Q&A WITH VICA CHAIR CHRIS LYONS

As the new Chair of VICA, what VICA initiatives are the most important to you? What initiatives are you hoping to develop or expand this year?

With the ongoing labour shortage, we need to promote careers in the trades and construction industry to young people and new workers. It is critical we continue to encourage this through outreach in our committees and the Construct Your Future program. VICA has also created a harm reduction program ‘The Tailgate Toolkit’ to support existing workers in the industry. It’s important that we support our existing workers manage the stresses of the increased workload put onto them by this labour shortage.

From your perspective as the director of construction at Omicron Construction, what do you see as the biggest challenges facing the construction industry on the Island?

With no end in sight to the high volumes of construction work on the Island we are going to continue to face challenges with skill shortages and supply chain issues. As we report these issues to the public, hopefully that will help them understand our challenges within the industry. By bringing these challenges to the forefront and raising awareness, it gives the industry hard facts to point to as they communicate and work through these challenges with their clients. It also helps us promote our initiatives within VICA where we try to address these issues for the industry and more importantly our members.

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Listening to the members is critical to determining the issues most important to them, and the staff and Board are always open to hearing from members directly. “ “

What motivated you to become involved with VICA, and what does your involvement look like?

VICA has always been a big part of the construction industry for me, whether it was education courses or networking events, and my employers have always been members and promoted involvement. I have been directly involved with VICA in some capacity for about 15 years through my early involvement in the U40 group (currently the YBN) and now the VICA Board.

As a long-serving member of VICA’s Board and Young Builders Network (YBN), what are the most important things a board can do to effectively serve its members?

Listening to the members is critical to determining the issues most important to them, and the staff and Board are always open to hearing from members directly. There are numerous subcommittees chaired by Board members that meet regularly to allow members from each sector a venue to raise the issues that are most

important to them. Our diverse Board is able to take a cross section of the industry to ensure everyone is given a voice.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering joining an association such as VICA? Or joining the VICA Board or one of its committees?

Joining an industry association such as VICA is a great way to connect with the local construction industry as well as other VICA members, keep apprised of industry news, and gain access to the various educational and other services VICA offers. Vol-

unteering at a committee or board level allows you to get more involved, become a voice in the construction industry, and really affect change on issues that are important to the industry. n

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