October 15, 2024 • 16 mins
Tom Gilbane, Jr., joins host Scott Winstead to discuss the origin and evolution of Construction Inclusion Week.
Construction Inclusion Week unites the built environment to create a more welcoming and inclusive industry. Tom talks about how companies can get involved to solve problems, attract and retain talent, and innovate with more people.
Don’t miss this special episode of the FMI Built-In podcast.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, I'm Scott Winstead after my consulting president.
(00:07):
I'm really excited to share my conversation with Tom Gilbane Jr. with you.
While he doesn't really need an introduction after such a storied career, Tom is chairman
and CEO of Gilbane Inc.
Number 11 on ENR's top 400 contractor list at nearly $7.2 billion in 2023 revenue.
Tom joined the family business in 1970 after having spent six summers in various training
(00:27):
assignments.
He is a member of the National Academy of Construction and also the recipient of its
highest honor, the Ted C. Kennedy Award, which recognizes commitment to people, safety, integrity
and ethics, innovation and a lifetime of achievement, including industry leadership
and community support.
He served for six years as chairman of the ACE mentor program of America and continues
(00:49):
to serve on its executive committee.
He is also a member of the construction industry roundtable and previously served as its chairman.
He was honored by Roger Williams University with an honorary doctor of humane letters
degree and by the National Safety Council as one of their CEOs who quote, get it, which
is an annual recognition of leaders who demonstrate a personal commitment to world class safety.
(01:12):
He is a trustee emeritus of Babson College and a member of the Board of Advisors for
its Institute for Family Entrepreneurship.
He has also served as a member of the Brown University Engineering Advisory Committee
and as a member of the Associated General Contractors of America National and Regional
Contractors Committee.
Good morning, Tom.
Thanks for being here and welcome to the show.
(01:33):
As you know, this is our special construction inclusion week episode and I've had the privilege
of hearing you share the origin story of how construction inclusion week came to be and
I thought it would be a perfect way to kick off the week.
Before I jump into construction inclusion week, I think our industry is unique in the
fact that we come together as competitors to solve industry problems.
(01:55):
A big part of that has come through the construction industry roundtable.
There are 120 or 30 members that get together to talk about industry issues.
So as a group, we've realized that the most critical problem is workforce and how do we
attract and retain the workforce we need and the initial focus was safety.
(02:21):
About 14 companies have worked together.
They brought that forward to the construction industry roundtable and out of that focus
safety week came about over 10 years ago and there are thousands of companies that now
participate.
It was fun, it was rewarding, the whole week long of activities came out of that.
(02:44):
So let's jump on to inclusion week.
When George Floyd was tragically murdered, Gilbain helped a stand down.
All offices shut down at noon every job to talk about diversity and inclusion.
And out of that internally, we said we've got to make a difference as Gilbain, but how
(03:09):
do we do that and really move the needle?
And I call Peter Davon of Turner.
We talk with Dan Johnson or Mortensen.
We met regularly to discuss what we could do as it related to diversity and inclusion.
We quickly added DPR, McCarthy, and Clark.
(03:32):
And out of that effort, we decided that we should have an inclusion and diversity week.
And we're now over four years having done that.
We've got thousands of firms that have participated.
Initially, I called it, in my own mind, diversity and inclusion.
(03:53):
I've come to realize inclusion is maybe more important than diversity.
You can be diverse.
You can have diverse employees.
But if they don't feel inclusive, you're not going to keep them and retain them.
So clearly out of that group's effort, there's an agenda, a program set up for the whole
(04:15):
week.
The leadership of that week rotates between different firms.
It's been a great success and it's helped us attract, but even more important, keep
diverse people within the management ranks, within the trade ranks.
And I think all that participate really feel they're making a difference in our industry.
(04:40):
But in the communities, we live in and work in giving people opportunity.
You know, I had the privilege of interviewing Mary Tiker on this podcast not that long ago,
who if you know Mary, I mean, she is a phenomenal leader and a great speaker and very focused
on women and construction operations roles.
