By Lauren Pinch, Construction Executive Assistant Editor
ABC’s Incoming Chairman Transitions from Petrochemical Industry to Association Leadership
Did you know that 85 percent of the construction industry chooses not to belong to a construction union? Well if you didn’t, Mike Uremovich is going to change that.
Uremovich, who takes the reins this year as
Associated Builders and Contractors’ (ABC) national chairman, is making it his mission to stand loud and proud in defense of merit shop construction. After all, he wouldn’t be where he is today if not for a steadfast belief in free enterprise and standing on the merits of one’s own high-caliber work.
Born to Croatian parents in Merrillville, Ind., about 35 miles east of the South Chicago suburbs and 30 miles south of Gary, Ind., Uremovich grew up in the crossroads between industry and farming. His father owned a slaughterhouse and a meatpacking plant. At the core of the family was a strong work ethic and even stronger patriotism.
“My father always instilled in me that this is the greatest country in the world, and that you can achieve whatever you set your mind to,” he says.
As one of seven kids, he worked in the meatpacking plant until he was 21, foregoing college to learn the family business. But realizing he needed a new challenge, Uremovich looked to the construction industry for a growth opportunity.
“When I left my dad’s business to go into construction, my dad said if things didn’t work out I could come back. But I never looked back,” he says.
In primarily unionized northern Indiana, Uremovich thought his best chance at advancement was with becoming a union boilermaker. Mastering the craft for seven years, he worked for two different companies that specialized in oil refinery and chemical plant construction—first, Atlas Welding and Engineering, and then Union Mechanical.
In 1983, an economic downturn hit, and Uremovich was forced to join the unemployment line. “That was such a humiliating experience that I said, ‘I’m never going to do this again.’ I had a pickup truck and a welding machine, and I decided, ‘All right. I’m just going to start my own company.’”
Uremovich’s one-man operation began in Hobart, Ind., just outside Merrillville. He managed small industrial projects, mostly for clients in northern Illinois, using his kitchen table as his desk. After nine months of commuting, he decided to set up shop in Manhattan, Ill., with a small garage adjoined by one small trailer—
STARCON ’s first office.
As the company grew and Uremovich hired a few team members, he gradually picked up more small contracts for oil clients including Unical (which later became Citgo Petroleum), Union 76 and Mobil Oil (now Exxon Mobil). He bought a 1,000-square-foot space for a headquarters office, which over time expanded to a space encompassing 17,000 square feet.
The emerging company held its own in a primarily unionized and highly competitive region.
“In the Chicago area, as you can imagine 27 years ago, it was a very strong union environment. And we were able to come in, in a down economy, and show clients that we were a better value. We were multi-crafted, our charge-out rate was $10 less than the competition, and people were looking to cut costs just like they are today,” Uremovich says.
“Good work brings more work. We started very small and just kept working on our reputation.”
STARCON soon expanded into union strongholds such as Detroit; Canton, Ohio; and St. Paul, Minn.
“The oil industry seems like a huge industry, but it really is very small and close-knit. There are only 134 refineries in the United States; everyone knows each other. And once one company [in the Chicago area] made the move and said, ‘We’re going to bring in a merit shop contractor,’ and they were successful, then other plants saw that and said, ‘Why can’t we do it, too?’
“Owners should be allowed to choose who provides the best value,” he says.
The business model proved successful. Uremovich and his leadership team grew the company into a $200-million-a-year business with more than 1,500 team members that performed work in 29 states and in five countries. STARCON International became a renowned specialist in mechanical and turnaround services for major petrochemical projects, such as the Marathon petroleum refinery expansion in Garyville, La.
The company recently reached the milestone of more than 10 million hours without a lost-time incident. It won multiple awards from ABC for outstanding technical expertise, safety and project management, as well as several safety awards from the National Petroleum Refiners Association. For the past seven years in a row, STARCON International earned
ABC’s Safety Training and Evaluation Process (STEP) Platinum Award.
New Opportunities
In November, STARCON International became a wholly owned subsidiary of
The Cianbro Companies, Pittsfield, Maine, in an acquisition that will expand both companies’ services and capacity in the refining and petrochemical industry. The pairing allows the companies to extend their reach to a broader geographic area and offer enhanced services in modular manufacturing, as well as pipe and steel fabrication and coating. STARCON’s headquarters moved to La Porte, Texas, while its regional offices are located in Manhattan, Ill., Gonzales, La., and Fairfield, Conn.
With the acquisition, Uremovich stepped down as CEO and chairman of STARCON to head Great Lakes Energy Consultants, a company that assists industrial construction clients with planning and scheduling, reliability improvement, development of a multi-craft workforce and improving safety processes and performance.
These areas of expertise are in keeping with Uremovich’s core values when he led STARCON: a safe working environment, quality, integrity, accountability, customer satisfaction, team member development and community support.
“I like the people side of the business,” he says. In particular, he’s a strong believer in engaging the younger generation to take an interest in the trades, rather than letting them fall under the misconception that college is the only option for career advancement.
