Cover Story — March/April 2007

Front and Center

2007 AGC President Steve Massie encourages members to step up their level of participation and learn more in the process

By Bruce Buckley

Steve Massie, CEO of Jack L. Massie Contractor, Williamsburg, Va., was inducted as AGC’s 88th president in March. Photo by Stephanie Oberlander

If you want to find Steve Massie at an AGC function, look in the front row. He’s not there to posture as the association’s new president. He’s there to listen and learn, and he’s been doing that for decades.

Since his college days, Massie has, whenever possible, sat in the front row at lectures, seminars, conferences and committee meetings. It’s a guiding principle that has helped him grow his family’s Williamsburg, Va.-based highway, site and utility construction firm, Jack L. Massie Contractor Inc.

That thirst for knowledge also led Massie, 59, through the ranks of AGC leadership, a journey that reached a pinnacle this spring when he assumed the role of national president at the association’s annual convention in San Antonio.

“By my experience through AGC, our company has become better,” Massie says. “I have a chance to give back to the industry.”

Although he now finds himself at the forefront of the association, Massie says that AGC affords the same opportunities to all members. Drawing from his experience, the incoming president has adopted a theme for his tenure: Profit through Participation. He’ll use it to encourage members to get the most out of their association.

“There are more ways to participate in AGC than ever,” Massie says. “I can go to a meeting, make a phone call to another member, use the resources on our Website, listen to a podcast, set up a face-to-face meeting or join a committee.”

Massie’s front-row mentality was born during his days at Virginia Tech in the late 1960s and early ’70s. After a year and a half, he flunked out and joined the Navy. He was expecting to do tours in Vietnam as a Seabee until he blew out his knee during basic training in Gulfport, Miss.

Massie recommitted himself to higher education and got back into Virginia Tech. “When I went back, I sat in the front row,” he says. “Today, if I go into a meeting, I sit in the front row. I’ve learned that information is out there, but you’ve got to take it. I see AGC the same way. It’s a huge reservoir of information that’s there for the taking.”

Like many members, Massie admits that he first saw AGC as a way to network and land jobs. He and his wife, Pam, frequented local events and eventually began participating in state chapter work. But he says it was their first trip to an AGC national convention that changed his thinking.

“We were overwhelmed and in awe of what we could learn,” he says. “The information we brought back to this company helped us tremendously. We had about 50 people in 1985 [when I joined AGC]. We’re at almost 200 today.”

As his understanding of the business grew, so did Massie’s interest in being part of the process. Former AGC President Pete Wert of Haskell Lemon Construction in Oklahoma City got to know Massie as he made his way through AGC committees in the early 1990s. The two shared a common background—coming from family businesses started by their fathers—and Wert became one of the AGC leaders that Massie turned to for guidance.

“Steve is a bright individual with a wonderful quality of relating to people, who is also a hard-nosed businessman and contractor,” Wert says. “He’s loyal to AGC and is quick to give AGC a lot of credit for his knowledge. He’s not one to quit or lay down his sword.”
That level of determination should prove valuable during Massie’s term as president. He is stepping to the front of the national stage at a critical time for AGC members. For the first time in 12 years, control of Congress has passed across the aisle to the Democrats, prompting Massie and his AGC colleagues to carefully monitor the political climate and ensure that AGC continues to have a strong voice in industry-related issues.

“We need to find out what’s coming next and how it will affect our entire industry,” he says. “We know a lot of the people in Congress already, and we’re introducing ourselves to the new people.”

Capitol Hill politics are nothing new to Massie. He has testified three times before Congress, twice during highway bill reauthorization hearings and once during estate tax debates.

“Those hearings taught me what we can do as an industry and what Congress thinks of AGC,” he says. “Our staff makes sure that if there’s a hearing, we put a contractor in there. If you’re not at that table, your opinions and objections don’t matter much.”

Massie’s background will be valuable as Congress continues to debate highway and infrastructure funding. It’s a critical time because the future solvency of the Federal Highway Trust Fund is in jeopardy and additional funding sources are scarce.

Other infrastructure needs are high on the AGC legislative agenda, including railways, port security, water resources and flood-control improvements. Staffers also are keeping close watch on federal funding for buildings such as military housing, prisons, courthouses and schools.

Massie also sees opportunities to address work-force issues such as immigration reform, health care reform and funding for training programs.

“If the industry doesn’t improve the way we take care of people and how we train them, it really won’t matter if we have a highway bill or enough funding to build a new post office,” he says.

Massie also expects debate over environmental issues to heat up, especially as more leaders in Congress voice their concerns about global warming.

“I’m not sure there’s anybody out there who has more respect for what Mother Nature is capable of doing than we are,” Massie says. “Whatever she hands us, we have to deal with it, whether it’s a hurricane, a tornado, a flood or a drought.”

