Tasch Talks - The New Orleans Construction Podcast
We interview Greater New Orleans area contractors, builders, architects, owner's reps, facilities directors, and other local construction leaders talking shop about the industry.
Tasch Talks - The New Orleans Construction Podcast
Jeb Bruneau - ABC President
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ABC President Jeb Bruneau joins us to talk about the state of the New Orleans construction industry and how ABC advocates for members and non-members alike. We also dig into ABC's workforce training program and how it is providing opportunities for young people across several parishes across the region.
Whether you're a contractor, trade partner, or interested in the industry, this episode gives a clear look at where the industry is headed.
All right. So today we have Jeb Bruno. Jeb, thank you for coming to the podcast. You're actually our second guest. And I know you have a lot going on, and we appreciate you coming.
SPEAKER_01I'm excited to be here. Thank y'all for having me. And uh it's fun, fun thing to do on a fun day workday.
SPEAKER_02So for those that don't know who Jeb is and what he does, he's the president of C of um ABC. Right.
SPEAKER_01President, CEO, executive director. I'll I'll take whatever title you want to give.
SPEAKER_02So tell us what ABC is and what you do there.
SPEAKER_01So ABC is Associated Builders and Contractors. We're not uh an insurance organization. We're not, you know, ABC, we're not alcohol beverage controlled. There's a lot of possibilities. We're associated builders and contractors, which is a national organization made up of 67 chapters around the United States representing the construction industry. In New Orleans, or the New Orleans area, we represent the 12 parishes uh around Metro New Orleans. Um don't make me name all of them right here on the spot, but I probably could do that. And we have an industrial and commercial base in our area. We have the river parishes, we're on the North Shore, we're down in Bayou, and then of course we're down at the end of the world, right? Plackman's Parish, too. So it's all the contractors that are building the hospitals, the infrastructure. Um, hopefully this new omni hotel that's been proposed. I'm excited about that. Oh, yeah. Um, so all of those types of things. And we have we have companies like Gibbs, that there was an article in the paper coming about second generation and 50 years. But then we also represent the big industrial folks, too, that are up and down the river and in Placamin's Parish at the LG plant. So we're we're the voice for those folks.
SPEAKER_02Are you the are you also the president of the Pelican chapter, or is there a different?
SPEAKER_01So, like I said, we have 67 chapters in the United States. The Pelican Chapter is in Baton Rouge and represents primarily the chemical corridor, if you will, and Lake Charles and some places in North Louisiana as well. Together we form ABC Louisiana. Uh so there's two chapters in Louisiana, and we um come together and do a few things together. One, we have a lobbyist that we employ statewide, and there's a board made up of stakeholders from both our chapters, um, and we make endorsements and races, and and Carson Delarue is our lobbyist, he's in Baton Rouge, and he's also our intermediary between us and ABC. I uh ABC National has lobbyists in DC. And so we do do a trip up to Washington, D.C. We do a day at the state capitol, we have a fishing rodeo, and we do a state convention, which is coming up actually uh next week.
SPEAKER_02You know, Tosh is a member of ABC and has been for years. In fact, I think we were a member before you became president. And um one thing that yeah, one thing that always um uh you know scared me about joining a a group was how would I be treated? And the moment that I started going to meetings, I felt, you know, comfortable uh and part of a group, you know.
SPEAKER_01It's a community, yeah. And so that that's the whole basis. It's our job as staff, it's your organization, right? You guys represent construction in Metro New Orleans. That's who we are. And so you we want you to feel comfortable as soon as you come in the door, or if it's us reaching out to you, the whole idea is like-minded folks that compete against each other every day, right, but then can come together for the greater good of the whole community to celebrate, to have a little fun, and also just to build a workforce. Just we're we're better united than we are fighting. And and even with other organizations in the construction industry and and even with our uh folks that you know are not are not members of us, we still are representing them every day in everything that we do. A prime example of that is when COVID hit and the world shut down and Louisiana shut down and ABC shut down a little bit, right? We we were told stay at home. I'm I don't know, a year on the job, and I'm in this nice uh building with two welding shops and two classroom buildings, and and I'm by myself. And I'm like, this is really strange.
SPEAKER_02But I heard you got a call from uh some leading industry people and decided decided to collaborate on how to get was it was it the state government or the federal government to consider construction as essential? Critical. Yeah, so critical. So how did that go down?
SPEAKER_01It was happening different around the country, and and if you remember, it's kind of like when Hurricane Katrina happened, that's the first time I received a text message. Well, when COVID happened, okay, that's when Zoom and all of these other things took off. But yes, um, so different people were trying to figure it out, and the state uh had not come out with anything, and we said we need to make sure that construction is considered essential. Because you're talking about hospitals, you're talking about just every way of life. And it it people think of construction projects and they just think of what they see going on, but it it could have it could have melted down our infrastructure if we weren't the governor at the time. John Bell was governor, okay. And um so you know, an administration that maybe we didn't have as many inroads into as others. But our lobbyist at the time was able to raise his hand and say, hey, it's pretty important for everything that we do going forward for construction to be essential.
SPEAKER_02Who's gonna build the sneeze guards and you know those kind of things? So we were gonna have those.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we were pretty proud that we won. That's funny. That we were able to get that to happen. Keep up, Jeff. Uh I'm trying, you know. Sneeze guards, I gotta but it it's crazy you say that. We we had to postpone our spring semester, and what we did is we just pushed it into the summer. So in addition to collaboration and representing all of these companies, we also have craft training at our facility.
SPEAKER_02I was wondering what you were talking about.
SPEAKER_01And so um we operate four nights a week, six to nine o'clock, two semesters, and we have welders and instrument technicians and electrical training and HVAC and all these things going on on our campus.
SPEAKER_02And nothing was happening.
SPEAKER_01And it's like, what are we gonna do? So we decided, hey, this the state came out with some interesting guidelines of social distancing and temperature checks and all that. But we we we read through the guidelines and we said, hey, you know, and with Zoom and Teams and all these electronic advances, we can do this. Now it was challenging. Uh we had to pivot and do some things, but we were basically able to run that semester through that summer doing temperature checks, doing uh some things virtually, or having an instructor and spacing people out. And guys, that was crazy Tom. We we had the whole building sprayed, nobody understood exactly like Ghostbusters, and they you know, people we paid a little bit of money to just ensure people's wellness.