And one of the things that she said to me always stuck, which was, you know, there's
(05:04):
a difference when you say welcome, make yourself at home versus welcome, this is your home.
And it's a play on words, but they're very different meaning in terms of what they come
up in it.
When I hear you talk about diversity versus inclusion and what's really important, you
know, there's a similarity there to what Mary was saying.
I would just agree with you 100% one of the things that I love so much about the industry
(05:28):
is just the fact that it does very much come together.
You have fierce competitors that will absolutely go elbow to elbow shoulder to shoulder to
work on and solve industry challenges together.
Just to continue on the inclusion week theme, your take on how it's evolved since the early
days.
It's very different, the week itself has several thousand companies signed up each day has a
(05:55):
different focus each year is different leadership involved.
You know, we've seen much more, many more companies, both big and small, and people
not directly in construction.
And I include architects and engineers in this because they have the same challenges,
but suppliers and other vendors.
(06:16):
So the focus has grown dramatically.
And we've seen differences in the approaches of our clients as they look at diversity and
inclusion, but particularly inclusion.
So it's spread well beyond the industry itself.
My sense is our industry is a leader in this effort, but we've had our insurance companies
(06:40):
get involved, our accountants get involved.
They're part of the industry, they want to support the industry, they want the industry
to be better.
And if we're ever going to finish projects, we need to get more people, we need to be
more innovative.
How can leaders and companies get involved in or contribute to inclusion week at this
(07:00):
point?
Well, there's inclusion week.com.
They can get on the internet and get to that.
They can reach out to any of the leaders.
Adam Jellin from Gilbain, Dan Johnson of Mortensen.
And I know we're going to talk about ACE a little bit later, but similar with ACE, it's
not just Gilbain, it's a whole industry group.
(07:23):
And we're very fortunate to have solid participation and support outside consultants that help with
the marketing and programming.
Now, that's a great segue, Tom, and I appreciate you bringing up ACE.
While still on the topic of inclusion, I think we'd be remiss if we didn't take the opportunity
to talk about the ACE Mentor Program of America.
(07:43):
And I'm curious, as the former board chair, could you share ACE's stated purpose and mission?
Sure.
The program is designed to engage, excite high school students, introduce them to careers
in the industry, architecture, engineering, construction.
And it's not just building buildings or designing buildings, our industry has marketing, it
(08:08):
has accounting, it has finance, it has, there's so many aspects to the industry.
The great thing of the program is high school kids get to work with mentors in the industry.
So they get exposed to what's going on in architect, engineer, on construction job sites.
(08:31):
I think a very positive thing is people quickly learn, young people learn, whether they want
to get in this industry or not.
Not all of the ACE students finished the program.
70% finished.
The other 30% did they not feel comfortable in the industry?
Was it getting to the programs?
Was it sports?
(08:52):
Was it a girlfriend with the studies?
But how valuable is it to look at an industry, a very broad industry?
It's not just physically building buildings, it's designing those buildings, it's doing
the buildings, giving the kids the opportunity to see an industry and learn before they go
(09:12):
on to college or go into the trades.
Maybe I don't like this industry, but apparently 70% like it enough to go through the after
school programs.
And those students end up being successful in high school and about 1500 kids come into
the industry on a yearly basis.
(09:33):
The other thing with ACE, it is a very diverse group.
Over 70% are women and minorities, a group the industry needs to attract.
So kids get to learn about a business, about an industry.
They get to see whether they like it or not.
They get to expand their network of people that they meet who are in the industry, but
(09:58):
mentors who want to help them along with their careers.
And for the mentors, it's a great experience.
Not only for our youth that want to make a difference, maybe even a little bit more than
my generation wanted to make a difference, but they have fun giving back.
They learn to teach classes.
(10:20):
They learn to mentor.
They expand their network of people.
And I would say for the couple hours of work that they miss, we get no less production
from those mentors.
In fact, we probably even get more because they appreciate the industry more.
They have fun talking about the industry.
