Turner School of Construction Management Graduates 48 Minority and Women-Owned Businesses in Chicago

CHICAGO — Turner Construction Company recently held a graduation ceremony for 48 graduates of the 22nd Turner School of Construction Management Program for minority and women-owned business enterprises held in Chicago. Sponsors of the program this year included The City of Chicago’s Department of Procurement, Chicago Minority Business Development Council, Exelon Corporation, Federation of Women Contractors, Riteway-Huggins Construction, Gale Construction of IL, People Space, Ltd. and Taylor Made Industries. The Turner School of Construction Management is designed to provide minority- and women-owned businesses with the tools necessary to pursue work in the private and public sectors.  

Participants learn the essentials of managing a business, including how to develop a business plan, estimate and bid a larger job, obtain bonding, enforce safety principles and establish and manage credit, in order to become better equipped to compete for progressively larger contracts.   One goal of the program is to develop a pool of minority contractors with the necessary skills to perform work on future Turner projects.   Attendees also have the opportunity to network with peers, instructors and others in the construction industry during the training program.  

“Tomorrow’s success of ROM Design Corp. will forever be linked to The Turner School of Construction Management and all of the program’s sponsors,” said Rilwan Martins, Principal, ROM Architectural Design Development Services and a graduate of Turner’s School of Construction Management program.

“We congratulate the most recent graduates of the Turner School of Construction Management. The training program expands opportunities for minority and women owned firms and Turner’s network of partners as we work together to deliver services to the City of Chicago,” said Stephen Fort, Vice President and General Manager of Turner’s Chicago operations.

The Turner School of Construction Management has been crucial in helping Turner achieve success in awarding over 52,000 contracts with a value in excess of $18 billion to minority- and women-owned business enterprises. In addition, 2009 marked the fifth consecutive year that Turner awarded more than one billion dollars of contracts to minority- and women-owned business enterprises.