SPEAKER_02Uh Shelby, as you know, Shelby's our HR uh director at our company, and I know she might have a couple of questions about what you're doing with uh labor and the labor shortage.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um a big question I have is um, you know, getting young people in the industry, if you could talk about like the workforce academy.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So two things just talking about workforce in the New Orleans greater region, right? And so we are located in St. Rose in the river parishes, but we have had satellite campuses. We do it's we have some uh activity at some of the high schools on the North Shore, Fountain Blue and Covington and Ponchatoula. Um we also were downriver in Plackman's parish when they were.
SPEAKER_02Wait, you have schools down in those places?
SPEAKER_01Well we have MOU. We have MOUs basically with existing, like these teachers teach craft training to students during the day.
SPEAKER_02What's an MOU?
SPEAKER_01Memorandum of understanding. Yeah, just a agreement with like a whole parish school system. No, these are high school schools. Yeah, we see some of them at our campus at night.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01They're learning during the day. Not everybody was comfortable coming to our campus. So about workforce, so it's a lot of the folks that are you you mentioned craft training, right? We we believe that college is a great thing, but it's not for everyone, right? So four-year institutions provide a service. I can tell you though, it's not for everyone, and there's a great way to go make a living. Yeah. But we used to have apprenticeship and craft training.
SPEAKER_02We used to have shop at high school. I remember I had some work at 20 years ago. We did some work at O.Perry Walker. I don't know if they shut down then or when it was, maybe it was right after Katrina. And the shop that they had, they had welding shops, they had woodworking shops. We tore all that stuff out, threw it all away. So, you know, we when I was in high school, graduated from Hawnville in 81, shop was a big deal. Mechanic shop, woodworking shop. It was all there. Now Hawnville is starting to do that again.
SPEAKER_01Actually, St.
SPEAKER_02Charles Because you're in the river parishes, so you know what Hornville and Destrohan are doing. Yes, St.
SPEAKER_01Charles is a real success story. I mean, they have the career center there, and actually.
SPEAKER_02But you also have all the plants, and so you have all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01I mean, Honville and Destrohan in particular, or students from St. Charles Parish, we see a lot of those folks at night. It's generational to a degree, but also I think we've won over the families, the moms and the grandmoms that are saying no, you have to go to a four-year institution. They see that you can go make a six-figure salary.
SPEAKER_02You and Mike Rowe. I mean, Mike Rowe is certainly hasn't hurt, I mean, right?
SPEAKER_01Right. So back to your original question, you mentioned America's Workforce Academy. So this is something brand new. ABC National just combined with Meta and Mike Rowe's Foundation to create America's Workforce Academy.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I didn't even know that.
SPEAKER_01And um, there's three pilot chapters. Louisiana is in the mix that's gonna be breaking ground and training people and sending people to uh these meta training centers and they're gonna be able to do that.
SPEAKER_02They're gonna build facilities like brick and mortar facilities.
SPEAKER_01Um they're gonna train at we're gonna we're gonna I say we, ABC is gonna have these three pilot programs of training centers. We're gonna train people and send them to work at the at the meta facility in North Louisiana in Richland Parish. But this is gonna go on all over the country. Yeah, yeah. Houston, Baton Rouge, and um somewhere in Indiana, the first three, but Meta's like wanting to train more and more people um to gear up. I don't know if you saw the economic development announcement, but like it's a multi-billion dollar project, what's going on in North Louisiana. It's funny, I just left a meeting with Geno Inc. and they were talking about site selection, and this was a piece of property that was identified when Governor Foster, who's no longer with us, was governor. And you put it in inventory and you develop, and here we are in 2026, and Meta's building the largest data center in the country.
SPEAKER_02You mean in Ridgeland or the one north of the like uh Richland in Richland?
SPEAKER_01Richland Northeast Louisiana. Okay. But a lot of their workforce is gonna come from right here in the New Orleans metro region.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01Louisiana, they they put out um it's amazing the power of, I guess, social media or these big platforms because we're all the time trying to help our local contractors with workforce and job alignment and what have you. Well, Meta put out or Mike Rose Foundation, they they put out this thing looking for people, and the applic the number of applicants from Louisiana is over the So what's the disconnect?
SPEAKER_02I mean, you got all these applicants and you've got all these jobs that are required. You know, and we talked about this the other day, is still things are getting built. So you say there's this massive shortage of people, like upcoming, right? I don't see like there's now if this hotel is happening, and then you've got the data centers and you've got other things, so that maybe it starts to show up a bit more.
SPEAKER_01Uh it's an enigma a little bit though, because everybody says we have a workforce issue. We still build stuff, and yet things still go on. So I I think it does exist, but I also think that people are clever and and smart about retaining good talent and keeping their own people. But I definitely think there's opportunity. I mean, the operator class is aging out and technology is changing things as well. I mean, the the way that you used to be trained on construction was kind of the hard firing brimstone sort of sort of way. Right. And now, if you're a video gamer, um, you might be able to operate a piece of equipment from a couple of miles away.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that tower crane that I saw on Jefferson Highway by Oshner. There's maybe a 25-year-old or up there with a seat of the city.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you might be sitting in an office like just like this, or in a sea can somewhere that's air conditioned in a in a chair with a bunch of joysticks, and you're controlling several pieces. That's the wave of the future. So that operator is gonna be different. Um it's kind of exciting. Yeah, we can't also um there is gonna be a need for more people to get into that the line of work.
SPEAKER_00And not even just on on the industry, like us needing that, but like when we go to career fairs at high schools with the uh you know, the market being the way it is now, and like everything is just so expensive. There's a lot of kids that are saying, Well, I thought I was gonna go to a four-year school. My parents don't have the money, I don't know what I'm gonna do. We did, and it's so important that they understand that this is a viable option. We still that, you know, oh well, everybody in the industry is in their late 40s and 50s. What are we gonna do when these people retire? I mean, these kids, you know, they really need it too. They need to know I don't just have to go get a four-year-old.
SPEAKER_02Where did we do? We did we did Fisher down on Lafitte, we did Hornville, we did a couple of job fairs, and I was and I went to them in the evenings, and I was really shocked at how many families and parents were very open to the idea of a welder or you know, a painter, or a plumber, an electrician. I was really kind of surprised.
SPEAKER_01Because I think kids sometimes are they feel forced into doing some things. And so particularly if your family is open and you have that support group, you you can you can get a you can get schooling and and get educated in in crafts and apprenticeship training and and be making really good money in a short period of time and without all the debt, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And uh we could talk about labor and we could talk about uh this for hours. But I want to go back um to politics. And I want to go back to your uh history, right? Um can you tell us a little bit about growing up and why you or you know, like were you in politics? Were your family was your family in politics, and why did you go to so many boxing matches? So that's when you were a child.
