The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company “Get Down to Business”
The New Year, 2019 started off with our federal government in a partial shutdown mode. Here, in the DMV region, with our nation’s capital being in the epic center of federal contractors’ domain many DBE/MBE/WBE’s are experiencing pain in loss of revenue due to the shutdown. However, the political decision to stop government spending in various aspects did not halt, The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company (W-T) from producing its very popular and enabling “Get Down to Business”, opportunity sessions for minority and women owned contracting trades. Instead, W-T plowed right ahead with the first of four, 2019, quarterly such exchanges in the DMV region at their regional office in Greenbelt, Maryland hosted by Susan Castellan, VP in charge.
“W-T a 110-year-old construction management company, understands that work must still be done and in the DMV, minority and women business enterprise is very important to their corporate DNA, success and bottom line”, said Wayne R. Frazier, Sr., President of Md. Washington Minority Companies Association (MWMCA).
MWMCA, traveled down I-95 to join the empowering occasion and we were greeted by two of W-T’s mainstays Joanna “Joey” Harmon, Corporate Small/Diversity Business Liaison and Bernard “Bernie” LaHatte, Vice President along with thirty or so of their corporate project managers. On display, were twenty-five major projects they are pursuing or have secured to commence in 2019 and beyond. Projects such as K-12 school construction, major health care facility construction, multi-family, retail and government construction are all seeking skilled trades. Also, it is important to note, that many of the projects are owned and being developed by private parties where social-economic inclusion like minority and women enterprise or disadvantage business enterprise inclusion is not required by the owners. But, still, W-T is seeking inclusion on those projects because they understand that getting the best price and trade experience produces the best results for the owners. Plus, as a CM, there is a constant demand for skilled trades.
Antonio Villanueva, Owner and Principal of Global HVAC, LLC a state certified MBE, was there with his team of estimators and said “these series of Get Down to Business in the DC region and in Baltimore, allows us the opportunity to pursue multi-projects at one time. No other prime CM does this and I am grateful.”
Randy Charlemagne, Operations Manager with Bulldog Group, LLC, a trucking, fleet management and aggregate material supply certified minority business was present and said, “Whiting-Turner keeps winning projects and offering my company and scores of others fresh and new opportunities to keep our back log full. We are pleased!”
Marcus Mosby, Business Development Manager, Plexus Group said, “Whiting-Turners “Get Down to Business” events have proven to be invaluable to Plexus Group over the years in creating numerous, mutually beneficial contracting opportunities with an experienced and trusted GC.”
Whiting-Turner’s planning its next “Get Down to Business”, for the Baltimore region in February – March 2019 time frame so stay tuned and come prepared to zero in on your specific trade area and bring plenty of business calling cards!
In the meantime, let’s all pray for a speedy resolution and conclusion of the federal government shutdown!
Contact:
Bernard LaHatte
Phone: 410-821-1100