(10:42):
And they know they're making a difference in the future of our industry.
It's a great organization and one we're certainly excited to support at FMI.
To continue on time, what you just talked about, how is it that companies or individual
leaders can reach out and get plugged in and become a mentor?
Well, there are 70-some affiliates.
(11:03):
Affiliates are local branches of the ACE mentor program.
They have their own board of directors, their own schools that they network with.
So go to the ACE website and see where are the local affiliates.
Are they near you?
No reason you can't mentor whether your company is involved or not.
(11:24):
You need to talk with the leadership of the company and say you'd like to be a mentor.
Hopefully, more companies participate locally.
This past year, we had over 12,000 students that started the ACE mentor program.
They range from smaller cities to a New York city that had well over 200 students.
(11:47):
In fact, as a company, we'll have over 150 mentors this year.
Friends at Turner have over 200 mentors this year.
Many of our mentors are newer graduates.
We've got a couple of mentors that are not quite my age, but let's say they're mature.
(12:10):
They've been around in the industry and they have fun sharing stories and helping encourage
kids and encourage parents of those children.
That this is a safe industry.
It is a diverse industry.
You're going to feel included with your work.
The work you do, whether you're in the office or in the field, you're part of building projects,
(12:37):
whether it's schools, whether it's hospitals, whether it's churches, whether it's sports
facilities, those are things you're going to be able to look at and drive by and say,
my company was part of that.
I was part of that because I did the accounting on that or I helped on the insurance on that
or I was in the field on that project.
(12:58):
Well, Tom, we didn't have the opportunity to dive into the business itself or your remarkable
career this time.
I'd love to close with a question that I often ask our guests, which is, knowing what you
know now, what would you go back and tell your 30-year-old self when you were just starting
out in the business and in the industry?
What would I do?
What would I tell people?
(13:18):
Get to the field.
See what construction is like if you want to be an accountant, if you want to be an estimator
in the office, if you want to be in finance, still understanding how the industry works,
the challenge of having 15 different, 20 different trades or subcontractors and bringing
(13:42):
together the challenge where something is amiss every day on the job site and how you
have to coordinate and work and build a team.
It's a very unique industry.
We don't have a plant and a production line that flows through every day.
You can build 20K to 12 schools and they're all different.
(14:04):
They have different materials.
The weather is different.
The availability of trades.
The supply chain today.
If you don't like challenges, if you don't change every day, then this isn't an industry
to work for.
But if you do like coming together and building a team and working when things get challenging,
(14:27):
this is the industry to be in.
A lot of good people, a lot of people care about making a difference.
The tradespeople have tremendous knowledge and insights.
One of the things that ACE is doing is trying to encourage kids not only to go to community
college or college, but to go into the trades.
(14:49):
When I started, all of our project managers came from the trades.
There wasn't construction management programs.
There wasn't the interest in hiring engineers and architects to be construction tradespeople
or project managers.
The opportunities are fascinating when you can be in charge of a project at a fairly
(15:12):
young age and run that project.
When I think of one of our young ACE graduates in Cleveland who came to us as an intern,
now he's a mentor.
He's on the board of the ACE Cleveland Affiliate and he's on a very challenging project as
(15:33):
the project engineer at the Cleveland Clinic.
Project is focused on innovation.
What are the new discoveries?
To be able to think that at a young age, he is making a big difference in the future
of healthcare.
It's got to be very exciting and rewarding.
(15:54):
It's a fascinating industry.
Well, it's a great answer, Tom.
I think probably a great place to close.
I couldn't agree with you more in terms of the opportunities that this industry presents
to young people that want to, as you said, get into something very unique, very challenging,
really test the problem-solving skills in the best way.
Tom, again, thank you so much for taking the opportunity to do this.
(16:17):
If I haven't worn out my welcome, I'd love to have you back sometime to talk about the
business itself or leadership or strategy or the markets, but this was a great conversation
and I really appreciate it.
Scott, I can't thank from Gilbain's perspective and I'm sure the industry perspective how
much your organization does FMI for our industry.
