North America’s Building Trade’s Union President, Sean McGarvey, will kick things off with a keynote address Tuesday morning before business begins.
Brother McGarvey’s career in the building trades began in 1981 with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades in Philadelphia, where he worked his way into leadership positions. In 2005, he was elected as NABTU’s Secretary-Treasurer, and in 2012, he was unanimously elected to the office of President.
McGarvey is a respected union construction thought leader. According to his official bio, he has “dedicated his life to improving the economic security and career opportunities of current and future construction workers and their families.”
This proves out in much of his work, including his development and expansion of the Apprenticeship Readiness Program to recruit more communities of color, women, veterans, indigenous people and the justice-involved into the building trades. Along with NABTU’s governing board of presidents, he also established Capital Strategies, a program to support job-creating enterprises in commercial, industrial and residential construction and public-private infrastructure.
Read Sean McGarvey’s full bio.
