Our Evolving Industry

Aaron Hilger

Believe it or not, we are already preparing for the SMACNA Annual Convention in Palm Desert, California. The calendar may still read summer, but before you know it, October will be here, and our membership will descend on the JW Marriott. While convention prep continues to happen behind the scenes, many other things are still going for SMACNA. 

The Convention is the featured event on the SMACNA calendar and is a tremendous opportunity to network with members. Please take advantage of the educational sessions offered during the Convention. Our team is working on cutting-edge programming to address the many facets of running your business and how you can prepare for some of the changes facing us as an industry. As we start rolling out our educational offerings, I hope that you find something that will enable you to sharpen your professional toolbox.

I may sound like a broken record, but I need to praise Stan Kolbe and Jason Watson for the work of both our Legislative and Political Affairs and Labor Relations teams. Recently, President Biden signed an executive order that mandated the use of project labor agreements on specific federal construction projects. This is a win on a lot of fronts. PLAs are tools that help everyone involved in a project understand their roles and obligations. As PLAs are increasingly utilized for public sector projects, the biggest winner could be the American taxpayer, as PLAs promote the completion of projects on time and within budget. Stan and Jason are working with our allies on the Hill to blunt any efforts to roll back the President's Executive Order and remove this helpful tool. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue; it is about ensuring that these increasingly important projects are fully staffed with the best workforce imaginable while delivering maximum value to all stakeholders. I want to be clear: Non-union contractors can still compete for these contracts. However, when project owners fully understand the quality that signatory contractors bring, our members' work will speak for itself. 

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by our team at SMACNews for this issue. Please take a moment to read through this piece. As I was prepping for this interview, I had the opportunity to reflect on how the association has changed since I first became involved with SMACNA and how our entire industry has evolved over the years. The workplace is different from when I started as a roofer. The time has come for us to build a workplace where every member is valued for their talents on the floor and/or job site. Our shared goal must be building a workplace where everyone is invested in their teams. Mentorship must focus on developing tomorrow's workers. This is the approach on which we should focus our energy moving forward. I'm proud of SMACNA-member contractors' work so far in building better workplaces. A lot of work is still to be done, but we have made incredible progress on so many fronts.  

Aaron Hilger is CEO of SMACNA, bringing more than two decades of executive association leadership to this role. Hilger is focused on building a stronger, more competitive environment for all SMACNA contractors.