2021 Craft Pro Champion Awards

Construction Ready Celebrates Field-Level Employees, and the Companies and Educators Who Help Develop Them

Construction Ready honored three companies and 15 individuals – professionals, industry leaders and educators – at the 2021 Craft Pro Champion Awards Breakfast on July 28 at the Cobb Galleria Centre.

The Craft Pro Champion program was created as a partnership between Construction Ready and Atlanta CareerRise, who together pursued and won the Job Quality Initiative Grant offered by the National Fund for Workforce Solutions. Launched in 2019, the program lifts up individuals and companies who are making a difference in the effort to develop and retain craft professionals and close the skilled labor gap in Georgia’s construction industry.

“We recognize that attracting and training workers is part of the solution,” said Construction Ready President and CEO Scott Shelar, “but as an industry we have to do a better job of celebrating our existing field-level employees, and that’s what this event is largely about. We’re also celebrating companies that actively engage with local schools, because that’s an important element in this – if you want to get more young people in your company, you have to engage with construction teachers and counselors.”

The 2021 Craft Pro Champions – the individuals and companies who, as Shelar said, are “leading by example and making a difference in our industry and in our communities” – are as follows:

K12 Pipeline Graduate of the Year: Recognizes a graduate of a high school construction program who is excelling, advancing and thriving in the construction industry.

Samantha Boedicker – Houston County College and Career Academy; Electrical Maintenance Mechanic Apprentice, Frito-Lay
Kaiveon Jones – Cross Keys High School; Carpentry Apprentice, Anning-Johnson Company

K12 Pipeline Teacher of the Year: Recognizes teachers for the work they do with their local elementary, middle and/or high school construction programs to educate students about the value of construction industry careers.

Greg Harrell – Bainbridge High School
Jim Steel – Harris County High School

K12 Pipeline Employer of the Year: Recognizes an employer for working with local elementary, middle and/or high school construction programs to make students aware of careers in construction and connect them with career opportunities.

C.W. Matthews Contracting Company

Re3CONSTRUCTION Awards: Recognizes school counselors for their role as front-line leaders in career readiness and workforce development.

Bridget Zokovitch – Dekalb High School of Technology
Jonathan Phillips – Harris County High School
Catherine Roberts – Lovejoy High School
Heather Pezzello – Red Top Middle School
Rod Metcalf – Woodstock Middle School

Construction Ready Graduate of the Year: Recognizes program graduates who have been with their company at least two years and are excelling, advancing and thriving in the construction industry.

Marshanda Ferrell – ABC Traffic Solutions
Donald Grant – Ujamaa Construction
Michael Hood – Skyline Forming
Robert Johnson – Holder Construction

Construction Ready Employer of the Year: Recognizes a company for hiring and effectively developing Construction Ready graduates.

Anning-Johnson Company

Craft Pro Champion Employer: Recognizes companies for their ongoing use of workforce development strategies that promote field-level career progression and provide workers with accessible training and skills development opportunities.