It’s a call-to-action for incoming AGC President Todd Roberts, a theme that highlights issues that affect the membership from the soaring houses of our nation’s government to the ones where they tuck in their kids at night.
BY AMY DREW THOMPSON
Winnfield may be a small town in Louisiana, but it breeds leadership, including three of the state’s governors. So, too, has it raised a captain in the construction industry.
But things could have been very different.
Young Todd Roberts, today the AGC’s incoming president, could easily be about to take the reins at the nation’s foremost geology association instead.
“My dad worked at a sawmill and had an eighth-grade education,” said Roberts, who 35 years ago founded the Jackson, Mississippi-based ERS, Inc. “My mom finished high school, and she pretty much mandated that all the kids were going to go to college, because she never got the chance.”
Geology was his major as a freshman at Louisiana State University.
“Until I found out that the geology building was all the way on the other side of campus,” he laughed. “I wasn’t going to do that.”
Roberts’ older brother, an LSU alum, is an architect. He liked the idea, but he wasn’t in love.
Engineering, too, seemed compelling, but ultimately not his thing.
“I had it in my mind that if you were an engineer, you’d sit behind a drawing table for the rest of your life, and I loved being outside.”
His suitemate was majoring in construction.
“I had no idea you could even get a degree in that!” he laughed. “But it seemed to be a mix between architecture and engineering. And there were management and business elements to it. And as I explored the idea, I realized that with a construction degree, I could have the best of all three worlds.”
Pretty methodical for a college freshman, yeah?
Outgoing AGC President Thomas L. Brown says the membership will see a lot more of that when Roberts assumes his seat in April.
“He’s very methodical,” said Brown, who for the past year has split his time between AGC’s highest-tier position and his “day job” as president for Sierra Pacific West in San Diego.
“Todd is one of those guys who thinks before he speaks. He’s articulate. He’s meticulous. And he’s very transparent. He tells it like it is, and he speaks from the heart.”
And his heart, as he heads into the big chair, is on missions he considers critical — so much so that it will be his presidential theme.
“Everything we do at AGC of America is critical,” said Roberts, whose Mission Critical file is stuffed full of topics to tackle. “We don’t take on anything that will fix itself.”
From advocacy work — White House to Congress to courtroom — to worker safety and mental health issues, “what AGC does isn’t just critical to our businesses, it is critical to our success as professionals. It is the place we learn the value of giving back and getting involved.”
For Roberts, who left Louisiana for the Magnolia State right after college, involvement would be superficial at first.
“I went to work for Southern Rock, Inc., an AGC member from the Mississippi Valley Branch, but didn’t do much with it at that time,” said Roberts, who’d move on to a new firm before pivoting back to the first.
Not long after, the company’s owner passed away.
“His widow wanted to liquidate, and I agreed to stay on and finish everything that was already under contract.”
While working himself, quite literally, out of a job, Roberts hit a crossroads: get another one or go into business for himself.
“I found a banker who would lend me $3,500, bought a pickup and started this company.”
That was 1991 and it didn’t take long for the newly minted heavy civil firm to win an award for a Corps of Engineers job, an accolade to be presented back at his old stomping ground: the Mississippi Valley AGC.
“They invited me to receive it, and I reconnected with people I hadn’t seen in years,” he said, future AGC President Dan Fordice among them.
“He said, ‘Man, you need to come back!’ So, I did, getting active on the chapter board of directors, just working at it, doing the things that men and women have done before me for the betterment of our industry.”
Among his assignments, chairing the Natural Resources Conservation Service Committee (2006-2016) and eventually becoming active in the Federal & Heavy Division. Chairing here, he said, led to becoming a national officer, “and I’ve been at it ever since.”
His AGC: Mission Critical theme is a result of the years leading up to his presidency. “When you get to the national level, that’s when you really see what AGC is about, what it does for its members, how it advocates for the industry, the value it provides.”
Some issues, he says, never worry a member’s mind for a minute.
“That’s because the AGC nips it in the bud before it becomes a problem to the constituency.”
Others, of course, loom large, and he’s ready to get to work, bringing awareness and solutions, as he meets members from across the country.
“Suicide in the construction industry is way above the national average,” he said plainly, noting that mental health is as critical as on-the-job safety. “There is the ongoing workforce shortage. There are supply chain issues. And now we’ve got the Trump tariffs coming up that we’re going to have to pay attention to.”
It’s difficult to list any one issue as the top priority, he said, but bringing the (somewhat) new administration up to speed is among them.
“He’s been president before, of course, but we’ll still have to educate those who are incoming in regard to AGC’s biggest concerns and the need for new investment in construction education and training to provide more lawful ways for workers to enter the country and support economic development. We’re going to have to push for regulatory reforms and accelerated project reviews while safeguarding existing investments in infrastructure.”
Education also begins at home.
“There are programs within the organization — AGC Edge, Culture of Care — that need to be expanded and promoted…. And we’re going to find ways to make our many in-person and online gatherings as relevant and successful as possible.”
Brown, who’s known Roberts for three-plus years, believes his successor will get the best out of everybody.
“We clicked from Day 1,” he said, noting that the differences in where they come from — big coastal city, small southern town — didn’t separate them at all.
“Some people just have a chemistry, you know? He and I talk outside of AGC often and I tell him that it’s probably best that we don’t live in the same city because we probably wouldn’t get anything done!”
Jokes aside, as Roberts with his wife, Robyn, takes over the joyful task that Brown and his wife, Sandy, have enjoyed this year — connecting with members at chapters across the country — he knows the new president will love it just as much. And that they’ll love him back.
“It’s just been a real pleasure to work with him,” Brown said.
Roberts is looking forward to it, and says he’s committed to being an accessible and accountable leader.
“I want to emphasize that my door is always open,” he said. “If you have ideas or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out. This association is strongest when every voice is heard, and I am here to represent all of you.”
AGC: Mission Critical sees this as a pivotal moment in the industry’s history.
“The landscape is shifting,” said Roberts, acknowledging the work and dedication of predecessors including Brown, Fordice, Bob Lanham and Les Snyder. “They’ve set a high bar and paved the way for the progress we have made, and I look forward to building on their legacy as we continue to grow and evolve together.” What’s the bottom line from the new guy at the top?
“If the AGC can help a boy from Winnfield, Louisiana, become your national president, it can help all of you become more successful in your businesses and within our association.”