On July 12, the General Building Contractors of New York State held its annual meeting at The Sagamore Resort. An enjoyable time was had by over 200 members and the event was highlighted by GBC's "Changing of the Guard."

GBC officially handed over the president's gavel to Mark Breslin of Turner Construction. Other elected officers are vice president Tina Schneider of Purcell Construction Corp. (Watertown) and treasurer, Mike Benson of BCI Construction (Albany) and secretary, Vince Iannelli of Iannelli Construction (Brooklyn).

President Breslin addressed the GBC Membership and shared his views on his upcoming year in office. His three main topic of interest for 2008-2009 will be the smooth transition of the newly announced merger between the GBC of NYS and the AGC of NYS.

Programs for the weekend included the GBC board meeting, member educational sessions, and the graduation ceremony for the 10th graduating class of the GBC Future Construction Leaders Program.

The first member session was on New York State Economic Development, which featured Brian McMahon, executive director of the New York State Economic Development Council and Jeff Bray, executive vice president of the Fulton County Economic development Council. Their program focused on the current historic current and prospective environment of doing business in New York State.

The second program titled "Interoperability in Construction" featured Steve Jones of McGraw-Hill Construction. Jones discussed Building Information Modeling and the major foothold it has on the construction industry. He also discussed the issues the industry is running into with compatible of different software packages throughout the construction industry.

Other programs for the weekend included receptions and dinners, a golf tournament benefiting the Paul B. Richards Memorial Scholarship Fund, an old-fashioned barbeque and a cruise on Lake George. Tags: