The Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance honored local contractors, educators and institutions during its 13th Annual Craft Workforce Development Awards on Oct. 8. Art Favre, CEO of Performance Contractors, and Stevie Toups, president of Turner Industries, recapped “50 Years of Workforce Development” as guest panelists during the virtual event.
GBRIA presented “Best of Division” awards to Westgate LLC (Division 1, 100,000 to 1.8 million manhours worked); Turner Specialty Services (Division 2, 2.2 million to 7 million manhours); and Worley (Division 3, 10 million or more manhours); as well as individual Craft Workforce Development Champion awards to Richard Sanders, master trainer at MMR; Tim Willis, vice president of field operations at Cajun Industries; and Sarah Taylor, CEO at Gulf Coast Occupational Medicine.
GBRIA also presented awards of excellence to several area high schools, including the Louisiana School for Agricultural Sciences, West Feliciana High School, St. James Career & Technical Education Center, Zachary High School and East Ascension High School. Awards of merit were presented to Holden High School, Live Oak High School and Dutchtown High School.
Additionally, Ward Bordelon, Louisiana School for Agricultural Sciences; Felix Landry, St. James Career & Technical Education Center; and Katie Denova, East Ascension High School were honored as High School Craft Workforce Development Champions.
GBRIA presented awards of excellence honors to post-secondary institutions as well, including Baton Rouge Community College and LSU Continuing and Digital Education. Merit winners were Associated Builders and Contractors – Pelican Chapter and River Parishes Community College.
Contractors receiving awards of excellence for workforce development included Brown & Root Industrial Services, Performance Contractors Inc., Turner Industries Group, Worley and Turner Specialty Services. Awards of merit were presented to Moore Industries, Cajun Industries, EXCEL, Repcon, Deep South Crane & Rigging, Westgate LLC and MMR Group.
GBRIA gave awards of recognition to Primoris Services Corp., ZachryGroup, Barriere Construction Co., Hoist & Crane Service Group, Maxim Crane Works, Trade Electric & Controls, Master Vac Industrial Services, Midwest Cooling Tower Services, Premium Inspection & Testing Group and Johnson Controls.
The group also recognized Joshua Callegan, training coordinator for AmSty; and Jason Zeringue, maintenance productivity leader for Dow, as Craft Workforce Development Champion Most Valuable Players for their volunteer efforts with the organization.
