1/27/12 Welcome to our newest Executive Women's Circle Member

Welcome to our newest Executive Women's Circle Member

Please meet our newest Executive Women's Circle Member, Sandy Andritsis, who is President of Q.C. Enterprises, Inc., in Chicago. Sandy started her business 17 years ago because she had a passion for restoring natural stone; marble, terrazzo and granite. That has now evolved into a full service organization providing design and installation of new surfaces, plus janitorial services and a unique service to advise building owners and designers about the maintenance properties/problems of a proposed hard surface. Welcome to WCOE, Sandy, we are delighted to have you with us. You can welcome Sandy by emailing sandy@qcenterprises.com.

A hearty welcome to our new
Board Member

Dana Mattern has just accepted appointment to the WCOE Board of Directors as the Corporate Alliance Chair. Dana will help WCOE identify potential Corporation Alliance Partners and will participate in discussions with them to convince them of the merits of becoming aligned with our fastest growing professional trade association in the country. Dana is the Government Contracts Manager at 84 Lumber which is one of WCOE's stellar Corporate Alliance Partners. (Few people know that 84 Lumber is also a woman-owned enterprise! )

WCOE Welcomes A New
California Member

A special welcome to Jennifer Everhart, President & CEO of Summit Drywall & Painting in Concord, CA. As the company name implies, Jennifer's company is a drywall and painting subcontractor with a stack of projects from Travis AFB to the Old Cannery Building in Oakland to a major $700K T.I. project for rising biotech star Integenex. Jennifer has spent the last 18 years in construction and brings a financial background to her role as CEO. You can welcome Jennifer aboard by emailing her at jeneverhart@summitsdp.com.

WCOE joins endorsers of
letter to CFPB

A broad coalition of small business groups has joined together to send a warning letter to the new Presidential Appointee head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray.

The full text of the letter is available on our website. The synopsis is to remind the new agency Director of the impact new CFPB regulations will have on small business and the cost of onerous new regulations. This is particularly important as the CFPB begins issuing regulations to implement its portions of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill.

WCOE invited to testify to Congressional Committee

On February 9th, WCOE President Rosana Privitera Biondo will appear before the House Committee on Small Business to provide testimony about construction, regulation, contracting, bonding, capital and a myriad of other issues relevant to all WCOE members. It is a testament to WCOE's growing clout on Capitol Hill and the efforts of our Legislative Advocate, Ann Sullivan, who continues to push for recognition of the significantly increasing numbers of WCOE members. Good luck, Rosie, we know you will set a new high standard for women construction owners and executives.

House Committee on Small Business to promote new legislation

After months, if not years, of research the HCSB has issued a manifesto calling for new legislation to fix government contracting as it relates to small business. Addressing many of the issues that WCOE has complained about for years, the legislation would provide teeth for punishing federal agencies that don't meet their small business contracting goals, would expand those same goals from 23% to 25%, mandate training classes about small business for Procurement Center Representatives, prohibits the proposed Presidential Executive Order requiring disclosure of political contributions on bid documents, establishes a government-wide subcontracting goal of 40%, and provides a plethora of WCOE's wish-list items. You can read the full content of the proposal on our website. As always, the question will become once it passes through the House, what will happen to it in the Senate. Ann Sullivan will be addressing this question and the proposed legislation at the Annual Conference on February 6th.

Do you have electrical creds?

If so, and you are in Southern California – or want to relocate to Southern California – the East Los Angeles Occupational Center in Los Angeles is urgently looking for electrical instructors. With President Obama's call this week in his State of the Union message for more occupational training, the focus is likely to be more and more on getting better collaboration between businesses and trade schools.

The ELAOC needs instructors for: Electrical Fundamentals, Residential Wiring, Commercial Wiring, Industrial Electrical, Programmable Logic Controls and Solar Photovoltaic. Time is of the essence as the new semester starts within a few weeks.

If you have 5 years experience as an electrician and are interested, contact Dave Rowcliffe at dtr2615@lausd.net.

But wait – there's another
teaching opportunity

W.I.N.T.E.R. (Women In Non Traditional Employment Roles) is also looking for an instructor. This is a private, non-profit organization that provides young people and women with opportunities to develop themselves academically, professionally and personally. They are seeking a full-time Instructor for Construction and Building Trades and Safety. The position is responsible for the successful establishment of “WINTERGreen” job training programs and ensuring the recruitment and completion of 200 adult women and 100 youth participant's education, job training, support services and placement in registered apprenticeships and green industries.

The position is open until filled and more information is available by contacting Alexandra Torres Galancid, Executive Director, WINTER, 213.749.3970. You can also check out their website at www.winterwomen.org.

Are you an open shop contractor?

The open shop construction trade organization, Associated Builders and Contractors, is holding its annual convention, BizCon, in Phoenix AZ, on February 21-23, 2012. They have a stellar line-up of TV personality speakers with Neil Cavuto and Charles Krauthammer, plus their Chief Economist Anirban Basu. (Note: Anirban is also a speaker at WCOE's own Annual Conference on February 4, 2012!) Best of all, because ABC is a Strategic Alliance Partner of WCOE, all of our members will receive the ABC member registration rate. More information is available on their conference website at www.abc.org/BizCon. If you want to attend, please call Penny at 202.276.0646 for the discount code to use!

Women Construction Owners and Executives
www.wcoeusa.org | info@wcoeusa.org