(16:39):
Always happy to share any thoughts with you or the great staff that FMI has.
As always, thank you so much for listening and please remember to like or subscribe to
the podcast so you don't miss an episode.
Hello, I'm Scott Winstead after my consulting president.
(00:07):
I'm really excited to share my conversation with Tom Gilbane Jr. with you.
While he doesn't really need an introduction after such a storied career, Tom is chairman
and CEO of Gilbane Inc.
Number 11 on ENR's top 400 contractor list at nearly $7.2 billion in 2023 revenue.
Tom joined the family business in 1970 after having spent six summers in various training
(00:27):
assignments.
He is a member of the National Academy of Construction and also the recipient of its
highest honor, the Ted C. Kennedy Award, which recognizes commitment to people, safety, integrity
and ethics, innovation and a lifetime of achievement, including industry leadership
and community support.
He served for six years as chairman of the ACE mentor program of America and continues
(00:49):
to serve on its executive committee.
He is also a member of the construction industry roundtable and previously served as its chairman.
He was honored by Roger Williams University with an honorary doctor of humane letters
degree and by the National Safety Council as one of their CEOs who quote, get it, which
is an annual recognition of leaders who demonstrate a personal commitment to world class safety.
(01:12):
He is a trustee emeritus of Babson College and a member of the Board of Advisors for
its Institute for Family Entrepreneurship.
He has also served as a member of the Brown University Engineering Advisory Committee
and as a member of the Associated General Contractors of America National and Regional
Contractors Committee.
Good morning, Tom.
Thanks for being here and welcome to the show.
(01:33):
As you know, this is our special construction inclusion week episode and I've had the privilege
of hearing you share the origin story of how construction inclusion week came to be and
I thought it would be a perfect way to kick off the week.
Before I jump into construction inclusion week, I think our industry is unique in the
fact that we come together as competitors to solve industry problems.
(01:55):
A big part of that has come through the construction industry roundtable.
There are 120 or 30 members that get together to talk about industry issues.
So as a group, we've realized that the most critical problem is workforce and how do we
attract and retain the workforce we need and the initial focus was safety.
(02:21):
About 14 companies have worked together.
They brought that forward to the construction industry roundtable and out of that focus
safety week came about over 10 years ago and there are thousands of companies that now
participate.
It was fun, it was rewarding, the whole week long of activities came out of that.
(02:44):
So let's jump on to inclusion week.
When George Floyd was tragically murdered, Gilbain helped a stand down.
All offices shut down at noon every job to talk about diversity and inclusion.
And out of that internally, we said we've got to make a difference as Gilbain, but how
(03:09):
do we do that and really move the needle?
And I call Peter Davon of Turner.
We talk with Dan Johnson or Mortensen.
We met regularly to discuss what we could do as it related to diversity and inclusion.
We quickly added DPR, McCarthy, and Clark.
(03:32):
And out of that effort, we decided that we should have an inclusion and diversity week.
And we're now over four years having done that.
We've got thousands of firms that have participated.
Initially, I called it, in my own mind, diversity and inclusion.
(03:53):
I've come to realize inclusion is maybe more important than diversity.
You can be diverse.
You can have diverse employees.
But if they don't feel inclusive, you're not going to keep them and retain them.
So clearly out of that group's effort, there's an agenda, a program set up for the whole
(04:15):
week.
The leadership of that week rotates between different firms.
It's been a great success and it's helped us attract, but even more important, keep
diverse people within the management ranks, within the trade ranks.
And I think all that participate really feel they're making a difference in our industry.
(04:40):
But in the communities, we live in and work in giving people opportunity.
You know, I had the privilege of interviewing Mary Tiker on this podcast not that long ago,
who if you know Mary, I mean, she is a phenomenal leader and a great speaker and very focused
on women and construction operations roles.
And one of the things that she said to me always stuck, which was, you know, there's
(05:04):
a difference when you say welcome, make yourself at home versus welcome, this is your home.
And it's a play on words, but they're very different meaning in terms of what they come
up in it.
