ERMCO Chairman, Darrell Gossett, attended the NECA District IV Meeting at NECA National Headquarters in Bethesda, MD on August 30th and 31st. Darrell was there representing the signatory contractors as Governor of the NECA Central Indiana Chapter. He was elected to the Governor’s position by his fellow contractors in January, 2016. Also in attendance representing the Chapter was Steve Gottfried of Service Electric, Chapter President and Ted Uppole, Chapter Executive Manager.
The meeting, which occurs bi-annually, brings together the Governors, Presidents and Chapter Managers of all NECA Chapters in District IV, which includes three chapters in Indiana, four in Illinois, two in Michigan, two in Wisconsin, along with the Quad Cities Chapter in Iowa.
This year’s summer meeting began with a tour of the NECA national headquarters facility on Wednesday. NECA occupies approximately 20,000 square feet of office space at their Bethesda headquarters which is about 6 miles from the U.S. Capitol building. Over 40 NECA employees work out of the Bethesda office. NECA National currently employees 92 individuals throughout the country, including field representatives in all ten Districts across the U.S.
Thursday’s meeting included presentations and updates from John Grau, NECA CEO; Dan Walter, COO; Russ Alessi, President of ELECTRI International; Mir Mustafa, Executive Director of Business Development; Stephanie Adamec, Executive Director of Education; Marco Giamberadino, Executive Director of Government Affairs; Chuck Kelly, Executive Director of Labor Relations; Wes Wheeler, Director of Safety; Joey Shorter, Director of Research; and Steve Krieg, Regional Director. Field Rep. Dave Ward also presented a new standardized wage form to be used throughout Districts IV and VII, which will be of great benefit to travelling contractors.
Finally, the Governors, Presidents and Chapter Executives had the opportunity to present on topics and events taking place in their Chapters they feel would be beneficial to the others in attendance. Several ideas and current events taking place were brought to the group and excellent dialog took place among the group, information they can take back and put to use in their home chapters.
These meetings are crucial in unifying the union electrical contracting industry and making sure everyone throughout the NECA family is well informed and has the best tools and information to improve their individual companies. Gossett, Gottfried and Uppole will share the information with all of the member contractors in the Central Indiana Chapter through newsletters, mailings and at upcoming meetings. The Governors will be meeting again on October 7th at the NECA National Convention in Boston, MA. Darrell Gossett is honored to serve the Chapter and his fellow contractors as their Governor and looks forward to his continued service to the organization.