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January 27, 2025

Kelley’s areas of focus in 2025

By JOURNAL STAFF

Kelley

The DJC contacted incoming AGC of Washington President Bryan Kelley for a look at his plans as he leads the association in 2025. Kelley is a Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer for Howard S. Wright, which joined the Balfour Beatty family of companies in 2011. He has 23 years of experience as a construction attorney and executive, working on commercial building, civil, and transit projects.

This interview was edited for clarity.

Q. What are your priorities for the AGCW this year?

A: I have a hiker’s mentality and like the feeling of always moving ahead, so the short answer is “we’ll advance everywhere we can.” Three specific areas for focus are: (1) how we engage others about our industry; (2) how we welcome people into our industry; and (3) how we strengthen our community.

First, we can do more to educate or remind the public and our elected officials on how important construction is to Washington. Studies show for each $1 invested in new construction, an additional $2.09 in economic activity is generated for the state’s economy. But it’s also important to understand construction is a volume-based, low-margin business. Regulations and tax policies that overlook or misinterpret our business realities can increase project costs or otherwise stall new work.


‘Although our industry has made great strides in acknowledging mental health, construction by nature tends to be a performance-based industry, full of pressures like budget, schedule, client expectations, or physical demands.’

-- Bryan Kelley,
incoming AGCW president

Second, AGCW will continue to support inclusion by advocating for small and minority, women, and veteran-owned businesses. But we also advocate for socio-economic diversity, and specifically the importance of trade- school education. Trade schools are vital to workforce development and deserve equal recognition alongside traditional four-year universities.

Third, AGC of Washington has nearly 700 members. Our organization plans to meet with every member this year and discuss the impact and value membership has on their success. Our local industry can accomplish a lot when aligned, so seeking and understanding member feedback is key.

Q. What are the biggest challenges facing the industry? Locally and Nationally?

A: Workforce development and, specifically, a shortage of skilled labor. Adding to this challenge, our tech-centric region often has “mega projects” that depend on certain trades like electricians. Hiring and retaining the best, and inspiring workers to live and work locally, should be everyone’s concern. Those more interested in this topic should get involved with the AGC Education Foundation, which supports 12 skills centers and serves 90 school districts through its Core Plus Construction program.

Mental health and wellbeing is another challenge. Although our industry has made great strides in acknowledging mental health, construction by nature tends to be a performance-based industry, full of pressures like budget, schedule, client expectations, or physical demands. AGC of Washington’s safety director Mandi Kime leads local and national efforts to bring this issue to the forefront — that mental health and wellbeing is an essential factor in safety and performing at our best.

Lastly, rising costs and inflation still impact our industry. Construction cost is driven by many factors, not only material price escalation, but also rising wages and labor costs, taxes or other business costs. It doesn’t feel that long ago when a $100 million commercial construction project or a $1 billion infrastructure project was exceptional, but now it’s the norm. Our industry constantly needs to find ways to counteract or accommodate rising costs in an ever-changing business environment.

Q. What are some opportunities or areas of growth you foresee in construction next year?

A. Using technology to improve our productivity and become more efficient. Companies that are nimble and open-minded to adopting technologies already are experimenting with AI, robotics, visualization tools, drones, wearable technology, 3D printing and other innovations.

Q. What keeps you up at night?

A: Time — there just isn’t enough of it. That extends to everything, not just work. I encourage my kids to take this time in their lives to explore any pursuits or hobbies that might interest them.

Q.What was your path into construction?

A: I was born in Maine. My father owned a construction company. We spent many family vacations at AGC conventions, so I grew up around construction and construction professionals.

I went to college and law school, then moved to Seattle with my wife, April, who is from Vashon. I was fortunate early on to find mentors in Seattle’s construction community. There are many, but I’m particularly grateful to Jim Crutcher for calling in favors that led to job interviews. I eventually landed at (what is now) Smith Currie Oles, where I worked on countless construction issues. It was a great way to learn the business — not just what could go wrong, but how to get past disputes and arrive at solutions everyone could live with.

I joined Howard S. Wright in 2016. HSW is a natural fit for me, and I’m grateful to work at a company with such a strong people-first culture and local history but also international experience and resources. Each day, I can look out my window at the quintessential Seattle building — the Space Needle — and think “we built that!”

Q.What is something that most people don’t know about you?

A: I’m a Classics major and took eight years of Ancient Greek and Latin. I like to say that my choice after college was law school or unemployment. So, I’m very happy with how things played out.


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