Welcome to ABC Delaware 

        ABC 2012 Board sworn-in at January dinner 

The 2012 ABC Delaware members were sworn-in during the January dinner meeting at the Christiana Hilton. Taking over as chairman, John Gooden of M. Davis. During his speech, Gooden outlined his agenda for the year, and encouraged all members to become more involved in their trade organization. 

 
ABC National Region 5 Vice Chair Pamela Volm (left)
presides over the Oath of Office during
the Board Induction ceremony January 12.

"It has been a tough time to be in construction for a long time. The economy is ugly, capital budgets are shrinking and the regulatory environment is brutal," said Gooden. "It’s been hard out there for so long that some people have given up. We are not giving up. ABC needs to lead the charge in getting its members back to work.  Our members need to be working, growing and building a backlog."

During his speech, Gooden shared how is involvement in ABC came to be and what it means to be an active member of ABC Delaware.

ABC Delaware 2012 Chairman John Gooden

“For a long time, I was just a body that could go to ABC meetings when needed. My real involvement with ABC started through the vo-tech schools,” said Gooden. “M Davis has been a big supporter of our local vo-techs for many years and I got active in working with some of their programs in the mid 90’s. My involvement in the vo-tech schools led to me joining the Careers in Construction committee at ABC. I’m still active to this day with the schools and it is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. Our workforce is made up of numerous success stories from the vo-tech system."

Goodens goals for 2012 include business development by targeting users so ABC members get the first call about upcoming jobs; helping students and their parents realize that work in the construction industry is viable and you can have a construction career; becoming politically active during this extremely important election year; and retaining current members and recruiting new members to keep the organization strong and lively.

“Last year, we had the best attended Legislative Reception in our history and we had a record number of legislators at our awards dinner in November,” said Gooden. “We are going to build on this momentum by getting our members to be at their legislator’s events, meetings and active with their campaigns. The people who are running for office need to know who we are and that we are there to support them. Our legislators will know that we are ABC and that they can count on us. Please encourage your friends and employees to get engaged in the political system as well. Time spent supporting our candidates is critical but equally important is coming with a check in hand. We all need to budget now both personally and professionally to be able to write those checks.

"I’d like to close with a quote from Albert Einstein," said Gooden." ‘…When a group of individuals becomes a ‘we’, a harmonious whole, they have reached as high as humans can reach’. ABC is that we and we can do anything that we put our minds to.”

 

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The Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. represents the interest of merit shop contractors and their employees in the policy making process of the government, protects and enhances the free enterprise system within the construction industry, and provides educational marketing and informational programs for the benefit of the members and their employees.

 

 The ABC Delaware office is located in the Airport Industrial Park
near the intersection of Route 13 & 273 in New Castle.

ABC Delaware
31 Blevins Drive, Suite B
Airport Industrial Park
New Castle, DE 19720
(302) 328-1111
(302) 323-1122 fax