On April 24-27, three craft professionals from Olin, Claude Cooper (pipe fitting), Christopher Hunt (electrical)  and Seth Lunsford (pipe welding), will compete in their respective crafts at the ABC National Craft Championship in San Antonio, Texas. The National Craft Championships are the embodiment of ABC’s continuing commitment to foster growth and excellence in training among our nation’s future workforce.

These three talented men have been tirelessly training for over 6 months to compete in an intense two-day event that turns a convention center into an active construction site. These professional craftworkers will use their skills and knowledge to compete head-to-head with their peers to be recognized for their construction achievements.

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Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Shades Valley YMCA expansion and renovation project were held on Thursday, March 29. The project, which will modernize the facility and make it more family friendly, includes the following:

- 4,000 square feet to the front of the building, which will include a new lobby entrance, new cardio, strength and free weights areas and a teen tech­nology center.

- New locker rooms, group exercise room, group cycling workout room, nursery/child watch area and family changing rooms.

- A new pool with water slides and splash park.

Robins & Morton is scheduled to finish the project in December 2012.

Penny Manuel is Executive Vice President, Engineering and Construction Services for Southern Company. She is responsible for directing the engineering and construction of new generation, as well as environmental and retrofit projects, and assuring they are completed in a safe, efficient and cost-effective manner. Throughout this month Robins & Morton will profile some of the women who have paved the way and who continue to climb the ladder of success here at our company and our client industries. From the job site to the corporate office we salute the women forging ahead in the construction industry.

Six of Alabama’s leading women in construction

BY NEDRA BLOOM
As seen in March 2012 Article from Business Alabama

Mittie Cannon

Master Crafts Trainer
Mittie Cannon
Trainer
Robins & Morton
Birmingham

“My passion is to help develop the craft professional,” says Mittie Cannon. In her role as director of workforce development for Robins & Morton in Birmingham, she can do just that.

Now she holds a doctorate in education, but two decades ago, when she first graduated from college, she opted for a job rather than further education. “I was tired of being broke so I chose a job,” Cannon says. As a biology and chemistry major, she was delighted with the job doing contract drug testing. “I didn’t realize it would land me on a job construction site.”

But a month after taking the job, she was off to Georgia. Arriving in high heels and hose at the jobsite trailer for the project’s ironworkers, she was sure she had made a mistake. Fifty pairs of eyes from some of the roughest-looking guys she had ever seen evaluated her as she made her way from one end of the double wide to the other.

“But I wasn’t known as a quitter,” she says, so she started the next day by checking in with the human resources manager who gave her great advice about not making snap judgments. “These guys may look like whatever,” he told her, “but they have a heart of gold and they’re very talented and very smart.”

She stuck it out and discovered that the workers were indeed wonderful people. Moreover, as she sat in her office, looking out over the jobsite, she became curious about what it would be like to work in the field rather than the office. She even took a welding class to build some skills.

But it took a number of years, and a marriage to her electrical engineer husband, before she was able to find out. He would take a month as a journeyman electrician and she could be his helper, if she would find a job for them at a shut down. She scanned the hot sheet and, on her third try, found an HR person who was willing to take on the husband-wife team.

Though she was recognized instantly as green — new boots, new tools, new tool belt—she was grudgingly accepted. On the third day, she was assigned to a different journeyman, not her husband, who was frustrated by her inexperience and by his feeling that women didn’t belong in the field. “But when he realized I was there for the right reasons, I wasn’t afraid of getting dirty, I wanted to get the job done safely and right for the clients,” he came around.

Despite the long hours, she enjoyed it and developed a real respect for the craft workers, she says.

She kept in touch with the job superintendent and was invited back to work on another project, but this time she worked in the office, learning to read drawings and more. Not long after, while working with a women’s support group at a Florida site, one of the executives asked her to come to Birmingham for an interview. And within a week, she was on the way to her first corporate training job, with the old BE&K. She joined Robins & Morton in 2011.

She enjoys arranging training programs for all craft workers, “but everybody knows I’m all about women in construction,” she says. For a number of years she even led a special construction camp to help young women learn the basics.

Whether the training is offered to men or women, it’s a benefit to the company, she says.

“Without great craft people, you have nothing,” Cannon says. “It’s the human element that’s so important, that often gets lost in corporate America. It’s our greatest asset. Strategies and best practices are nothing compared to great people.”

Corporate Office
Birmingham, Alabama
Years in the Industry: 19

Carol Copeland, IT Director, calls herself a tomboy and says her appreciation for construction actually started in childhood.  “Raised on a farm and the youngest of three daughters, my dad was always building something, and I was right in the middle of whatever it was.” Even though Carol admits she never set out to pursue a career in construction and technology the two have been a perfect fit. “Technology fascinates me and I was comfortable in the construction environment because I love how things fit together to make a finished product.”

Carol admits that the technology we know today was unheard of when she began her career in the 1970’s. “I had no idea I’d end up in IT,  it didn’t even exist in my world back then.” With an accounting degree, she actually started with the company as a staff accountant, but given her interest and propensity with technology Robins & Morton provided her with the opportunity to pursue a career in IT.

Today Carol is the Director of the IT Department at Robins & Morton and oversees a staff of five. “We manage anything technology related, from the network to the infrastructure, applications, security, copiers and everything in between for all offices and jobsite locations.”

Carol describes the opportunities for women in construction this way: “It’s very rewarding and fulfilling work. Construction provides a great opportunity for women today.”

The mother of one son says, “I don’t currently have a granddaughter, but if I did, I would encourage her to consider going into the construction industry, it can be very gratifying.”

MaineGeneral Regional Hospital
Augusta, Maine
Years in the Industry: 3

Skyler Sanford is a Field Engineer working on her first project with Robins & Morton since graduating from Auburn University last spring. Robins & Morton is using many advanced forms of technology for lay-out and document control to help manage construction on a 640,00 square foot hospital in Augusta, Maine.  That’s where Skyler comes in. She’s responsible for plan updates in the field and office, aiding in the Building Information Modeling efforts, and document control.

“I really love the people I’m working with. It makes me love what I do even more”. Skyler is a long way from Alabama working on the 3-year project, but she says she’s right at home in the construction industry and with her project team.

“My dad is in construction and I always knew I wanted to be able to manage some sort of projects, just not necessarily weddings or parties. When my dad mentioned construction, I figured I’d give it a try.” Skyler has grown up in the construction industry, visiting residential jobsites with her father from a young age.  “I would say it’s very exciting being in the field. Things change every single day. It’s definitely a lot different from being in an office.”

Skyler says most of the women she sees in the field are architects or interior designers. “Actually, I’ve been surprised by the amount of women I’ve seen. Because of the nature of this project, I’ve been able to see women on this project who are electrical or mechanical engineers or who work for subcontractors and architects.”

There’s no doubt she would encourage any young woman to consider following in her footsteps. “I think the main thing I would relay to women considering going into the construction industry is that it’s high risk, high reward. You get to see something come from the ground up, but it takes a lot of time, effort, and responsibility to see that happen.”

In a few years when she’s completed work on the MaineGeneral New Regional Hospital, she says she’ll have a lot to be proud of. “It’ll be one heck of a challenging and exciting road to get there, but I’ll be so thankful that we’ve helped the people of Augusta and gotten so many local subcontractors involved. I feel like we will have really helped out an area in need.”