The four-day conference was held in mid-June at the Hilton Americas in downtown Houston. More than 300 NAMC members representing 16 chapters in the U.S., general contractors and elected officials attended the conference.
Gloria Shealey, of North Carolina, was named NAMC’s first woman president; others named to the 2012-2013 Executive Committee were Maurice Rahming, Executive Vice President; Art Queen, Co-Treasurer; Art Landers, Co-Treasurer; Kaye Gantt, Secretary; Bob Brewer; James Posey; Daryl Samuels; and Lisa Colon-Heron. United States District Judge of the Southern District of Texas Vanessa D. Gilmore swore in the new Executive Committee and Board of Directors.
Additionally, at the closing ceremony NAMC named three new inductees into its Hall of Fame: Rep. Jackson Lee; Houstonian Ousley Lacy, CEO of Lazer Construction; and Joanna Davison, National Services Diversity Manager for Kaiser Permanente.
The 43rd annual NAMC conference had numerous workshops (including “Business Opportunities with the Federal Government,” “Chapter Development Strategies,” “Green Construction,” and others) and notable speakers including LaDoris “Dot” Harris, recently appointed by President Obama as Director of Economic Impact and Diversity at the U.S. Department of
Energy; U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, of Houston; and Warren Whitlock, Associate Administrator for Civil Rights,
Federal Highway Administration.
“We are an organization — organizations get things done a lot faster than individuals can!” said outgoing president Francis Onwualu. “It is with our collective voice that we promote the economic and legal interests of minority contracting firms. It is our organization that has a relationship with our friends in government and private industry who support us.”
NAMC’s 2013 annual conference will be in Los Angeles, June 18-21, 2013; for more information about the 2013 conference, contact Patricia Lucas-Smith, National Chair, Conventions & Meetings, patricia.smith@namcnational.org, 919-669-1208.
About NAMC
NAMC is a non-profit trade association established in 1969 to address the needs and concerns of minority contractors. NAMC provides advocacy, networking and construction opportunities to minority- and women-owned businesses throughout the United States. While membership is open to people of all races and ethnic backgrounds, the organization’s mandate, “Building Bridges–Crossing Barriers,” focuses on construction industry concerns common to African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans. NAMC chapters around the country provide advocacy and education to its membership, which consists of a diverse base of firms including, MBE’s, DBE’s, WBE’s, 8(a), HUBZONE, SDB, SDV, and small business construction firms. For more information about NAMC and the conference, visit NAMCTEXAS2012.org.