When I hear you talk about diversity versus inclusion and what's really important, you
know, there's a similarity there to what Mary was saying.
I would just agree with you 100% one of the things that I love so much about the industry
(05:28):
is just the fact that it does very much come together.
You have fierce competitors that will absolutely go elbow to elbow shoulder to shoulder to
work on and solve industry challenges together.
Just to continue on the inclusion week theme, your take on how it's evolved since the early
days.
It's very different, the week itself has several thousand companies signed up each day has a
(05:55):
different focus each year is different leadership involved.
You know, we've seen much more, many more companies, both big and small, and people
not directly in construction.
And I include architects and engineers in this because they have the same challenges,
but suppliers and other vendors.
(06:16):
So the focus has grown dramatically.
And we've seen differences in the approaches of our clients as they look at diversity and
inclusion, but particularly inclusion.
So it's spread well beyond the industry itself.
My sense is our industry is a leader in this effort, but we've had our insurance companies
(06:40):
get involved, our accountants get involved.
They're part of the industry, they want to support the industry, they want the industry
to be better.
And if we're ever going to finish projects, we need to get more people, we need to be
more innovative.
How can leaders and companies get involved in or contribute to inclusion week at this
(07:00):
point?
Well, there's inclusion week.com.
They can get on the internet and get to that.
They can reach out to any of the leaders.
Adam Jellin from Gilbain, Dan Johnson of Mortensen.
And I know we're going to talk about ACE a little bit later, but similar with ACE, it's
not just Gilbain, it's a whole industry group.
(07:23):
And we're very fortunate to have solid participation and support outside consultants that help with
the marketing and programming.
Now, that's a great segue, Tom, and I appreciate you bringing up ACE.
While still on the topic of inclusion, I think we'd be remiss if we didn't take the opportunity
to talk about the ACE Mentor Program of America.
(07:43):
And I'm curious, as the former board chair, could you share ACE's stated purpose and mission?
Sure.
The program is designed to engage, excite high school students, introduce them to careers
in the industry, architecture, engineering, construction.
And it's not just building buildings or designing buildings, our industry has marketing, it
(08:08):
has accounting, it has finance, it has, there's so many aspects to the industry.
The great thing of the program is high school kids get to work with mentors in the industry.
So they get exposed to what's going on in architect, engineer, on construction job sites.
(08:31):
I think a very positive thing is people quickly learn, young people learn, whether they want
to get in this industry or not.
Not all of the ACE students finished the program.
70% finished.
The other 30% did they not feel comfortable in the industry?
Was it getting to the programs?
Was it sports?
(08:52):
Was it a girlfriend with the studies?
But how valuable is it to look at an industry, a very broad industry?
It's not just physically building buildings, it's designing those buildings, it's doing
the buildings, giving the kids the opportunity to see an industry and learn before they go
(09:12):
on to college or go into the trades.
Maybe I don't like this industry, but apparently 70% like it enough to go through the after
school programs.
And those students end up being successful in high school and about 1500 kids come into
the industry on a yearly basis.
(09:33):
The other thing with ACE, it is a very diverse group.
Over 70% are women and minorities, a group the industry needs to attract.
So kids get to learn about a business, about an industry.
They get to see whether they like it or not.
They get to expand their network of people that they meet who are in the industry, but
(09:58):
mentors who want to help them along with their careers.
And for the mentors, it's a great experience.
Not only for our youth that want to make a difference, maybe even a little bit more than
my generation wanted to make a difference, but they have fun giving back.
They learn to teach classes.
(10:20):
They learn to mentor.
They expand their network of people.
And I would say for the couple hours of work that they miss, we get no less production
from those mentors.
In fact, we probably even get more because they appreciate the industry more.
They have fun talking about the industry.
(10:42):
And they know they're making a difference in the future of our industry.
It's a great organization and one we're certainly excited to support at FMI.
To continue on time, what you just talked about, how is it that companies or individual
leaders can reach out and get plugged in and become a mentor?
