For more than 10 years, Stacey Ehring has been a part of the commercial construction industry and is currently the Business Development Specialist for Shapiro & Duncan, a commercial heating & air-conditioning company based out of Maryland. In addition to her position at Shapiro & Duncan, Ehring is the chair for ABC Metro Washington’s marketing committee, is active in ABC’s National Young Professional Program’s Business Development Peer Group and is working toward her masters in marketing management. 

Q1. Why did you decide to join ABC’s National Young Professional group? 
A1: To compare notes with peers on topics like LEED/green construction, technology, workplace productivity, professional development, best practices, marketing, business development and skilled labor gap issues.  It’s a great avenue to share ideas and brainstorm. Many construction companies have a marketing department with only one or two people, so it's important to network with other creative minds in order to stay current and generate new and fresh ideas.

Q2. What has been the best part of participating? 
A2:Knowing that my network expands outside the D.C., Md., and Va., area. What's trending on the east coast might be different in other parts of the country, so it's important to connect with people all over in the same industry.

Q3. What value and potential value do you see in the group?
A3: I'd like our group to work together and maybe even develop a campaign on how we can get young people more involved in construction and interested in the skilled trades.

Q4. Why is it important to you to be involved in an association early on in your career? 
A4: When you're young, you have more time and energy to participate. You can learn things from other people and companies just through the conversations that you have. You can't get all of your knowledge from a textbook. In order to be a leader one day, it's important for me to develop relationships with the best people in our industry. The only way to do that is to become actively involved in an association like ABC.

Q5. Why should other young professionals join the program and focus on professional/leadership development? 
A5: Once you complete your associates, bachelors or apprenticeship programs, the journey should not end. You need to continue your education somewhere in order to stay on top of new practices, technology, etc. You can only sit behind a desk for so long before people forget who you are. You need to put yourself out there and make those connections.