2022 MEET THE BOARD by Carol Rich
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ach year the BIA installs a board that represents the diversity and strength of our local industry, and the 2022 board continues this tradition. The current officers and trustees bring a variety of backgrounds, skill sets and viewpoints to this year’s board. Board members include custom builders and production; large companies and small; businesses with locations in multiple states and businesses that operate solely in Ohio. The board has experts in areas that run the gamut, from multi-family building to single-family building, affordable housing, flooring, lumber, banking, law, civil engineering and surveying. 2022 BIA President, Bob Yoakam, is looking forward to the ways that this board’s ideas and participation will propel the association forward. One of his top priorities: encouraging board member involvement. “Getting involved in the BIA is the number one thing our members can do to not only assist the BIA in achieving the organization’s goals but ultimately to help all of our members get what they want out of the BIA,” says Yoakam. Focusing board members on advocacy is a prime concern for Yoakam this year. “Advocacy doesn’t just have to be limited to local municipal leaders. We need to be advocates for our industry with everybody,” he says. “We are facing challenges from every direction. Whether that is labor or material shortages, entitlement challenges, utility challenges, you name it. In order to turn the tide in the current environment, the message to those not living in the construction world needs to be positive.”
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Bob Yoakam, President
Company: Rockford Homes Hometown: Delaware, Ohio Years in the industry: 12 Years as a BIA member: 12 Your 2022 vision for the Board and the BIA: Get involved. As with any organization, you get out what you put into it. The BIA is a great organization that has a large impact in our industry. That impact is made by our members and their involvement with the missions the BIA is tasked with.
Jane Arthur Roslovic, Senior Vice President
Company: Treplus Communities Hometown: Columbus, Ohio Years in the industry: 30-plus Years as a BIA member: 4 Your 2022 vision for the Board and the BIA: I would like to see us get a strong apprenticeship program going
12 BUILDING INSIDER QUARTER 1 • 2022
in schools to introduce young people to the trades and the building industry. We have strong momentum with the city’s CRA program for multi-family and I would like to see that come to fruition in 2022. We need to continue our advocacy with the municipalities on zoning for residential to be a part of the much-needed growth going on in Columbus.
Josh Barkan, Builder Vice President
Company: M/I Homes Hometown: Bexley, Ohio Years in the industry: 9 Years as a BIA member: 4.5 Your 2022 vision for the Board and the BIA: In 2022 I hope to help continue to grow the BIA’s membership and the BIA’s impact on local building policies, initiatives and issues important to our members in order to continue to facilitate workforce housing in central Ohio on a reasonable basis.