SPEAKER_01That's got all kind of connections with me.
SPEAKER_02Because I think all of those stories are fascinating. You start with the oldest story first. It's pretty neat.
SPEAKER_00So it led to how you're here. How did you wind up in this?
SPEAKER_01It's it's certainly a wandy path, but I appreciate the question. Um so yes, my grandfather was involved in uh real estate in New Orleans, and the the box boxing was a big deal in that. Bruno. Yes, Emile Bruno. Bruno Frenchway, B-R-U-N-E-A-U translates into brown water. Really? That's a little side story, but I'm married to the Wablon, which is another French name, and her name translates into White Wood. So I always say, well, you know, you very nature like White Wood. Really? Um but back to your question. So, yes, my my grandfather uh was actually head of the Louisiana Boxing and Wrestling Commission, and so I got to really see I remember Ollie Spinks as a kid, I remember uh Roberto Duran and the no moss fight in New Orleans and just the craziness that that that that um entailed. And so I guess, but that was a appointed position by the governor, the boxing and my government. Wrestling.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I understand boxing, but what was the wrestling?
SPEAKER_01Wrestling was crazy, was it? Because that's that's in the heyday of for those that don't remember, the uh before WWF and E. Okay. This is mid-south wrestling. This is this is the municipal auditorium, this is the the uh the the LaRanger, this is the the cage matching. This is this is uh the junkyard dog and ten piassi and the midnight express and the free birds, and this is the the 70s and the early 80s at crazy time. But I d I you know get off topic a little bit. It was pretty cool uh as a young New Orleanian.
SPEAKER_02But why did the governor give your grandfather this uh appointment? Well, what was the connection?
SPEAKER_01I mean, um I don't know if I have the exact answer to that, right? But it it was he obviously he went on to serve a couple of years for one of the world boxing associations and uh yeah uh and New Orleans was a huge boxing tank. It really was. It really was. Um and you know, boxing has changed and now MMA has kind of filled that spot.
SPEAKER_02But um I mean back in the twenties and the thirties, there were a couple of names. I mean, like like the f the most important boxers ever were from New Orleans.
SPEAKER_01Yes, it's a rich history there. Yeah, so it was pretty cool. So my grandfather, I guess you would say, was tangentially involved in politics because it was there. Yeah. And then my dad um went to St. Aloysius High School and then to Loyola and Loyola Law School, and then actually worked in the state capitol as staff for a little bit, and then decided to run, I think when I was six years old. I'm dating myself, I'm 56 now, so 50 years ago, uh, to run for public office in the Lakefront area of New Orleans as uh state representative for district ninety-four, and he got elected, and he served 31 years in office. Wow. And um uh I I know this sounds like a windy path, but all of this came so I was I was exposed to politics at a young age. Obviously, in the 70s when right to work was going on, um, there was just a a pretty violent aspect to organized labor and the business community and the the fights that they were.
SPEAKER_02And that's interesting because at ABC, now this is a major component of what what you're involved in is the the concept of merit shop. And uh you you could do so merit shop tell me about merit shop. But I I want to go back to your story, but explain just briefly what that means.
SPEAKER_01Merit Shop just means that you have the right way to without being affiliated with any kind of uh labor organization or anything, you have the ability to to bid on a project. Okay. That's what we believe in. It's a free market principle. Um and uh over 90% of the contractors in Louisiana are open shop or merit shop construction now.
SPEAKER_02But in the 70s, your dad's doing his thing. Yeah, in the 70s it was organized labor control. And New Orleans was a heavy union. Absolutely. Like Chicago would be.
SPEAKER_01And the the floor of the legislature back then lobbyists could go on the floor. And uh Victor Busey was head of organized labor. Well, I mean they would they would they would strong arm politicians on the floor to vote certain ways. Now, a lot of things changed. Uh the uh law was changed to a law allow it's the whole right to work legislation, right, which basically spurred on some of the biggest industrial uh companies that we see in the world now. But that that changed the landscape of construction workers on a job site at a uh oil and gas facility or or at a chemical plant wearing the that hard hat to working for construction companies, industrial construction companies.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um but then you saw in New Orleans area too um just a flourish of companies that started up and and we we mentioned one earlier, but some of these these all-line New Orleans Landis, Gibbs, Durr. Well what about Bo brothers and yeah, well Bo's double breasted, they have uh Broadmore as their uh open shop side, and then Bo is Union in New Orleans. So and there's lots of companies like that. Yeah. And I'm are I'm leaving a ton of people out that of our members, and shame on me, but there there's just countless numbers of success stories um on the on the open shop, merit shop construction side. So it's basically uh the desire to operate without any affiliated labor organization and not making your people go one way or the other.
SPEAKER_02They have to try to So your dad is thirty years in the state legislature? Yes. So and he just cranks it out. I mean he doesn't have any aspirations to governor or move on.
SPEAKER_01You had a lot of different on good or bad, you had Edwin Edwards that dominated that era, he was governor. Earth three times. You had some some pops of reform here and there, and then uh and some good things done. But Hurricane Katrina hit, and that changed the landscape for everything. Um where we live out by the lakefront area, much like Gentili, much like the Ninth Ward, much like many parts of the city, was devastated.
SPEAKER_02And um Yeah, it was kind of epicenter there at 17.
SPEAKER_01It definitely affected my father's health and just his outlook, and term limits had passed, and and things were changing. And so um I just happened to be president of our neighborhood association when that was going on. So I I got exposed to uh being on the Diane Reen show on NPR. I was interviewed by CNN and Fox. I came down here downtown to the Sheraton, and you know, Shepard Smith's arguing with me whether or not New Orleans has the ability to come back. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And um, yeah, you and the mayor were arguing uh the opposite.
SPEAKER_01They had this um Bring New Orleans back commission, and I don't know if y'all remember in the in the Tom's pig ewing, they had come out with blue dots on certain areas of the city that they were just gonna turn into open spaces. Like, yeah, we we we want to come back.
SPEAKER_02And you were the neighborhood association of Lake Views Civic Improvement Association.
SPEAKER_01Which is yeah, that's a big So this is kind of another exposure to politics. It doesn't directly relate to construction.
SPEAKER_02But who are you working for? Like, what was your livelihood back then?
SPEAKER_01So at the time I was working for a um wine and liquor distributor. It was one of Bill Golring's companies. I worked for the Great Southern Division, it became the Pelican Division. Magnolia, many people remember it as Magnolia Market. Magnolia. And it, you know, he's a great philanthropist in New Orleans today and a great guy still. Yeah, owns Sazerac Company and and what have you. But and they treated us really well. But it was almost like I had two jobs, right? I was I was a salesman during the day, and then I would be in the back of a grocery store, and I'm getting interviewed by CNN or Fox.
