Dive Brief:
- Stephen Sandherr, CEO of Associated General Contractors of America, last week announced he will retire after 37 years with the association, 27 of them as CEO. Sandherr will step down when his employment agreement expires at the end of March.
- AGC Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Shoaf will replace Sandherr. Shoaf has worked with the organization since 1994, when he started as a lobbyist on infrastructure issues. He managed AGC’s government relations program beginning in 1997, and became COO in 2017.
- Before joining AGC, Shoaf was a staff member for the House of Representatives' Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “This is a great honor for me and a heady responsibility,” Shoaf said in a release.
Dive Insight:
Sandherr had expressed his intention to retire to senior officers, according to the release, so deliberations on the replacement began well before the formal announcement last week. A selection committee of seven former AGC presidents asked Sandherr to draft a position description, which resulted in the selection of Shoaf.
“Jeff’s background, experience, and dedication to our mission made him the right choice for the job,” said Dan Fordice, vice president of Fordice Construction in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and 2022 AGC president.
Shoaf will oversee AGC’s 89 chapters and over 27,000 member firms.
Over 250 general contractors joined together in 1918 to form the AGC in Chicago, according to the group’s website. Since then, the organization has advocated on behalf of employers in the industry, impacting numerous decisions from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signing the construction industry code in 1934 to lobbying President Ronald Reagan to sign the Surface Transportation Assistance Act in 1982.
