Contact: Gerry Fritz (703) 812-2062               [email protected]

For Immediate Release May 7, 2013

Washington, D.C. – Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today announced Anthony Ayotte, craft training manager for the Cianbro Institute, Pittsfield, Maine, as its 2013 Craft Instructor of the Year. Ayotte received this honor May 3 during ABC’s 21st Century Workforce Development Conference in Birmingham, Ala.
 
“Tony’s commitment to his students and his willingness to go above and beyond to help them become the best and safest in their fields has earned him the title of 2013 Craft Instructor of the Year,” said 2013 ABC National Chairman Greg Hoberock, CEO of hth companies, inc., Union, Mo. “It is an honor to recognize Tony with this award.”

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-certified trainer for Pipefitting Core curriculum, is Certified Plus as an industrial pipefitter, a master craft instructor in pipefitting and an assessment administrator, as well as an OSHA outreach trainer having completed the OSHA 30-hour Outreach. Ayotte also helped develop national curriculum by sitting on the NCCER Boilermaker Subject Matter Expert committee and he is a member of the advisory committee for Eastern Maine Community College Welding and Pipe Fabrication Technologies.

Each year 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 vocational high school students that attended. He attends job fairs for vocational high school students in Connecticut and has participated in SkillsUSA by judging the local competition.
  
As the 2013 Craft Instructor of the Year, Ayotte received a cash prize from the Trimmer Construction Education Foundation, and a notebook computer and leather jacket from NCCER.
  
Ayotte was selected from a field of six finalists. The other finalists were:
 
Kevin M. Garrett
Electrical Instructor
LCS Constructors, Inc., Irvine, Calif.
ABC Southern California Chapter

Aaron Jones
Sprinkler Fitter Instructor
Universal Fire Systems, Inc., Tampa, Fla.
ABC Florida Gulf Coast Chapter

Alberto Sandoval
Plumbing Instructor
TDIndustries, Inc., Dallas
ABC TEXO Chapter

Rudy Stanovich
Pipefitting Instructor
MTech Mechanical Technologies Group, Denver
ABC Rocky Mountain Chapter

Alton Vrana
Electrical Instructor
IES Commercial, Baton Rouge, La. 
ABC South Texas Chapter

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Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national trade association representing 22,000 members from more than 19,000 construction and industry-related firms. Founded on the merit shop philosophy, ABC and its 72 chapters help members win work and deliver that work safely, ethically and profitably for the betterment of the communities in which they work. Visit us at www.abc.org.