Four generations of the Massie family at the family farm in 2005. Pictured [left to right] are Gary, Scott, Jack, Steve and Mark. Scott’s son Caleb stands in front. Photo courtesy of Jack Massie Construction

A Family Business

While Massie is championing the broad interests of all contractors, he remains deeply connected to his roots. His father, Jack, started in construction in 1947 with a dozer that he used to clear lots around their hometown of Newport News, Va. The family built a cinderblock building and set up a shop on the first floor with their home above it.
“My dad would work all day and when something would break down, he’d work all night repairing it so he could take it out the next morning and work the next day,” Massie says. “He bid everything. He built everything. He repaired everything.”

As the business began to expand through the late 1950s, the family moved to a farm outside Williamsburg, Va., where the growing company would have railroad access for stone and other material deliveries. Jack Massie also saw it as a way to keep Steve and his brother Gary committed to the family business.

“On the farm, we either went to school or we worked,” Massie says. “After we worked on the farm, if we still had energy, then we could go have some fun.”

He adds that as the brothers got older their father instilled them with a work ethic that helped fuel a desire to learn the business.

“What dad taught us was: ‘You go out and you pick up a shovel,’” he says. “You learn everything from the very beginning and work your way up. If you don’t know how things work, people won’t respect you and you won’t understand the right way to do things.”

Massie went on to study civil engineering at Virginia Tech. While there, he met Pam, a student at nearby Radford, on a blind date. The two were married 11 months later. “When Pam walked through the door, I knew I was going to marry her,” he says. “I knew it the second I saw her.”

As Steve’s wife, Pam also became part of the Jack L. Massie Contractor family. When Steve joined AGC, Pam was there with him working to get the most out of their membership.

“From the time we first started going to meetings and even today, Pam and I would go and divide up meetings between us,” Massie says. “She goes in one direction and I go another so we can gather as much information as possible to bring home.”

Jack L. Massie Contractor won the Virginia Dept. of Transportation’s Construction Quality Award in 2000 for a $20.4-million portion of State Route 199 in Williamsburg, Va. At completion, this section of S.R. 199 was dubbed “the smoothest ride in the state." Photo by  Backus Aerial Photography

AGC Service

Massie admits that association leadership was never a goal during his early days with AGC. But as association leaders began to come to him with opportunities to participate, he accepted.

“AGC of Virginia had a staff person named Juan Spann, and he asked me one day to be the chairman of the Peninsula District,” Massie says. “I said, ‘I don’t know how to do all of that stuff.’ He said, ‘Don’t you worry about that, I’ll teach you.’”

Other state leaders, including AGC of Virginia CEO Steve Vermillion, also have been there to mentor Massie.

“I’ve found Steve to be exactly what you see: a family-oriented person who is also a strong and dedicated supporter of the association,” Vermillion says. “He’s the type of guy that if he tells you something, you know it’s the truth.”

As Massie began attending conferences, national leaders began to reach out to him as well.

“At my second convention, in New Orleans in 1985, I was walking through the lobby on my way to a meeting and I saw Jim Supica, who was president at the time, with Bert Beatty, who was executive director back then,” he says. “As I walked by, Jim grabbed my arm and asked if I’d like to be chairman of the SAASHTO [Southern AASHTO regional] committee. I said, ‘Sure.’ Truth is, I didn’t know what the job entailed, but I saw it as a chance to learn more and better myself.”

With the help of his highway background, Massie went on to serve on several national highway-related committees such as the Highway and Bridge Committee and the Asphalt Pavement Committee. He was chair of the Highway & Transportation Division in 1997 and chaired the AASHTO-AGC-ARTBA Joint Committee.

Massie branched out into numerous other committees to broaden his understanding of the industry, serving on 19 panels in all. He also chaired the AGC Open Shop Committee.

“A highway guy like me can really learn something,” he says. “Where else could a little outfit from Williamsburg go and sit at the table with some of the biggest and most respected contractors in the country? I’m sitting there and they are teaching me the entire time, whether it’s on purpose or not.”

Family Longevity

As Massie has made his mark with AGC, his family in Williamsburg has remained a strong support system. Now approaching its 60th anniversary, Jack L. Massie Contractor is home to three generations of family members.

Steve became CEO after his father passed away in June 2005. His mother, Virginia, continues to staff the front desk part time. His brother Gary runs the office as company president while Pam is director of the human resources department.

Steve’s sons Mark and Scott also are part of the business, serving as a senior project manager and construction manager for the grading division, respectively. His sister-in-law Linda Massie, niece Erin Massie and nephew Max Massie also work for the firm.

Massie is helping give back to his alma mater, Virginia Tech. He is a member of the industry board of Virginia Tech’s new Myers-Lawson School of Construction, which created a curriculum that combines the university’s civil engineering and building construction departments.

“It will help graduate people who are ready to go to work, instead of having them get out of school and need to be trained,” he says.

Whether it’s giving a hand to the next generation or encouraging today’s contractors to better themselves, Massie has dedicated himself to making a difference.

“Companies join AGC for different reasons, but whether you’re that small guy or a big contractor, you’ve got to take part,” he says. “In the end, if more people participate, I will have succeeded."