By Luiza Mills, Interstate Electrical Services Corporation
ABC Massachusetts 2026 chair
One phrase that many of you have heard from your fellow members and ABC MA staff is “More members, more clout.” Every voice matters, and that’s especially true in a state like Massachusetts. The open shop accounts for 82.7 percent of the construction workforce, yet our voice is not proportionately reflected when it comes to issues affecting our industry.
At ABC, we advocate for the open shop. For our members to have a voice, we need to grow membership. With this, I’m particularly pleased to announce that fellow ABC MA Board Member Jim Abbott of Claro Advisors is the winner of the 2025 National ABC Beamer of the Year award, which goes to the member who referred the most new members to ABC. Jim will be honored with an award during the board meeting at the National Convention in Salt Lake City next month.
Membership is in Jim’s blood. After graduating from the University of New Hampshire, he got his start as our Chapter’s membership director. At Claro Advisors, many of his clients are ABC MA members. He continues to serve on the Membership Committee and works closely with current Membership Director Venus Williams.
At a time when open-shop contractors in Massachusetts face a growing number of union-only project labor agreements and we continue to face restrictive construction ratios that limit our companies’ ability to expand, growing membership, and the growing voice that comes with it, have never been more important.
Let’s continue to support our foundation for future generations. We ask each of you to refer any prospective members to Venus Williams at [email protected]. Our current members are the best reference for future ones. Let’s surpass our goal with one prospect from each of you this year getting us to attain our goal of 500 members.
Join me in congratulating and thanking Jim for his dedication and commitment to growing our Chapter, and congratulations on winning this important and richly deserved award.