Austin Industrial Recognized at ABC Inaugural Celebration

Austin Industrial was recognized in many ways during the recent Greater Houston Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) inaugural celebration.  Austin was cited as member of the year for its depth of involvement with ABC and the Construction and Maintenance Education Foundation (CMEF).  Through the years, Austin has provided chairpersons for the industrial, PAC, safety, membership, B&F, craft training and executive committees.  The company has had a representative on the ABC board for more than two decades and the CMEF board continuously since its inception.  Austin has provided two local chairpersons and a national ABC chairman in 2001.

Also during the inaugural celebrations, Butch Ford, Austin Industrial manager of training and development, was recognized for his leadership as chairman of the CMEF during 2007.  During that year, the CMEF saw the ground-breaking for its new facility in Deer Park, Texas; training levels at record highs; an increase in CMEF contributions from four cents per work hour to six cents per work hour; and the development of basic construction training curricula through working with the Construction Careers Institute (CCI).

John Brightwell, Austin Industrial safety manager, was recognized as ABC committee chariman of the year.  He has accepted the chairman's responsibility four years in a row and has set some ambitious goals.  Brightwell helped develop the OSHA Partnership for the past three years and has worked to develop a safety culture among safety professionals through brown-bag workshops.