SPEAKER_02It was just like months and weeks and months after Katrina.
SPEAKER_01Yes, because the recovery took a long time. Um it was truly interesting. They had some folks from Kobe, Japan that came down and met with our group that helped rebuild the city and Lakeview area or lakefront area because they had been through an earthquake. And so it was kind of like an equally devastating thing. So this is a long roundabout way to get to yes, I was exposed politically and and um I decided to run uh for office. That did not end in a successful for me, but it pushed me into a different phase of work. Um I stayed involved with a neighborhood, but it it led to me working for a public policy think tank, which then led for me to work with um uh consulting firm, which then led me to meet the lobbyists for associated builders and contractors, which then led to me getting this job. So that's kind of my career path from being a neighborhood activist and a and a salesperson to working for a consultant firm that that dealt with free market type of principles to working for ABC who carried that political, that they have that political influence both at the national level and local level.
SPEAKER_02How old were you and and Katrina hit? You were like in your own.
SPEAKER_01I was 31.
SPEAKER_02How old were you, Shawi?
SPEAKER_00I was a freshman in college. Yeah. At UNO.
SPEAKER_01I had a 10-month-old, and my wife and I each had little starter homes, and we were renting one and we were living in the other, and we were like, what are we gonna do?
SPEAKER_02Wait, were both of the houses water, you know?
SPEAKER_01Oh, we had over 10 feet. Yeah, the lake view was over. I mean when the 17th Street Canal, when that collapsed, we got area we got water from London area and from the other the back side also. I mean, storm surge really did come. A lot of people say we didn't get hit by the storm. We got hit by the storm. Yes, maybe the eye hit in Mississippi, but that that storm surge now. You can argue whether it was a a man-made or a natural disaster. I think it was a little bit of both in New Orleans, but it was it's it's truly remarkable um how far we've come and still have to go. Um back then.
SPEAKER_02When you you were so but you were exposed, like your father being in the position he was in, you were around politicians because obviously you had friends, and then you also were friends with politicians along the way.
SPEAKER_01So decision makers, yes.
SPEAKER_02So people that are in power.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, which is crazy. So um, Congressman Scalise, or majority leadership Scalise is a friend of mine, and so that's an interesting that that kind of came about generically. Um he knew somebody that was working with my dad at the time, and we we were actually um fraternity brothers in college and kind of tangentially knew each other a little bit, and then it's funny, I'm I'm coming from a I'm just left a GNO Inc. me meeting this morning, but Young Leadership Council was a big deal in New Orleans, and um we had just gotten a new police chief appointed here, and there was some excitement in the city. Right. Uh this is going back before Katrina, obviously. Um Steve Scalise was running for political office, and I knew him a little bit and I said, Well, hey man, I'll want to help you out. And that was the first time he ran. It was in Old Jefferson area. I learned I learned about um some different neighborhoods that I had never been in, and and um around Lafeniere Park and Airline Park, and just all up in that area, yeah. Um helped him canvas and he he won that election, and then he became a colleague with my father, was still in the legislature at the time. So um it is pretty neat that you have that, and then of course he's advanced in his career to where he ran for Congress, won in Congress, was able to move up in leadership from the Republican Study Committee to uh the minority whip or majority whip to majority leader today. So it's pretty interesting, and we're pretty blessed to have not only the Speaker of the House, but the majority leader. It's the first time ever that you've had the two top-ranked officials in the U.S. Congress, both from Louisiana.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's true. It's so how did all of those things along the way affect your leadership style now? Because you're in charge of this. Every time we meet you and people that are around ABC meet you, you're you're such a gracious guy. You're so so inviting, you're always, you know, shaking hands and you know, very uh open and engaging. And I would think that your father might have been sort of that way.
SPEAKER_01He's a little bit more gregarious than me and maybe a little bit more of a temper than me.
SPEAKER_02I thought you were going to stay quieter.
SPEAKER_01No, he was absolutely very c he was very colorful.
SPEAKER_02Uh but politics, that's how Louisiana.
SPEAKER_01He definitely exposed me like relationships mean so much in construction, in any way of life. That's right. And I think it's the people, it it sounds cliche, but the people of New Orleans, the people of South Louisiana are special. We are I'm excited about football season, and I'm an LSU guy, and and you know, yeah, but if we do something you when we're different?
SPEAKER_02It's it's interesting though, because when we do something in our company, you show up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And that's important. Just be in there, you know?
SPEAKER_01Well, you guys are members. You are the great part of the community.
SPEAKER_02So yes, I think it's a nice thing that you show up.
SPEAKER_01I appreciate that. Y'all are a great part of the construction community. Yeah. Uh Tasha's really neat because you know y'all have all kind of things that y'all celebrate, the the subcontractors and the other people that work for you and the owners that you're working for.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, and a lot of our members do that. So it it's it's it's unique here. Not only are we trying to bring everybody up and have everybody safe and trained, uh, New Orleans community is unique. We we we have a good time along the way. We that's right. We you know, we we we love our culture, and our culture is something to be celebrated. That you you can go down a laundry list of things that maybe aren't the best. But I will I will put I will put that up against anybody in the world, is what we have here and and the genuineness and uniqueness of our community. And um I I look forward, you know, I have two sons, young adults in college right now, and uh I'm I'm hopeful that that the new greater New Orleans area is going to be a place that they can find.
SPEAKER_02A strong place for them to prosper and not have to leave. Um and you know, when you think about uh you transitioning from that, you know, where you were into construction, that must have been something sort of completely alien to you and strange. It's like you're gonna become a construction guy.
SPEAKER_01Me, who I I mean, not the handyman. Right. I can change a light bulb and I can do a couple of things, but I certainly by no means had that background. But what I did have was you mentioned the political background and and so the free market side of of what we believe in, and I was big part of it. Yeah, I was friends with the lobbyists for ABC. Um, and I was, you know, we were we were helping growing in businesses with some of the economic development incentives and just helping trying to help Louisiana grow. And he and he said to me, uh, he said, Jeff Who is that? John Walters. John Walters. He's no longer our lobbyist. He's moved on to he worked for Chevron for a little while, then LSU, and I think he's actually going to work for a consultant firm now. But he's politically involved. He had worked for um the clerk in the speaker's house for a decade before he was with ABC. So he had a political background and we knew each other and we lobbied together for some of the same things. Um and he said, Jeff, you know, you ought to take a look at this position. And I had been to ABC, we were members of ABC. Uh believe it or not, there I got to be vice chair of their little government affairs group for ABC. And so I was exposed. I was a member of AB of Associated Builders and Contractors. I think that's a that's a building.
