GCA Announces Next Executive Director

Robert G. Wessels, Executive Director, The General Contractors Associationof New York

The General Contractors Association of New York (GCA) President Art Corwin today announced that the Board of Directors of the Association has appointed Robert G. Wessels as its next Executive Director.

Mr. Wessels has served as Acting Executive Director of the GCA since August 2019 and has been involved with the organization for many years, leading the Law and Legislation Committee, serving as an officer and Member of the Executive Committee, and as the Association’s President in 2012 and 2013.

“Robert is the consummate professional who brings cross-disciplinary skills to the job of executive director,” said Corwin. “He understands the complexities of public policy and the daily challenge of transferring plans and specifications into steel and concrete.  This is a unique ability that will well serve the GCA membership at an important time in the history of infrastructure construction in New York.”

Prior to joining the GCA, Robert spent 30 years in the construction industry managing and overseeing major regional heavy civil infrastructure projects.  In addition to his hands-on experience building and rebuilding major elements of the region’s critical infrastructure, he has extensive experience dealing with government contracts, plans and specifications.

Mr. Wessels, stated, “I work with an excellent team at the GCA and I look forward to leading the organization into a new decade and a new era. While there is currently robust investment in critical infrastructure, we must work in partnership with the City and State to invest wisely, and create a partnership that delivers the public works projects that are critical to New York’s future.”

For over a century, the GCA has been the strong and unified voice for the heavy civil construction industry in New York. GCA members build New York: from the foundations for the iconic skyline and new housing developments, to the tunnels and tracks that increase capacity decrease overcrowding and improve system reliability; from the schools, parks and recreational facilities that educate our children and improve the quality of life in the our communities, to new water and sewer systems that are essential to our daily lives; and from the roads and bridges that serve a multitude of modes of transportation and that also provide cover for the complex network of mains, cables and conduits that are vital to our economy.