ABC Hawaii to Launch President Search

Jonathan Young became president of ABC Hawaii in 2009.

ABC Hawaii to Launch President Search Young stepping down as head of the merit shop organization

BY DAVID PUTNAM

The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Hawaii is preparing to launch a search for a successor to Jonathan Young, who is stepping down as president of the merit shop organization effective April 9.

Former ABC Hawaii Chair Jeffrey Durham will take the reins on an interim basis and handle “day-to-day operations.” Durham, who retired a year ago as vice president of CC Engineering & Construction Inc., served on the ABC board for nine years.

Durham also is heading up ABC Hawaii’s search for its next president, which he says will officially begin after Young’s departure.

Under Young, ABC Hawaii has seen a growth in membership as well as building one of the state’s leading apprenticeship programs. The organization, founded in 1989, has 120 member contractors, suppliers and service providers, according to its website. ABC Hawaii represents two-thirds of approximately 4,500 of Hawaii’s merit shop-licensed contractors, according to Young.

Durham praised Young for how he brought “the chapter Jeffrey Durham

up to level on par with the best-performing chapters in the nation.” Young also was key to membership growth and stabilizing the organization’s “cash-flow balance. He really tightened up the entire organization,” Durham says.

Young says he is leaving ABC “in a position to continue to succeed from when I took it over in 2009. Those were some dark and long days back then.

“I am going to fully retire, do some RVing before I get too old to drive, see the country, starting with the Pacific Coast highway first, then national parks, etc.”

Durham says ABC Hawaii has not set a timeframe to name a new president. “We want to take our time and find someone who will be a good fit. We don’t want to rush into it,” he says. “We would like to find someone who has a real passion for the merit shop and for the apprenticeship program.”

ABC Hawaii offers apprenticeships in five trades— carpentry, electrical, plumbing, painting and roofing—and Durham hopes the new leadership can “look to expand that.”

Young joined ABC Hawaii after almost a decade as district manager of Hawaii, Alaska and Guam for the Wacker Corp.