SPEAKER_02Now are you a member?
SPEAKER_01Because our consultant firm uh had joined. Okay. And and the guy that I was my direct boss at the time or or partner, um, he had worked at um LABI, Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. Yeah. And then he but before that, he was the CFO of Cajun Industries, which is a huge industrial member of ours that that uh to this day is is huge ABC members. Yeah. And so there was a connection to ABC. Um I guess you you mentioned construction and when I was young and right to work, and then when I'm working for the free market think tank, it kind of lines, and then I'm working for a consultant firm and we're members of ABC. Right. And then my friend who's the lobbyist and we're lobbying together, and I'm growing in my professional career, and he says, You should look at doing this. I said, I'm not an association manager. I've never, I'm not a construction guy. He said, Yeah, but you you have the roots, you have the belief. These guys believe in the same thing that you believe in. Yeah. So I went through an interview process and and kind of in a circuitous way, and and um, they liked what I had to say, and and I was excited uh to take the helm of uh the ABC New Orleans by you chapter in the end of 2019, um, or maybe the beginning of 2019. Yeah, I think January 1st, just in time for 2019. So, yeah, my first year, I'm kind of wet behind the ears, learning the ropes, um, just drinking from a fire hose, getting things uh off the ground with uh I I I inherited some great staff. I inherited two vice presidents that knew a lot about our training facility, and you know, we have 125 welding booths at our location in St. Rose, which is more than anywhere in one spot in the Gulf South. Um, but but they they they had built uh an ecosystem of students that were feeding our industrial contractors already there. Um I was just able to accentuate on that and operate on the chapter side as a in addition to the training facility side and really hopefully bring ABC more to the forefront and so this community that you've talked about and how welcoming it is, and people compete with each other and and you know uh we're featured in the region magazine this this quarter from GNO Inc. Um and it it it just talks about that.
SPEAKER_02Oh, ABC is in the ma in that feature. Yes, okay.
SPEAKER_01Um but I I digress.
SPEAKER_02What what I'm but when you get there, you you don't you have you you really okay, so construction and all of this, you know, merit shop and political piece and all that's super important. The labor thing is important, but at this moment you don't have construction knowledge, it's okay, but you also uh are not managing dozens and dozens of people. So now you've got to run an organization.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02It's totally like I'm excited about how do you where is your management style coming from?
SPEAKER_01Because you really hadn't done that. I I had uh been on some nonprofit boards, and I mentioned that Tom at the Civic Association working with, but I had never directly had a staff of people that reported to me.
SPEAKER_02And you're dealing with you know, I don't want to name names, but you're dealing with big-time contractors in the city, influential people that manage hundreds of people, uh millions of dollars, or hundreds of millions of dollars in construction.
SPEAKER_01So you're right. So I'm I'm there for a year. It's a bit over. COVID hits, there's this yeah, there's this craziness of what do we do? And I I I had a couple of those guys call me and say, What's going on?
SPEAKER_02Because like we've got um, yeah, but but but you know, but I I will say this, I uh uh because I love to talk names, I really want to talk names, but I'm not gonna do it. Uh but uh but ABC before you, before me, was influenced by amazing contractors and people who put a lot of effort into the organization, past chairman that we talked about in the past, that you know, went above and beyond just running their business. And they wanted to give back, and they did give back.
SPEAKER_01They did, they believed in the greater community, not just construction. I think you know, they found about life here, schools, hospitals, yeah, of the things that you guys are building today. Yeah um, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02And some of those guys, as they get older, they kind of realized I want to do that, I want to give back. I want to, you know, my place is made. Uh, you know, I'm kind of settled in with my business, and now I can spend some time doing other things. And that was huge. That's huge.
SPEAKER_01It is huge, and what you're seeing is most of those companies pass that torch on to the next generation. Yeah. It's pretty ironic. Um, three some of the most iconic, without getting the names, and uh some of those most iconic construction companies in the New Orleans metro region are now in their second or third generation of leadership within the same family. Right. And in particular, I think of three companies that are run by female executives now that their dads had started. And it's okay.
SPEAKER_02We can we can say, you know, those are great Landis and Gibbs and Durr. And Durr. And those are great. That's a lot to be proud of. And those families, in my own case, my father started, I'm second generation, and my sons will, you know, be taking the business in a different direction, hopefully a successful one. And you can actually make it money.
SPEAKER_01Well, y'all are very entrepreneurial and they've coming up with some ideas, and you've you're doing regular construction, but I I know you've adopted technology and and oh, I want to talk to you about technology.
SPEAKER_02But but for sure, when you get there, your leadership style is what? I'll I'll drink from the fire hose, I'll learn everything I can, I'll listen to you guys. But at some point, you also kind of gotta flex muscles a little bit, right?
SPEAKER_01You've got to say a fire and brimstone kind of leader. I'm more of a collaborative leader, right? I view my style as well.
SPEAKER_02But after seven or eight years, you're just kind of a fixture there, and everybody's accepted that it's a wonderful leader of that organization and successful, right?
SPEAKER_00Trevor Burrus, Jr. I think a lot of people understand that it's very, I think you're very advocacy-minded.
SPEAKER_01So you don't have a construction back.
SPEAKER_00Everybody that's a member has that. We need the advocacy. We need you know, we we need what you bring to the table.
SPEAKER_01So that's kind of, I guess, the the four pillars of ABC. And advocacy is is one of my strengths for sure. But we want to let the whole community know what we're doing for the greater good of everyone. Yeah. So it's not just political advocacy. It's it's it's advocating for this hotel, that the Omni Hotel that's gonna be built here that might be the linchpin to us getting the 2031 Super Bowl, right? Right.
SPEAKER_00I mean, the advocating for the city, for the area.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yes, absolutely. We need to grow. It's one thing New Orleans recovered from Katrina, and there was a bump from that. And then we kind of I I'll say too, I think we had a downfall in political political leadership, both at the state and the and the city level for a little while. And for about a decade, we've just been flat. And for the first time now, we're looking at it's great to get these new project announcements and to have a lot uh jobs affiliated with them and big capital investments, and we need that, but we need to grow as a region, right? I mean, for New Orleans to area to be sustainable, we we we don't want to be flatlined. We wanna we want to grow up if you look at the demographics of the South in the last 20 or 30 years, or even go back further than that and what look what happened to Atlanta and Charlotte and Nashville. People are leaving New Orleans, yeah, and but we're starting to come back. Yeah, yeah. And so I think that's the next phase of of leadership for our city and for our region, is is we need to grow in population. We need to attract seniors to come here. Right. We have something special here that uh nobody else has.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_01And we need to celebrate that and we need to work through our problems and and and uh build uh build upon uh the greatness that we have and expose it to more people. So that our next generation stays here and that we attract people to live.
