By Mark Minter
Carol McMullen became part of the construction industry in February 1983 when she was hired by the Building Chapter of AGC, the predecessor of the Arizona Builders’ Alliance. She has announced her retirement from ABA at year’s end.
The association was looking for a new staff person to assist with existing services and to expand the area of management education in the early 1980’s. Management education was a new concept 30 years ago for a trade association that had previously focused on collective bargaining, safety and lobbying. Carol’s background in education appeared to be a great fit.
Today, Carol’s imprint is on every aspect of the ABA’s education efforts. There are hundreds of employees whose careers have been advanced and companies served by the educational programs that Carol has fostered. The most notable of these efforts has been the Leadership Development Forum (LDF) begun more than 20 years ago.
The LDF was created to help operations and technical personnel advance into management and executive positions. The construction industry attracts and produces technically proficient people. Producing great managers is a challenge.
Contractors were recognizing that the old mentor-protégé approach to advancing careers wouldn’t produce enough new leaders. LDF was created to produce a stream of new leaders proficient in the areas of financial management, strategic planning, understanding human resources, business development and public speaking.
Over the years Carol has developed, nurtured and improved the program. Enrollment demand is so great that companies are limited to one employee per year. Both the AGC and the Associated Builders and Contractors have recognized LDF as the country’s outstanding management education program.
Wink Ames (Minard Ames INSURICA) has been involved with ABA for more than 30 years.
“The LDF program is the best management training program that the ABA has,” he says. “We have been doing this for 20 years and, as a result of Carol’s efforts and leadership, many of today’s construction industry leaders came though her program.”
Carol’s personal touch has been evident in other aspects of the ABA’s programs as well. Conventions used to be a rather dull series of reports and updates on internal aspects of the association. Carol and the ABA’s convention committee converted the convention to an educational event with outstanding speakers, spouse involvement and interactive challenges for participants.
As ABA Executive Director, I have witnessed Carol’s impact.
It goes beyond just the quality of the programs. Carol has brought a personal touch to everything she does and all the people with whom she deals. She genuinely enjoys the folks in ABA and they can tell that she does. Our membership is going to miss her, but not nearly as much as I will.
Barry Chasse of Chasse Building Team has known Carol since the early 1990’s.
“I don’t know how or why, but because she is so passionate about the ABA, Carol convinced me to dress as Marilyn Monroe and sing ‘Happy Birthday Mr. President’ to incoming president Eric Hedlund.”
The search continues for photographs of that event.
“Many people in the construction industry, me included, can attribute our personal success to programs we’ve taken at ABA,” says Randy Eskelson of Schuff Steel Southwest. “Those programs were developed, refined and promoted by Carol. I don’t remember a time she hasn’t been part of our industry. What will we do without her?”
Carol has never been content to rest on previous successes. In the past two years she helped the industry implement a test preparation program for individuals seeking to pass the Certified Professional Constructor exam given by the American Institute of Constructors (AIC). As a result of those efforts Arizona had more than 100 individuals taking and passing that exam; more than any other state in the country. She was awarded the inaugural Stephen B. Byrne Industry Achievement Award recognizing her contributions to that success.
Carol’s retirement won’t be all leisure and relaxation. There are lots of friends, family, church and community events that will need her attention. She and her husband, Bob, have two grown daughters and six grandchildren living close by. The six grand kids, ages 2-8, are all looking forward to seeing more of grandma.
