(WASHINGTON, DC, August 10, 2020) – The construction industry for years has struggled with dwindling numbers of workers and tradespeople. This is why workforce is one of three tracks of Building Innovation 2020: Virtual Edition.

Workforce sessions during the annual meeting of the National Institute of Building Sciences will cover green jobs, energy-efficient workforce design, and diversity and inclusion. The conference also will highlight resilience and technology.

“The people entering the construction industry today will create and help innovate some of the nation’s most important building developments,” says Lakisha A. Woods, CAE, President and CEO of NIBS. “We need to lay the groundwork and help agencies and companies find solutions to their workforce challenges.”

BI2020 takes place August 18-19.

The workforce keynote will be delivered by Nancy Novak, Chief Innovation Officer, Compass Datacenters, and Doug Mouton, General Manager, Global Datacenter Procurement and Construction at Microsoft.

• Improving Construction Safety to Recruit a Stronger and More Diverse Workforce will be presented by the NIBS Women Executives in Building Summit and explore the close relations between construction safety and the need for efficiency and better production.

Other workforce sessions include:

• The Genius and Courage of a Dream with George Bandy, Jr., Former Board Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council. Bandy will help attendees gain a better understanding of the embedded genius of understanding systematic thinking and visionary leadership.
• The Next Generation of Green Jobs: Opportunities and Training for the Green Economy with Jaime Van Mourik, Vice President, Education Solutions, U.S. Green Building Council, Patricia Andrasik, Associate Professor and head of sustainability outreach at the School of Architecture and Planning, Catholic University of America, and Ryan Snow, Director, Market Transformation + Development, U.S. Green Building Council. In this session led by the U.S Green Building Council, we will explore the current jobs landscape in the context of an evolving green building industry, and how we must prepare for the future.
• Energy-Efficient Workforce Design in a Rapidly Advancing Technological Workplace with Daniel Villao, Principal and Managing Partner, Intelligent Partnerships. This session looks at the successful development of careers and expansion of market opportunities in energy efficient construction necessitating local access to construction projects
• Workforce of the Future: Using Data to Advance Industrialization of Construction with Dr. Perry Daneshgari, President and CEO, MCA, Inc., and Dr. Heather Moore, VP of Operations, MCA, Inc. Drs. Daneshgari and Moore will cover how the construction supply chain and construction outcomes can improve based on data and digitalization of information about what and how to build, and who and where is best for the build process.
• Innovative Workforce Development: Collaborative Partnerships Addressing Diversity & Inclusion with Gen Z with Kristen Fallon, Regional Vice President of Member Services, Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania, and Jon C. Lattin, Technical Sales Manager, Corrosion Technology Systems, Inc. This session will demonstrate how an idea at the local level became reality through collaboration

Building Innovation is a premiere event that brings together architects, engineers, code officials, manufacturers, innovators, public and private sector representatives, officials from building and construction, and local, state and government leaders.