SPEAKER_02If you look at ABC as an organization advocacy group, a group that really uh helps its members, um in and there's a lot of organizations like that, like the ones you're talking about. But for us, it's uh construction. And what are the perfect kind of members? I mean, who are the guys that can really come in and make a difference in your membership? Because you have pretty big membership.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we have a couple of yeah, a couple of a couple of hundred member companies, but when uh and nationwide, um there's thousands. Thousands. I mean, right I I uh the statistics escape me at the moment, but yes, we we represent the majority of industrial and commercial construction throughout the United States, right? Um and in the southeast region of Louisiana, but in New Orleans, do you see in the Bayou chapter?
SPEAKER_02Do you think it's more architectural builders like Gibbs and Landis and Goodward, and we talked about uh there's a lot of names. I keep saying the same names. I wish I wouldn't say the same names. But um but the but but but there's all the all the civil guy, you know, Durr. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01You mentioned other civil people and Poe Brothers and Yeah, we're a combination of industrial and commercial construction.
SPEAKER_02And and what other membership, you know, who else are you can you add and and that could bring value to your membership that you might not have?
SPEAKER_01So absolutely, you know, some some folks that maybe just are new and up and coming, and also some folks that are established because we're speaking for them. Whether, I mean, we're we're gonna advocate for the good of the greater industry no matter what. You you kind of mentioned uh the different the advocacy aspect of what we do, both politically and and from a I guess a humanitarian standpoint for the for the for the civically for the area, but then we're training, right? We're training the workforce. I mentioned these five buildings that we have on our campus in St. Rose and satellite facilities at at some of the high schools in the river parishes and across the lake and downriver and plackerman's parish that we have MOU Memorandum of Understandings with where we're training the workforce. So that's a big piece of what we do too. I mean, we're we are cranking out welders, some of the best welders. I'd I'd put our welders. We we have a national competition with ABC, we have a local competition. Um, and then we pick a few people um and then we send them to the national craft championships, if you will, where we're competing against other ABC chapters and countries. And we over the past decade, I can't tell you the number of gold, silver, and bronze and safety awards that we've come from that. We've nominated highly recognized for the quality of craftsmanship.
SPEAKER_02How many people, how many craftsmen will you graduate? You know, like so it just depends on the welding you talk about.
SPEAKER_01Welding there's different types of welders, right? You have the your plate welders and you move to stick pipe, and then you have uh you you have people that are tig welders, and then that moves into exotic metals, and then welding is Such an art. It's somewhat of a gift. You know, it's like playing the piano. If you have the skill, you can learn the skill, but if you have the if you just have the innate ability, you can take it to a whole other level. And that and that's odd. Anyone can work hard and do the craft and be successful with it. Some people have the ability to take it to the next level. And the amount of money that they can make is what are the numbers of people that you graduate? So we just had a graduating class. We just had a ceremony. Um, and I think between the apprentices and the graduates, we we put out a couple of hundred people. Now, these are people that are going through sometimes, you know, a four-year apprenticeship or sometimes a two-year craft training uh course. And a lot of them are working during the day with their jobs and coming to us at night. They're getting up at four or five o'clock in the morning, working a full day of work on a job site, right, and then coming to us for three hours, two nights a week. You do electricians too? We do. We have electricians and instrument techs and HVAC people and welders, uh uh pipe fitters. Um, we're getting ready to train for these data centers. We're gonna have a data center technician coming out, you know, in the in the next year or so as we work through this meta project. But yeah, it's really interesting. The advocacy piece, the training piece, safety. Safety's paramount in what we do, right? That that we believe in world-class safety as an organization. What does that mean? That means not just being safe on a job site and wearing the proper PPE and having the morning talks before you folks go out into the field. Right. That means mental health too. Yeah, for sure. Right. And just total human health. Unfortunately, the construction industry is is laden with a lot of mental health issues. I mean, it it is one of the highest industries for suicide.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I didn't realize that to a couple of years ago. We have our little chips. We bat our chips. Uh, but yeah, that was shocking because I guess up and down, you know, employment, you're not knowing, you're working outside, you're worried about things. There's a number of very high strengths.
SPEAKER_01So we've wrapped our arms around that. We we teach a uh we have a certified instructor for vital cog training, which is basically suicide prevention. And that's something that's available to all of our members, right? So not only do we play and have fun with our members and they they get together for the common good, we come together to train, we come together for safety, we come together to make everybody better contractors, right? That's the whole purpose of the organization. It's that fourfold pillars of advocacy, training, safety, and then networking, right, Randy? I mean, you in y'all mentioned the women in construction one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So we're proud at ABC New Orleans Bayou. We have an extremely active, we've had three female chairs heads of our uh of our chapter. I'm the president CPO, but I report to a board of 22, and then there's an executive committee, and I get a new 22 people? Yes, I get it I get a new chair. That's a lot to do. Every year it is. Lots of personalities there. The executive committee slims it down a little bit. Um we also have an education trust that that deals with that side of the training and what we do, which is another completely separate board. But yeah, I report to that board of directors. Um every year I get a new boss, which is kind of fun. Different people, different walks of life. This year, my boss is from ISC Constructors, which is a big industrial electrical. Next year, my boss is is um with Landis Construction. He's done procurement and done several things there. So it it kind of goes back and forth between the commercial and industrial side. Occasionally I'll get um an associate member, which is somebody that's in uh insurance or law or you know, something that's helping the construction industry, but by and large, um it's somebody that is working for an industrial or a commercial contractor. So yeah, that is that is pretty neat. And that's I am the buffer between staff and management.
SPEAKER_02How many staff members do you have?
SPEAKER_01So we have seven staff folks on on hand.
SPEAKER_02Um But who who are the teachers in these cities? Those are different people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so that's a furtherance of staff. So a lot of the people that teach for us at night uh and will be teaching for us going forward.
SPEAKER_02Or not full-time employees, but they're working.
