Eric Waterman, the first CEO of the Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust (IMPACT), formally announced his retirement at the IMPACT Board of Trustees Meeting Sunday. Waterman has been the CEO of the Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust since it was founded in April of 2003.
General President Walter Wise and William Brown, CEO of Ben Hur Construction Company in St. Louis—Co-Chairs of the IMPACT Board of Trustees—indicated that Waterman’s departure is “both a sad time for our organization, and a transformative one as well as we welcome a new generation of visionary leadership.”
“I am excited that Eric will be able to reflect on his great accomplishments with the Iron Workers Union and IMPACT as he enjoys retirement,” Wise said. “He has done an excellent job working with us to select a replacement, and we look forward to tapping into the new leader of IMPACT’s energy and passion for the entire construction industry.”
Brown added, “Eric’s work has had tremendous influence not only in the construction industry, but in the union industry as a whole, and his seminal ideas have led to the growth of a burgeoning labor-management movement. We are all grateful for his hard work and dedication.”
Kevin Hilton, the current Executive Assistant to the CEO of IMPACT, will take the reins as CEO, having worked closely with Waterman both at the National Erectors Association and in his current capacity at IMPACT. Hilton has served IMPACT for two years and has been instrumental in pushing for updated, comprehensive drug testing procedures and more technologically savvy communications programs. Before coming to IMPACT, Hilton served more than 12 years as a senior vice president at The Association of Union Constructors (former NEA) and the National Maintenance Agreement Policy Committee (NMAPC).
“It is my great honor to succeed Eric Waterman—an icon in the construction industry. As we charge headlong into the 21st century, it is my commitment to build upon Eric’s innovation over the past nine years and continue to deliver stunning services to the entire Ironworker and Contractor community,” Hilton said.
In his letter of resignation to the Co-Chairs Wise and Brown, Waterman stated:
“Working with our Board of Trustees and our Regional Advisory Boards (RAB) Executive Committees, and our staff team, I feel we have established a new way of doing business. We have established a new brand for the Ironworkers and the Contractors that employ them. We have begun to weave the Ironworkers and our Contractors into an inseparable joint venture with productivity, and training, and safety, and labor-management cooperative programs second to none!
“I leave with the knowledge that we have a team and a staff that will take IMPACT to the next level. I have not an ounce of doubt that for IMPACT, the Ironworkers and our Contractors, ‘The Sky is the Limit!’
“It has been an honor and a privilege to play a small part in what I think will become one of the milestone achievements of labor-management programs in the history of the construction industry.”
About IMPACT (www.impact-net.org):The Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust (IMPACT), affiliated with the Iron Workers Union, is a labor-management partnership designed to create work opportunities in the North American ironworking industry. Our primary mission is to provide a forum for Ironworkers and signatory Contractors to discuss effective strategies aimed to expand job opportunities through innovative labor-management cooperative programs. IMPACT provides expertise in training, construction certifications, marketing, construction project tracking and bidding, insurance and Davis-Bacon compliance efforts. IMPACT also administers a world-class substance abuse program to ensure that Ironworkers are safe, drug-free and ready to work.
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Contact: Brennan Gamwell, Communications Specialist, (800) 545-4921