BC&E and Foundation Welcomes 2020 Board
The BC&E and BC&E Foundation are pleased to announce the new leadership for this coming year. The 2020 BC&E Executive Committee includes President Wayne Matheu, Matheu & Associates; President-Elect Amy Mercurio, Johns Hopkins University Facilities & Real Estate; Vice President Michael Martin, Live Green Landscape Associates; Treasurer: Ted Bowes, Excell Concrete Construction and Secretary Rick Scheetz, Gray & Son/Maryland Paving Management, Inc.
The new 2020 directors, who have joined for a three-year term, are John Gregg, GWWO Architects; Thomas Koch, Plano-Coudon Construction; Joseph Rode, The Mullan Contracting Company and Craig Smith, Wohlsen Construction Company. The new directors join board members Marianne Crampton, MK Consulting Engineers, LLC; Jonathan Goetz, Oak Contracting; Jeff Hossfeld, The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company; Tom Iacoboni, Iacoboni Site Specialists, Inc.; Trey Kistler, G.E. Tignall & Company, Inc.; Fred Marino, Design Collective, Inc. and Brian Young, Martin Marietta.
Retiring BC&E board members were Marty Copsey of MacKenzie Contracting Co. as President and Directors Joe Bailey of Lewis Contractors and Dave Brodie of Wohlsen Construction.
In addition, the BC&E Board approved three new board members to the Building Congress & Exchange Foundation (BC&EF), Curtis Dalsimer, Wohlsen Construction; Michael Martin, Live Green Landscape Associates and Laura Penza, Penza Bailey Architects. The BC&E Board also approved John Lawrence of The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company as President. They all join directors Taylor Classen, DACG Commercial; JeanMarie Lewis, Harford Community College; Wayne Matheu, Matheu & Associates; Doug McGinnis, Bunting Door and Hardware Co., Inc.; Amy Mercurio, Johns Hopkins University Facilities & Real Estate; Ricky Venters, Johns Hopkins University Technology Ventures and Ryan Walsh, Walls & Ceilings, Inc.
Copsey also retired as a director of BC&EF.
BC&E Foundation awards grants to construction education programs
The BC&E Foundation recently awarded $8,000 in grants to three area non-profits. The BC&EF Board approved $2,500 each to the ACE Mentor Program of Baltimore, Inc. and the ACE Mentor Program of Annapolis, Inc. It awarded $3,000 to the Safe Alternative Foundation for Education, Inc. (SAFE).
ACE Mentor Programs, which are part of a national 501(c)3, are dedicated to mentoring high school students in the fields of architecture, construction and engineering. They partner with local companies, including many BC&E members, to provide weekly, hands-on sessions and project-based learning opportunities to students. During their 15-week program last year, ACE Baltimore students, for example, created a redevelopment plan for phase two of the Baltimore Food Hub. In 2020, they will create a master plan and design for the new University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Both ACE chapters award scholarships to students going to college or trades school. ACE Baltimore has awarded over $180,000 in scholarships since the chapter’s inception 15 years ago. ACE Annapolis awards over $20,000 in scholarships annually. Some scholarship winners have returned to the region after graduation to work in the construction industry and even mentor ACE students.
Baltimore-based SAFE has partnered with BC&EF in recent years to offer Constructing Futures, an introductory educational program about construction careers for middle school students. SAFE recently acquired three buildings in West Baltimore and is currently renovating them to create the SAFE Work Force Development Center. In partnership with local employers, the center will provide training in carpentry and other construction skills. High school students and young adults participating in the program will also get hands-on construction experience. They will work on refurbishing houses in the community to create a pipeline of affordable housing. The center, which is expected to open by early 2021, will also provide an educational program that helps middle schoolers apply the mathematics they are learning in school to wood working and begin to learn construction skills.