Well, there are 70-some affiliates.
(11:03):
Affiliates are local branches of the ACE mentor program.
They have their own board of directors, their own schools that they network with.
So go to the ACE website and see where are the local affiliates.
Are they near you?
No reason you can't mentor whether your company is involved or not.
(11:24):
You need to talk with the leadership of the company and say you'd like to be a mentor.
Hopefully, more companies participate locally.
This past year, we had over 12,000 students that started the ACE mentor program.
They range from smaller cities to a New York city that had well over 200 students.
(11:47):
In fact, as a company, we'll have over 150 mentors this year.
Friends at Turner have over 200 mentors this year.
Many of our mentors are newer graduates.
We've got a couple of mentors that are not quite my age, but let's say they're mature.
(12:10):
They've been around in the industry and they have fun sharing stories and helping encourage
kids and encourage parents of those children.
That this is a safe industry.
It is a diverse industry.
You're going to feel included with your work.
The work you do, whether you're in the office or in the field, you're part of building projects,
(12:37):
whether it's schools, whether it's hospitals, whether it's churches, whether it's sports
facilities, those are things you're going to be able to look at and drive by and say,
my company was part of that.
I was part of that because I did the accounting on that or I helped on the insurance on that
or I was in the field on that project.
(12:58):
Well, Tom, we didn't have the opportunity to dive into the business itself or your remarkable
career this time.
I'd love to close with a question that I often ask our guests, which is, knowing what you
know now, what would you go back and tell your 30-year-old self when you were just starting
out in the business and in the industry?
What would I do?
What would I tell people?
(13:18):
Get to the field.
See what construction is like if you want to be an accountant, if you want to be an estimator
in the office, if you want to be in finance, still understanding how the industry works,
the challenge of having 15 different, 20 different trades or subcontractors and bringing
(13:42):
together the challenge where something is amiss every day on the job site and how you
have to coordinate and work and build a team.
It's a very unique industry.
We don't have a plant and a production line that flows through every day.
You can build 20K to 12 schools and they're all different.
(14:04):
They have different materials.
The weather is different.
The availability of trades.
The supply chain today.
If you don't like challenges, if you don't change every day, then this isn't an industry
to work for.
But if you do like coming together and building a team and working when things get challenging,
(14:27):
this is the industry to be in.
A lot of good people, a lot of people care about making a difference.
The tradespeople have tremendous knowledge and insights.
One of the things that ACE is doing is trying to encourage kids not only to go to community
college or college, but to go into the trades.
(14:49):
When I started, all of our project managers came from the trades.
There wasn't construction management programs.
There wasn't the interest in hiring engineers and architects to be construction tradespeople
or project managers.
The opportunities are fascinating when you can be in charge of a project at a fairly
(15:12):
young age and run that project.
When I think of one of our young ACE graduates in Cleveland who came to us as an intern,
now he's a mentor.
He's on the board of the ACE Cleveland Affiliate and he's on a very challenging project as
(15:33):
the project engineer at the Cleveland Clinic.
Project is focused on innovation.
What are the new discoveries?
To be able to think that at a young age, he is making a big difference in the future
of healthcare.
It's got to be very exciting and rewarding.
(15:54):
It's a fascinating industry.
Well, it's a great answer, Tom.
I think probably a great place to close.
I couldn't agree with you more in terms of the opportunities that this industry presents
to young people that want to, as you said, get into something very unique, very challenging,
really test the problem-solving skills in the best way.
Tom, again, thank you so much for taking the opportunity to do this.
(16:17):
If I haven't worn out my welcome, I'd love to have you back sometime to talk about the
business itself or leadership or strategy or the markets, but this was a great conversation
and I really appreciate it.
Scott, I can't thank from Gilbain's perspective and I'm sure the industry perspective how
much your organization does FMI for our industry.
(16:39):
Always happy to share any thoughts with you or the great staff that FMI has.
As always, thank you so much for listening and please remember to like or subscribe to
the podcast so you don't miss an episode.
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