SPEAKER_01A lot of them are either retired or they're still working for their companies and they care again about the greater community. Yeah. And they're coming and teaching electrical, welding, instrumentation. Some of them are these high school instructors during the day. I know at um East St. John, at Hanville, those guys both don't they work for those school systems and they're teaching students crafts and trades and working with them during the day, but they're coming to us tonight and teach for us at night. And a lot of those same students, it's almost kind of like a step up that the best of the best that they have that show acumen and uh want to. They want to care, they care. They they they they come. Yeah, and uh so it's a it's a great community that's been built up uh on the workforce side and on just the the membership side of what we do. I I'd be regressed you if I didn't mention you said the networking, but Randy, you guys have been in things. I mean we do we we do a funny van at rock and bowl, we do a clay chute, we do two golf tournaments, we have uh an excellence in construction gala where we we promote all the projects that people have done. We're at the World War II me museum this time. So it's it's truly you mentioned w uh women in construction, yeah, young professionals. These are groups or subgroups within our organization, again, member-led. Member-led group.
SPEAKER_02Do you think you have a reasonable number of small contractors? Or do you feel most of your guys are bigger contractors?
SPEAKER_01It's a mix of both, but there's room to grow, right? The subcontractor community is so large, right?
SPEAKER_02That that is there, there's almost I just I have a feeling like some of those guys, they're kind of small. It's intimidating. They're gonna come, you know, like I I would like to see them, and I mentioned this uh a while back, is as as they come in, I would have interested in you know being a part of the sort of a mentoring piece uh component of it.
SPEAKER_01I would love that because subs really work for all of the GCs, right?
SPEAKER_02Not just subs, but small GCs, but also I I think yes, there's a place for subs. Isn't there a subs organization in there is but it's not a real active Well they they don't have a brick and mortar facility.
SPEAKER_01We we're we're we we're friendly with them, right? Um and a lot of those folks are members of us too. So but there's many more I think that aren't really affiliated with anybody that should be members for us.
SPEAKER_02So really what I'm getting at is your organization is so important. What are the roadblocks? What are the things that are keeping you like what is it that you're trying to knock down so that it's more inclusive and people feel well?
SPEAKER_01I'm always trying to push away barriers that say, you know, you are pigeonholed in this political sphere, or that that you don't you I think sometimes we get misread as um we only represent a piece of the construction community. And that's not true. You want to represent it. Right. We you know the old saying uh uh rising tide brings up all ships. I firmly believe in that, and that and that's what we need with the state level and the greater New Orleans region. I think it's essential uh in the construction industry um for everybody to come to good to come together for the the good of the whole community. And I and you're seeing it in some instances, and then there's some people that kind of want to go in their corners and do their own thing, and and that's fine. Who are those? Um I'm not gonna name names, but they're they're it's it's actually a short-sighted view because when something big like COVID happens or you have a catastrophic event like devastation from a hurricane or something like that, that they they they're it's harder to function as as an entity. Whereas if you have a greater community, um you can come together and and and really build some things.
SPEAKER_02So but even even that, I mean, even not just when there's you know some catastrophic event, but just the little small things along the way. Me coming to your crawfish ball, meeting people that I would have never met otherwise. Those are really, really great opportunities. And when you feel at home, you feel invited, you feel like as though you belong. All of those new relationships, like I don't know any of those people uh in Baton Rouge, but every one of them has you know opportunity for me to talk to them and share with them.
SPEAKER_01And there's opportunity, right?
SPEAKER_02And they and then that turns into work, you know. I'm not out there intentionally looking for it.
SPEAKER_01Commercial and industrial guys become friends, then they end up becoming godfather of each other's, they get involved in an organization, they build a friendship, they build a bond, and they end up working together sometimes. Right. Sometimes they're building personal relationships, and that opens a whole new. I mean, I I know for instance, I can think of a few right off the top of my head where uh a commercial guy uh grew up in Plackerman, not Plackerman's parish, and another. Man Rouge Plackman. Yeah, like rich with industry and what have you, Iberville Parish. Right. Um and another guy, they're both on my executive committee, and they're both young guys in their late 30s, early 40s. They're the they're the next generation of leaders in construction. Right. And and the other guy is uh in the in the insurance business or or in the um He's a member? Yeah, um Insurance Business. Jason Jason Corey. I'm trying to they not only do insurance. Oh, Corey Tucker and LaRoe, which is a a a great group.
SPEAKER_02So Jason is is Stephen Corey's son. Son, yes.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Um I was staying away from names, but it's it's Kenny Durwan. That's how he says it. I say Deruin. He doesn't he doesn't uh but he says Durwon, he's with performance contractors and and Jason. And um they've built a beautiful friendship. Yeah, and yet they're gonna they're gonna layer each other in years. So I mentioned I have uh Pete Denham from ISC right now, then Jamie Kristovich from Landis, then I get Jason Corey, and then I'll get Kenny.
SPEAKER_02Um and these people probably never meet each other otherwise. Like I'm a member of CFMA, and I've met people from all over the United States because of peer groups that I've been uh I've been part of. Yeah, I might pick up the phone and call a contractor in Denver that's friends with me. You know, it's like I would have never met these people otherwise. Where? Where could I?
SPEAKER_01Which is unique about our organization, too, right? We have this unique local community of contractors that you can, but also that's another point to ABC and why it's good to be a member. There's 67 chapters around the United States. Yeah. So if you're doing work in another part of the United States or world, I guess we're in Guam and Puerto Rico too. Okay. Um that there's the possibility worldwide for them to say, hey, Jeb, do you know somebody in Tennessee or California or Illinois or Florida, wherever, wherever? And I can say, yeah, let me call that, let me call my equivalent, the the whoever's the president of that chapter, and we can help put you in touch with some subcontractors, or you know, you want to bid on a project and you just want to get ingrained in the local community. That's a place I know um for a fact on the Florida Gulf Coast, we've had two or three of our member companies just set up offices there recently in the last five years. And I was the conduit introducing them to the head of that ABC chapter from the staff standpoint, and they've integrated and and it's a success story for everybody.
SPEAKER_02Do you have these big national companies like CBRE, JLL, CSRS? Are these people members?
SPEAKER_01Some of them are, and some of them are of some kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02Can they be chapters, different chapters? Yeah. They may be a part of one chapter somewhere in that.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. And some of them, so wherever the first chapter that you join, that your your national membership goes through that chapter. But we have several of our own companies. You mentioned the big industrial guys and even some of the commercial guys that are members of multiple ABC chapters. And every chapter is unique and has its own kind of feeling of what they do and who they represent and how they train, and everything's a little different. But what brings us all together are those four basic pillars or principles of we talked about again. I'm just gonna safety, networking, advocacy, and training. I mean, that is ABC.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And so it if you look in in terms of like what's happening in New Orleans right now, you mentioned a couple of jobs. Just give us the highlights of what's going on. Oshner's got two major things going. You got the Omni Hotel that you spoke about. It's it's exciting. You got the Meta Center, which is kind of not New Orleans.
