NCCER, ABC Honor 2013 Award Winners

ALACHUA, Fla. — Ed LePage, of Hudson, Maine, was recently named an NCCER Construction Education Champion. The award is given to industry professionals with at least 10 years of service to NCCER who have made significant contributions to construction education and workforce development efforts.

Throughout his long and varied career in the industry, LePage acquired skills as a welder, pipefitter, instrument fitter, millwright, operator and rod buster. During more than 40 years with Cianbro, LePage managed projects in Maine, New York and New Hampshire before becoming the company's mechanical craft training coordinator. He has served on NCCER subject matter exert committees for a variety of crafts, and is also a master craft instructor for the Millwright curriculum and a certified PLUS millwright and pipefitter.

Two other craft professionals were honored earlier this month at the Associated Builders and Contractors 21st Century Workforce Development Conference in Birmingham, Ala. Anthony Ayotte, who began his career as one of Ed LePage's students at Cianbro, was awarded the ABC 2013 Craft Instructor of the Year.

Ayotte has worked for Cianbro for more than 25 years, starting as a structural welder and progressing to craft training manager. He is an NCCER master craft instructor for pipefitting, a master trainer, an assessment administrator, a certified PLUS industrial pipefitter, as well as an OSHA outreach trainer. Ayotte also helped develop craft training curriculum as a member of the the NCCER boilermaker SME committee, and serves on the advisory committee for Eastern Maine Community College Welding and Pipe Fabrication Technologies.

For the past six years, Ayotte has participated in the ABC Maine Chapter Craft Championships by running the pipefitting competition and explaining what the contestants were doing to technical high school students that attended. He attends job fairs for technical high school students in Connecticut and has participated in SkillsUSA by judging the local competition.

In addition, Michael Arledge, a journeyman electrician for Greiner Electric in Littleton, Colo., was named the ABC 2013 Craft Professional of the Year. Each year, the award is presented to a craft professional who excels in his or her field, maintains a lifelong commitment to training and upholds the merit shop philosophy. After beginning his career as a carpenter in 1996, Arledge changed crafts and is now a lead journeyman electrician for Greiner. He is a member of the company's safety committee and teaches NCCER electrical and core curricula at the Construction Industry Training Council in Denver.