This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Kelly Tourdot, incoming president of Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin.
ABC of Wisconsin last month announced Tourdot would take over as the group’s leader Sept. 20 after working there for nearly three decades. The statewide trade association is focused on the commercial and industrial market in Wisconsin, with more than 1,000 member businesses.
“Our organization serves any need that they have,” she said. “We have a large apprenticeship program that obviously serves their workforce development needs, but there’s a variety of other services that we provide to our members during the course of a day in the life of our contractors.”
Tourdot discusses her goals for growing a safety program that visits construction sites in Wisconsin, as well as continuing to develop the group’s apprenticeship program and support participants.
“We have high standards for all of our 12 trades,” she said. “We want to produce the best craftsperson out of our apprenticeship program, and so we need to kind of shore up and make sure we focus on the apprentices.”
Her previous roles with the organization include apprenticeship director and vice-president and executive director of the ABC Apprenticeship and Training Trust. She says seeing apprentices succeed is one of her “career joys,” emphasizing the role of family-owned businesses in helping graduates advance their careers.
“Many times, those apprentices go on to be the company owners,” Tourdot said.
As one example, she pointed to board chair Jess Cannizzaro, a former plumbing apprentice who now runs Milestone Plumbing in Milwaukee.
The interview also highlights some of ABC of Wisconsin’s top policy priorities ahead of the next Legislative session.
“It’s really going to be removing those regulations that are impeding their ability to actually win the project … We’re against anything that would not allow our contractors to actually bid on a project,” she said. “So we’re happy within a level playing field, we’re willing to compete for work.”
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