“We have so many people that came here right out of high school and are now in senior management positions because they’ve got the desire to learn, and they’ve got the right attitude,” he says.
As 2011 national chairman of ABC, Uremovich plans to bring his passion for workforce development to the chapters and members of the organization. Combating the skilled worker shortage tops his priority list for the year.
“I think the biggest challenge we’re all losing sight of, because of the down economy, is the shortage of skilled craftspeople,” he says. “When the economy turns around, we will continue to have baby boomers retiring. And they’re not only retiring from construction. When I talk to my oil refinery clients, most of them say 50 percent of their workforce is going to be retiring in the next five years.”
In addition to filling the void, he hopes ABC’s workforce training initiatives will restore pride in the industry.
“Fifty years ago, there was pride in being a craft professional. Today, if you’re not going to college, you’re looked at as a failure, or a second-class citizen. We’ve got to get that pride back,” he says.
“We had welders at our company that made $100,000 a year. Many people coming out of college never make that much.”
The Merit Shop Message
Another top priority for Uremovich is educating the construction owner community and the general public that open shop contractors offer high-quality construction at a lower cost—and that they comprise 85 percent of the industry.
“When I start educating people that the vast majority of work in this country is done by free-enterprise merit shop contractors, it opens their eyes,” he says.
He says the free-enterprise message goes to the core of ABC, an organization that has been part of his life since the start of his entrepreneurial career. Uremovich’s relationship with ABC began when Patrick Dean, who in the 1980s worked in membership development for ABC’s Illinois Chapter (and now serves as president of ABC’s Virginia Chapter), knocked on Uremovich’s door, back when he was still operating out of a trailer.
Although the small company couldn’t afford the membership dues at the time, the visit made an impact.
When Uremovich ran into trouble with labor issues and faced a picket line a few years later, he reached out to ABC. “I’ve been involved ever since,” he says.
He helped the Illinois Chapter develop a legal rights manual for its members and became involved in grassroots politics. Then over time, he began to serve on several national committees to advance ABC’s safety and membership clout. In 2005, he received ABC’s prestigious Grassroots Member of the Year Award for displaying passion for political and legislative advocacy.
He joined the executive committee in 2006 as Region 2 vice chairman representing ABC members in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, and he remained in that role until 2009.
As 2011 national chairman of ABC, he has an ambitious agenda to put before legislators in Washington, D.C., including the elimination of union-only project labor agreements on state and federally funded projects.
“Years ago we coined the phrase, ‘When you think construction, you think ABC.’ I think that’s a great goal, but we haven’t done enough to make that a reality. My agenda is that everyone in this country understands that the merit shop provides the best value and performs the vast majority of work in this country.”
Uremovich hopes to achieve that goal with help from like-minded organizations, including the National Federation of Independent Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
He also wants to reach out to big name spokespersons and corporations to tout the value of merit shop training and apprenticeship programs. Not only does he hope ABC members can feed off the momentum of Alabama’s Go Build education and recruitment campaign, which is spearheaded by Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” Executive Producer and Host Mike Rowe and the Alabama Construction Recruitment Institute, but he also wants ABC and other construction organizations to pair with major equipment and tool manufacturers to promote skilled training opportunities.
“There will be no short-term gratification in this,” he says. “It’s going to take a lot of work over a long period of time, but we’ve got to have that vision out there.”
On the Farm and on the Road
Aside from leading ABC, Uremovich’s passions are farming, traveling and spending time with his family, all of whom live close to home. His oldest son Mike is head coach of the football team at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Ill. His younger son Matt played football for Georgia Tech and enlisted in the U.S. Army following graduation. He completed officer training school, became an Army Ranger, and completed two tours in Iraq before taking a position as a site manager for STARCON.
Uremovich is a grandfather of three, and soon to be four. (His son Mike has two children and his wife is expecting, and his son Matt has a newborn baby.)
Uremovich also has a daughter, who is 10 years old and has taken a liking to life on his family’s farm, which he purchased a few years ago. For him, working on the land and raising a few head of cattle is not only a hobby, but also a means to relax and focus. “That’s where I can really get my mind away from things,” he says.
He and his wife, Cheryl, hope to visit every ABC chapter across the country during 2011. With STARCON’s business spread across many states, travel was already a way of life for Uremovich for 25 years, and he’s not tired of it.
In fact, he can’t wait: “With every committee I’ve been on, and everywhere I’ve served at ABC, I’m so impressed with the quality of the people I meet. ABC is made up of people who work hard and dedicate themselves to a cause they believe in. They’re the heart and soul of this country,” he says.
The visits will serve to reinforce Uremovich’s best practices priority list—workforce development, safety, proactive political involvement and educating the public about the merit shop. But they’ll also serve as an opportunity to make new connections.
“Some of our best friends are clients and ABC members,” he says. “Cheryl and I love to travel, and that’s one of the things I’m most looking forward to as national chairman.”