After serving on the NEFBA Executive Committee for three years, Chet Skinner, vice president of Skinner Bros. Realty, was installed as the president of NEFBA in January 2016.
A busy, eventful 12 months later, Skinner reflects on his tenure as president and the state of the association. He will turn the association over to Lee Arsenault in January.
How has serving as president of the Northeast Florida Builders Association confirmed or changed your view of this association?
I had a pretty good idea of the association’s influence, its tremendous business benefit to members and the opportunities it provides members to grow their businesses, network with others in the industry and improve their day-to-day operations by learning from the experts in so many fields.
What I didn’t realize before this year is the amount of work and dedication required to make all that happen.
Today, I have a much deeper appreciation of the quality and effectiveness of NEFBA’s staff. They all wear more than one hat and they all work together across departments, projects and often outside the scope of job descriptions.
Today, I also have even more admiration for our Executive Committee. The depth of wisdom, range of expertise and eagerness to help are well-known characteristics of this group, and more than ever I recognize and applaud their compassion and generosity when it comes to helping fill the needs of the community.
What was the greatest challenge you faced this year in your role with your company? As the president of the association?
Actually, the greatest challenge in both was time.
This is a large association, the largest in Florida and among the largest in the nation. We have geographic and special interest councils, most of which have monthly meetings. We have association-wide events and special projects.
Three top priorities for me are my family, my faith and my business. All three deserve my full attention and interest and sometimes all at the same time.
During this year, my wife, Sarah, has been especially supportive and understanding.
We knew this would be a temporary assignment and we would need to make adjustments. She gave me the encouragement I needed to help me reach a workable balance.
My work family — some are actual family members — also pitched in and did more than their share of the work to allow me to have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I was able to fulfill my responsibilities to NEFBA because of them.
I acknowledge that the time constraints and the need to make the most of the time available forced me into looking for more efficient methods, something I want to continue doing.
What were your goals for the association during your tenure as president and which ones were you able to realize?
I had three goals:
1. Continue building on outgoing President Rick Morales’ remarkable efforts to build NEFBA’s membership. Members are the lifeblood of our association and in 2015 we won national recognition for our growth. I was determined to build on that momentum.
2. Make NEFBA an education hub for businesses and the industry. We have gained ground with OSHA training, continuing education programs and our lunch-and-learn workshops. Apprenticeship has grown under the leadership of our Training VP Keith Ward and the NEFBA staff.
We’ve begun to make inroads, but becoming the education hub for our area will require time, a commitment to education and a mindset shift. We have a good start and I’ll continue to advocate and support NEFBA’s education focus.
3. Increase the outreach of Builders Care and share its work for the community more widely. This year has been incredible. Builders Care participated with HabiJax to build the 2,000th HabiJax home.
Builders Care responded in a big way to the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. Recently, Builders Care has been instrumental in providing a home for a wounded veteran and his family.
All this in addition to the roofs and ramps we fix and install on a regular basis. The combined work of Builders Care and the generosity of our members attract support from the community, individuals, businesses and the city.
So overall, I feel good about the success and progress we’ve experienced this year — thanks to all of you.
If there is one moment when you realized the full weight of the responsibility of the role, would you share it with us?
The responsibility of being NEFBA’s president became crystal clear to me when I realized that our association is a leader among the state and national associations. Our size is one factor and our past influence is another.
We fought the national association’s plan to increase dues and we worked with the FHBA’s proposal to increase state dues. Other associations look to NEFBA as the standard bearer to advocate on decisions that affect all of us.
Fortunately, we have a strong team of past presidents, executive committee members, staff and members working on issues to ensure a well-thought out response.
What was the best piece of advice you received about leading the association and what advice would you offer the 2017 president of NEFBA, Lee Arsenault?
Early on, I was told I didn’t have to do everything for everyone every time. I am not gifted to respond to every need presented to me. Others are gifted in different areas and can fill the need better.
That was extremely helpful to me, so I would tell Lee, “Tap on the gifts of those around you. Allow others the opportunity to use their gifts and to grow into more challenging roles. You will benefit, the people you serve will benefit and other gifted men and women will have an opportunity to learn and grow.”
Lee has many gifts and strengths and he will chart his course as president to reflect them, taking the association through the upcoming year with the help and support of its members.