June 26, 2015

Kathleen Garrity stepping down from ABC leadership position

Photo courtesy of ABC

Kathleen Garrity has led the local Associated Builders and Contractors chapter for 32 years.

You could call Kathleen Garrity the mother of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington.

The local chapter of the merit shop contractors' association was formed in 1983 with Garrity as president and its first employee.

Starting with about 40 members, Garrity grew the chapter to more than 300 members today.

Garrity is retiring next week and has spent the last four months transiting the reins of the association to longtime ABC employee Wendy Novak.

Garrity said she was running the local office of the Washington State Electrical Contractors Association in 1983 when she was asked to help with the ABC chapter. She ended up keeping both jobs and running the two associations from a small shared office.

Looking back at her 32 years at ABC, Garrity said two accomplishments stood out: getting the chapter ready for the transition; and working with the Construction Industry Training Council over many years to gain parity with unions in apprenticeship training.

Garrity said her involvement in ABC's national chapter development committee helped her get the chapter in good shape for the transition to Novak.

“It's not like ‘Here's a big mess, good luck,'” she said.

For apprenticeship training, Garrity served on the ad hoc committee that rewrote those rules for the Department of Labor & Industries and the Washington State Apprenticeship & Training Council. She also helped improve diversity in the contractor community by serving on the advisory committee of the Contractor Development & Competitiveness Center/Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle.

The CITC will be a conduit for future construction workers, which Garrity said will be increasingly in demand.

Garrity said the biggest challenge faced by the construction industry is attracting young people into the trades.

“There's a notion that if you work with your hands, that's less honorable,” she said. “That's wrong.”

ABC membership peaked with more than 500 members in 2008, about when the Great Recession began to grip the economy.

Garrity said membership dropped during the recession due to contractors retiring early, changing their professions, closing their businesses to work for others, or moving to other areas for work, such as oil fields in the Midwest and Canada.

”They did find value (in ABC membership), they just didn't have any cash,” she said.

Now membership is coming back, but the faces are younger.

Garrity said that will challenge Novak. She said millennials and Gen Xers volunteer differently and relate differently to associations than baby boomers do, and Novak will have to try new things to get them involved.

Garrity said dinner meetings in the “old days” were at a set time, but now it's more efficient to bring special interest groups together for a quick brown bag lunch. She said she was at a meeting recently where a man excused himself at 5 p.m. to pick up his baby at daycare — something not seen in the past.

“Members are looking for different things delivered different ways,” Garrity said.

Garrity said the association's board now has more Gen Xers and millennials on it than baby boomers.

Novak is a Gen Xer who has worked at ABC for 17 years. Garrity said Novak knows the industry, the association and the merit shop philosophy.

Novak was vice president of membership for 11 years before her new role. She served many years on the ABC National Membership Professionals Council, chairing it for three years, and has been a frequent speaker at ABC national meetings.

“It's time to turn the baton over to the younger crowd,” Garrity said.

So, what does the mother of the local ABC chapter do in retirement? She becomes a grandmother: Garrity's first granddaughter was born earlier this year.

But, even with a new baby to dote over, Garrity still plans to consult, volunteer and remain politically active. That includes working with ABC chapters and nonprofits, particularly in strategic planning and governance issues.