The Georgia Utility Contractors Association (GUCA) Executive Director Vikki McReynolds was recently named the recipient of the National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA) Outstanding Contribution By A Chapter Executive Award for her exceptional commitment and dedication to the Association.
McReynolds grew up heavily involved in youth ministry and gospel music. She traveled as a professional gospel singer and speaker for 10 years, and when she started her family, she began working in the non-profit arena as a youth minister for a church in Ohio. McReynolds continued her work in ministry in Troy, AL, by speaking to women's groups at churches on motivation and inspirational topics. Later plans would lead McReynolds and her family to the foreign mission field in Sierra Leone, but because of the country's unrest, her family settled in Atlanta, GA, to help with a local church instead.
McReynolds' desire to continue her work with non-profit organizations led her to the Georgia Branch of Associated General Contractors (AGC) where she worked for 13 years. While building her career in the construction industry, she became a member of the National Association for Women in Construction (NAWIC), and as a member she served on and chaired numerous committees.
After eight years, she became president of NAWIC, and during her term became certified to teach the 10 and 30 hour OSHA Safety courses and traveled around Georgia speaking to students and various construction companies about "Sexual Harassment Awareness in Construction."
McReynolds also served on the Board for Habitat for Humanity during this time, and she helped coordinate and build the first all-woman built Habitat Home in Forest Park, Georgia. In 2001, she was named the NAWIC Woman of the Year in Atlanta.
McReynolds joined the utility construction industry in 1995 as the executive director of the GUCA and has since then greatly increased the number of members in the association, making the Georgia Chapter one of the largest in the NUCA. She also has continued to increase the GUCA's financial strength through non-dues related income, such as safety and education training.
Even in an unstable economic environment, McReynolds manages to hold successful events and membership campaigns, all of which benefit members by keeping them up-to-date with the utility construction industry trends. Noted for her endless amount of energy, her determination to make the GUCA into an industry leader and her lengthy list of accomplishments since joining the association, McReynolds was a prime candidate for this award.
"Since taking on the role of director, Vikki, through her dedication and hard work, has become the 'link' connecting the contractors and the association," stated Billie Reid, of Robert M. Anderson, Inc., and current president of GUCA. "Vikki is goal oriented, and it is because of her exceptional leadership and motivational skills that she and the GUCA staff are able to obtain these goals."
"Vikki is a unique individual with an extreme desire to excel. She has taken a mediocre state construction trade association and made us the respected leader of our peers. I personally think Vikki would make an excellent choice for the 2002 Outstanding Contribution by a Chapter Executive Award, just as she was for our executive director," said James King, Jr., DeKalb Pipe Line Company.
The GUCA also was the recipient of the 2002 NUCA Chapter Merit Award in categories of Periodical Publications for the GUCA web site and Membership.
For more information, visit www.guca.com.
Today's top stories
