Underground Construction - May 2020 - 26

CONVENTION REVIEW

DCA

Busy Agenda, Powerful Speakers Highlight DCA Convention

With winter fading and the successful but rainy fall meeting in
New York City in the rear-view mirror, Distribution Contractors
Association (DCA) members were looking forward to the famous
Florida weather at the 2020 DCA Convention, and they were
not disappointed. An hour north of Miami, the grand, Spanishstyle Boca Raton Resort and Club hosted this year's convention
February 24-29 with Cuban ﬂair and abundant sunshine on the
tropical Atlantic coast.
Business opened on a Tuesday morning with the meeting of
the Membership Committee. Woody Ferrell stood in for Dustin
Mykyte of Pe Ben USA, and Scott Cooper of Caterpillar presided.
After covering 2019 attendance and auction statistics, the
discussion turned to how to get more qualiﬁed applicants for DCA
scholarship programs. Suggestions included targeting relevant
degrees such as engineering and construction management.
The committee noted that there were more than 100 ﬁrst-time
attendees at the 2020 convention.
The Business Session followed next, beginning with opening
remarks from DCA Executive Vice President Rob Darden and
outgoing President Mike Hickey of The Hallen Construction Co.
The featured speaker for the morning was writer, businessman
and CPA Gene Marks. His presentation focused on what
successful businesses who survive long term have in common. The
short answer: They are all looking ahead, one, two, three or more
years into the future.
He highlighted four important trends that businesses should
pay attention to and prepare for in order to thrive down the road:

* Healthcare - The Aﬀordable Care Act (Obamacare) is still
the law, but changes from the Trump administration include
"skinny" plans, association health plans and healthcare
reimbursement accounts. However, executive orders can
be easily overturned by the next administration. Business
owners should maximize pre-tax healthcare plans and beneﬁts,
consider level beneﬁt or hybrid plans, oﬀer association plans
as an option, and embrace technology such as telemedicine,
wearables and rewards programs.
* Employment - Speaking prior to the unforeseen COVID-19
shutdown, Marks noted that three factors were driving
up compensation: the tight labor market, increasing state
minimum wages and new sick leave laws. Marks advised
companies to leverage the SECURE Act, and work opportunity
and FMLA credits; get creative with paid time oﬀ (a high
priority for millennials); and adopt more HR technologies and
services to streamline operations.
* Recession - A recession will happen sooner or later, so be
prepared. Marks discussed a range of metrics he follows to
keep tabs on the state of the economy, ranging from the NAHB
Housing Market Index to Alan Greenspan's men's underwear
index. He recommended following metrics that make sense
to you and doing a monthly cash check to see if your business
has six months of operating expenses on hand, and noting
historical photos to remember it could always be worse.
* Technology - Keep an eye on how artiﬁcial intelligence is being
used to enhance business capabilities, as well as trends in bots,
ransomware and security technology.
Marks kept the audience awake and alert with pop quizzes
featuring oﬀbeat questions and unusual trivia. His sage advice
could not have been timelier, and it will be interesting to see how
he looks back on current events the next time he visits the DCA.

Government relations

DCA Honorary Member Ollie Klinger introduced new Honorary Member
Chris Brahler of TT Technologies.

MAY 2020 | UConOnline.com

Eben Wyman of Wyman Associates began the Government
Relations Committee meeting with an update on the Pipeline
Safety Reauthorization bill in Congress. Not much is likely to
happen soon in the post-impeachment political environment (and
the current health crisis), but three major issues the committee
had with the bill have been somewhat mitigated so far.
Holding up the bill are eﬀorts by Democrats to address
environmental issues regarding methane to what was intended
as a safety bill, along with ongoing debate about criminal
protest provisions and huge increases in civil penalties. The
DCA is concerned that utilities will only pass along such ﬁnes
to contractors, who will have no chance to defend themselves.

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Underground Construction - May 2020

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