Salute to Construction: Greater Ozarks Building Systems Association

GOBSA’s membership comprises professionals within and tangential to the construction industry. The group’s primary mission is raising funds for scholarships going to students enrolled in construction industry programs at Ozarks Technical Community College and Missouri State University.

Current membership is approximately 65 professionals representing general contractors and subcontractors, architecture, engineering, construction finance, construction law, real estate, suppliers and others. Annual membership dues are $150 and anybody related to the construction industry is welcome to join.

Current officers are: David Aderhold, president; Ryan Thompson, president-elect; Jeff Schmidt, treasurer; Stacey Claypool, secretary; and Keith Upchurch, Shelby Bowgen, Walter Warren, Mike Textor, Tony Shalloup and Scott Bracy, board members. Fundraising events include a summer BBQ and spring and fall golf tournaments. General monthly meetings are currently being held in an informal mixer format on the second Tuesday of the month with any profits going to the scholarships.

Scholarship funds have been distributed to deserving students in each of the last four years totaling $3,000 annually. For 2010, scholarships went to MSU students Sam Cook, Brady Bond, and Don Rathe, and OTC students Jessica Everman and Jon Bradney.

The organization went through a transition in meeting style earlier this year, moving away from a dinner and formal speaker to a less formal mixer format that allows members to come and go and is less of a time commitment and lower cost.

Given economic conditions, the group also made a change to a member-designed and operated Web site, www.gobsa.org. GOBSA also is exploring how to use Facebook and Twitter to provide members, and others, with information about the group and its events.

Walter Warren is a member of the Greater Ozarks Building Systems Association. For more information, visit www.gobsa.org.