SPEAKER_01No, but like if you look at New Orleans proper well just look at the region, downriver in Plackman's Paris, right? I haven't been down there.
SPEAKER_02Because there's a there's a you can't get down there because there's a a traffic jam going south.
SPEAKER_01Right. But they're getting ready to to double the size of that thing in the next few years. So you have that, and just with AI and data centers are taking off. Um you definitely have your tradition. Look at what's going on with the LSU hospitals and Ashner Hospital, and there's a lot of building with in that community. And then um schools, right? I mean, you saw a complete review of the inventory after Hurricane Katrina, but you're still seeing a lot of different things um built. I mean, the the discovery schools and the the charter system that we have in the area, and just traditional schools. You're seeing in Jefferson Parish. I'm watching the consolidation as the population has aged and changed, right?
SPEAKER_02They're they're you know shifting some and they're looking to you see major, two major schools going up in Jefferson Parish, and another third getting ready to come out. So that's big, big Absolutely. Uh big work coming.
SPEAKER_01So, and but a lot of that is we talked about New Orleans has to grow, right? Or the region has to grow, or the state has to grow. And as that grows, when you see cranes in the sky, yeah, that's a good thing. That's a good thing. That that means we're growing. Life is happening.
SPEAKER_02How do you how how does ABC relate to Louisiana Contractor's Licensing Board? I mean, is there is there any kind of connective to the right?
SPEAKER_01There is. So we we have um, I think by nature of the statute, we get a certain amount of appointments that that the governor appoints, but they have to come from ABC and there's several associations. And I know for a fact we have one of our members, he's a past chair, Kyle Condon, with Landis Construction, sits on sits on that board. So that's an important piece for us, right?
SPEAKER_02Do you have to do like can you influence the you know the direction of the law for contractors?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely absolutely. So I think in in one of our talks, we talked about um following the public bid law is something that we believe in strongly, right? And you you've you've had a couple of people try to skirt around that. And I think that contractor licensing board is extremely important to that, right? I mean, if you've a lot of if you have a municipality or somebody that's breaking the rules, I mean that's I guess that's another function really of that board, but of our association, we're we are celebrating everyone and the good work that they're doing. But if somebody is a bad actor in the community, we we want them to be penalized and put on the side and put in time out and said, Hey, you got to do this the right way.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01So that licensing board, we definitely have influence there. We'd like to grow our influence there. Um it it it does represent um, I guess, sort of a regulatory group that that that helps maintain that we do things the right.
SPEAKER_02Is there only those two chapters in Louisiana, Pell? There is.
SPEAKER_01So just we're blessed. I mean, Texas has a bunch of chapters and and what are the poor people in Shreeport doing? Well, they they they're we're servicing them roundabout and we're gonna. What's happening? I mean, Arkansas is helping them too. Okay, you know, I mean, so yeah, with 67 chapters around the country, it's interesting because in the Carolinas, they have one chapter for North Carolina and South Carolina. So we're two states.
SPEAKER_02So we're doing better.
SPEAKER_01So they have councils in all of these municipalities that kind of function as their own little independent subgroups within the greater. So it's just set up differently. And you know, in California you have a bunch of chapters, Texas, you have a bunch of chapters, uh, Pennsylvania has a bunch of chapters. In Louisiana, we have two. And it's really, I would say there's more commonality between the two chapters than difference, other than I would say in the Baton Rouge and Lake Charles, they are much more heavily industrial. I would say in Greater New Orleans, we are a mix uh between commercial and industrial construction.
SPEAKER_02So I'm going to talk about uh the future a little bit and we'll start to think about wrapping it up. But what do you think is you know happening in the next 10 years for ABC and how does AI and artificial intelligence and all of that affect and influence the future, in your opinion?
SPEAKER_01Aaron Powell I think it's it's so exciting and scary at the same time, right? I mean, we're on the wave. I mean, I I come from the area er era of uh being a little kid and and turning the knob on a black and white TV, seeing that turn in the cable and then seeing the internet take off, and and I could go on for stories forever. Then now we control everything in a in our phone to now we're involved with this meta project, and and they're giving us these glasses that you can talk to and they're gonna tell you something. Right, right. Um, but but so in our industry in particular, it it's affecting uh everything, right? I mean, the things that used to take hours and days and weeks, you can take a best practice and have that replicated through AI. That's right. There's always dangers, but I think technology is incredible. It's typically it hits Louisiana a little bit later than it's hit some other places, but I think now we're becoming a little more technologically adept. And and I think I think I don't want to speak out of turn, but I think you with these big companies investing in Louisiana, I think you're gonna see more investment from. I mean, there's there's a lot of rumors that uh some land has been bought in southwest Louisiana, and and Elon Musk, who to me is a pioneer in not just AI, but just the next wave of entrepreneurs and and the wave of the future, uh those types of companies, you know, maybe making a major investment in in South Louisiana. How exciting would that be? But like it changes how I put an agenda for a board meeting together to it changing how um you uh adopt files and I don't know, I think it's endless. Um, and and as you try to get your arms around it, it just explodes and it becomes and so yeah. I think you can look at that two ways. You can you can look at it scary and say everything's getting uh automated and robots are gonna take over, or you can say life is ever changing and technology is part of that, and you can adopt it and you can book it can make you better. And I think that's the direction we have to go.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, I I want to thank you.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. This was a joy.
SPEAKER_02I want to thank you for coming. And you've always been that guy, welcoming, inviting. The the membership, your group, uh, I think is influenced by your leadership and the way you handle yourself. And so I want to particularly say thank you for that.
SPEAKER_01And we're blessed for members like y'all, right? We need we need more Tashes in the world. We need more folks to get involved that can see above just what they because everybody's busy, right? I mean, I tell the our staff all the time, they their primary job is is their business, right? We're secondary. So it's our job to be and b I like to say we are the ambassadors of yes in the construction industry.
SPEAKER_02I think as a young man, I would say, why would I join a group that's a bunch of my competitors as G general contractors? Right. And then as I grew a little older, I said, Oh, there's a little value. And then there's a tremendous value. So I think as you mature and you get a little bit older, you see the value in the organization. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01So I appreciate everything you do. I appreciate y'all having me today. It's it's it's fun to do this and to to talk about something that I love and that I have passion for. Absolutely. And that comes around.
SPEAKER_02Well, Jab Bruno, thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Randy. Thank you all to everybody. It was great to be here.