News

Meet Max!Max has been involved in the construction industry since as long as he can remember. Max recalls talking shop with his parents at the dinner table while growing up and in college serving as an officer for the Pittsburg State University AGC student chapter. After successful experiences with two other electrical contractors, Max moved to the family business and more recently bought in. Max has brought over 15 years of experience in business development, estimating, and project management. Max serves on his local NECA NJATC Apprentice Interview Committee, local CLC board, local Builders' AGC board, national AGC specialty contractors committee group, and is on the national AGC CLC steering committee.

Anthony brought his bachelor’s degree from Iowa State to Pepper Construction in 2006. While taking on increasing levels of project management responsibility over the past of 16 years, Anthony has worked on some of the company’s most high-profile and complex institutional projects, including renovations at the Art Institute in Chicago, expansion of the Saint Louis Art Museum and, most recently, the renovation and expansion of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock. Anthony chairs the Chicagoland AGC CLC Steering Committee, serves as the CLC representative on the Chicagoland AGC Board of Directors, and is the Vice Chair of AGC of America's CLC national Committee. In addition, Anthony continues to support his alma mater as a member of the Iowa State University Industry Advisory Council for Construction Engineering.

93 Percent of Construction firms have reported that they are experiencing material shortages and/or allocations.

Jeff Forbes is the Dallas Regional Director for The Beck Group’s Dallas office. Throughout his 40-year tenure at Beck, his technical knowledge, practical approach, and helpful nature have been refined and now play a key role as he oversees all construction and architectural operations for the Dallas region.

Ashley Phelps is the Assistant Director of Supply Chain Management at Gilbane Building Company. With the use of Lean strategies and tactics, her focus is ensuring project teams have the capacity and capability to streamline the procurement process and enhance relationships with key business partners. Prior to her role in Supply Chain, Ashley lead Gilbane’s Advanced Planning and Scheduling Department. With a background in scheduling, she coached teams on Lean planning and scheduling techniques with an emphasis on continuous improvement.

Rachel Wilber is currently a senior estimator for Walbridge with more than a decade of construction experience. Her construction experience and estimating expertise has supported constructing some of the largest manufacturing facilities across the U.S. including several Fortune 500 customers in the industrial, industrial process, and commercial market sectors. A graduate of Michigan State University’s Construction Management Program in May 2011, Rachel’s spent her career at Walbridge – starting in the company’s internship program.

The $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA) included the “Build America, Buy America Act” which applies a domestic preference to all taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects. The Office of Management and Budget released new guidance on these rules on April 18th, 2022. The new guidelines are meant to assist federal agencies in the application of “Buy America” requirements and the waiver processes for all federally funded infrastructure projects and not just those funded by the IIJA. The requirements are currently set to be in effect starting May 14th.

At the AGC Annual Convention in Grapevine, Texas, the Building Division by acclimation elected Shannon Sapp as Chairman for 2022-2023. Shannon first joined Merit Construction in 1996 after graduating from Auburn University in 1994 with a Building Construction degree. Shannon has been engaged in all facets of Merit projects including medical facilities, schools, historic renovations, churches, condominiums, and retail office buildings. As president of the firm, Shannon focuses his attention on the overall operations of the organization including finances, human resources, and administration..