where
people went and took the pledge based on, you know,
(05:44):
some of the information. We do television commercials, we do
radio spots through the Indians and Reds, and we always
tell people, you know, go to www. Dot Ohio, Lesa
dot com and take that you know, safe Driving pledge.
And we've had a lot of good things come out
of that. We've had to, like you said, pivot and
figure out how to not do those face a face,
(06:04):
but do those reach people on a more widely spread basis.
Speaker 5 (06:08):
Bethany, I know you have a couple of ten pole
events that are coming up very soon that you want
to talk about. So let's everybody know about those.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Sure, we want to.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Really highlight National Safety Awareness Week and that is April
eleventh through the fifteenth. We want to remind everybody to
wear orange, Go orange on April thirteenth, Wednesday. That just
sort of reminds people to pay attention when they're in
work zones and think about the construction workers when they're
out and the bout, so wearing orange represents the safety.
(06:36):
And we also want to talk about our partnership with
Panera Bread and the Build Ohio Right, Build a Union
campaign where we're recognizing Members of the Week members throughout
the state of Ohio who are building Ohio and building
at Union. So we're recognizing people members from each of
our locals throughout the state.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Well, that's outstanding.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Now.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
I know that orange isn't the only sports color in
the data of Ohio, but I have a feeling that
some people might be able to easily hop on board
on that one.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I think so. I think a lot of Ohioan's.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
You know, whether you're from Cleveland or even from Cincinnati,
you'll have something orange in your closet.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
Absolutely gold. Yeah, I couldn't agree more with you. Hey, listen,
but I know how busy you and your team are
and all the people that you work with in the
twenty five thousand people that you service. But when it
comes to anything that is philanthropic or any charity causes
that you or your team like to work on. What's
the latest, what's happening, what's turning everybody on there to.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Work with Sure, so we do several things with charities.
Laborer's Care is our big international charity, and what that does,
it's a foundation that gives monetary funds to those members'
families who lost their lives, whether it was on the
job or you know, in a work zone accident or
(07:54):
you know, we had some building collapses in the last
over the last couple of years, so members who.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Have lost their life on the job, their families get funds.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Also at the Ohio Labour's District Council, we do our
own for anyone who may or may not.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Have been killed on the job.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
We give funds to those families.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
You know, we know it's not going to bring their
family men or back, but maybe it'll ease their mind
a little bit. Funerals cost a lot of money these days,
so we try and ease their mind.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
The other thing that we do is.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
We started back in twenty nineteen a charity golf outing,
a golf scramble that we hold at the deer Ridge
Golf golf Course in Belleville, Ohio. And what we do
there is we get back to a local charity also,
so we gave to.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
The Belleville neighborhood Community Center.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
This last year we were able to give that small
community center ten thousand dollars. So one of the things
that we're doing this year with our golf outing is
we're going to spread the wealth a little bit. So,
like I said, we have twenty three locals throughout the state,
and each local has an opportunity to give some money
to one of their local charities.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
So we also do a partner.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
With the Ohio Contractors Association and we give to the
Ronald McDonald Houseing Columbus also.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Well, those are wonderful charities and giving back like you do.
That's just wonderful to hear, Bethany before we let you go.
When it comes to Ohio, Lesson, is there anything that
you want to make sure that the people and the
state of Ohio need to know about the company and
what you do.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Really, the most important message, like I said earlier, is
we want to get our men and women home to
their families at the end of the day. So we're
really just trying to remind folks to pay attention, don't
drive distracted, put your phone down. You know, nothing is
that important that you might move a hair over and
you know, go into a work zone and hit someoney,
kill them. Think of the impact that will have on you,
(09:47):
on that person and their family. You know, it's a
ripple effect. It just doesn't impact the person that gets hit.
So we really just want people to pay attention. Take
the Distracted Driving and Safe Driving Pledge at www. Datohials
dot com and you know, to look out for one another.
So it's a wild world out there and if you
can just you know, take a moment to pay attention.
(10:09):
I think they say you shave three seconds off getting
into your destination by you know, going ten miles over
the speed limits.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
So is it really that we're someone's life three seconds?
Speaker 5 (10:18):
Couldn't agree more with you, Bethany. I think we're all
on the same page when it comes to that.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Listen.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
Thank you so much for your valuable time. Continue to access.
All the best to the team and also the men
and women that you work with in the state of Ohio.
We really appreciate you joining us today.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
Thank you, Dennis, I appreciate having me.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
You've been listening to iHeartMedia's national CEOs You Should Know
podcast to hear more interviews from this series, visit the
iHeartRadio app and search for CEOs you should know
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