GBRIA recognizes outstanding industrial workforce development training programs
Photos from the event are available at https://link.shutterfly.com/L2flL05Z2Vb.
The Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance, Inc. (GBRIA) is pleased to announce the award recipients presented at the 18th Annual Workforce Development Awards Banquet held on August 21 at the Marriott Hotel in Baton Rouge. High schools, post-secondary institutions, and skilled craft contracting companies received awards for their craft training and workforce development programs. Approximately 400 guests attended the event.
“GBRIA’s Workforce Development Awards highlight the vital partnerships between educators, contractors, and our member industrial facilities that keep our region’s workforce strong,” said Connie Fabre, CEO of GBRIA. “We are proud to recognize the schools that inspire and prepare students, the contractors who invest in training and career development, and the plants that support these efforts. Together, their dedication ensures that the industrial community in our region has the skilled talent it needs to thrive.
The following companies received awards at this year’s event in their respective categories and divisions:
High Schools
Local contract firms and industrial plants nominated high schools whose career and technical education (CTE) programs were exemplary in their engagement with parents, fundraising, enlisting support to reinforce training, sharing student success stories, and explaining the value of the CTE programs to their school, community, and students.
Award of Recognition: Albany High School and Dutchtown High School
Award of Merit: Donaldsonville High School, French Settlement High School, Scotlandville Magnet High School, and Walker High School
Award of Excellence: East Ascension High School, Live Oak High School, St. Amant High School, and West Feliciana High School
Career and Technical Education
Award of Recognition: St. James Career and College Center
Award of Merit: Joseph A. Cuillier Career Center and West Baton Rouge Career Academy
Award of Excellence: East Baton Rouge Career and Technical Education Center and St. Charles Satellite Center
Post-Secondary Institutions
Post-secondary institutions submitted a recorded presentation covering the following areas: partnering with employers on training, student job placements, recognizing student achievements, measuring success, and how they bring real-world experience and noteworthy advancements into their curricula and classrooms.
Award of Recognition: Baton Rouge Community College
Award of Merit: ABC New Orleans/Bayou Chapter
Award of Excellence: ABC Pelican Chapter and River Parishes Community College
Contracting Companies
Contractor nominees described their recruitment activities to the next generation of craft professionals, including assessing existing skills of individuals entering the workforce, promoting further training to develop employees, retention activities to keep employees engaged and progressing, and how they measured their success.
Companies were divided into divisions dependent on company size and total company hours worked.
General Construction and Maintenance
Award of Recognition: Volks Constructors
Award of Merit: CAM Industrial Solutions
Award of Excellence: EXCEL Group, Brown and Root, PALA, Performance Contractors, and Turner Industries Group
Specialty Contractors
Award of Excellence: Cajun Industries
Specialty Trades – Hard Craft
Award of Merit: Westgate and TRIAD Electric and Controls
Award of Excellence: ISC Constructors and MMR Constructors
Specialty Trades – Soft Craft
Award of Recognition: Brock Services and Petrin
Award of Merit: Brand Safway and Turner Specialty Services
Technical Support
Award of Recognition: Acuren Inspection, and aXion Logistics
Award of Merit: Precision Inspection Services, PSC Group, and Total Safety
Honorary Awards
In the contractor category, top point earners in each section will win honorary awards, highlighting exceptional programs.
Best Recruitment: Turner Specialty Services
Best Assessment: Performance Contractors
Best Training: MMR Constructors
Best Retention: MMR Constructors
Above and Beyond: Turner Industries Group
Best Practice: Cajun Industries
Workforce Development Champion Awards
GBRIA’s Workforce Development Champion Award recognizes significant achievements by individuals in our community who helped drive growth in enrollment, improvements in government policies and education systems, or provided other substantial support or achievements in workforce development, particularly in the industrial crafts.
Hoyt Ponder, Welding and electrical instructor at Albany High School
Elaine Fitzgerald, Administrator at St. Charles Satellite Center
Hall of Fame Awards
GBRIA also awarded Workforce Development Hall of Fame Awards to three individuals who demonstrated a lifetime of achievement impacting generations of students and improving Louisiana’s workforce development educational efforts.
Don McCollister, Former President of Construction at Turner Industries Group
Lawrence Mauerman, Professor, Retired, Southeastern Louisiana University
Milton Graugnard, Executive Vice President, Cajun Industries
Nominating Groups
The following plants and contractors participated in the nominating process:
Cajun Industries, CAM Industrial Solutions, CF Industries, Delek Krotz Springs Refinery, Dow, Excel Group, ExxonMobil, Formosa Plastics, Honeywell, Koch Methanol, ISC Constructors, MMR Constructors, Performance Contractors, Rubicon, Shell, Shintech, TotalEnergies, TRIAD Electric & Controls, Turner Industries Group, and Westlake
Click here to view the full program.
More information on the awards process is available at https://www.gbria.org/craft-workforce-development-awards.