Building Talent Foundation Partners With Private Equity Firm

Building Talent Foundation (BTF) has formed a strategic partnership with industry-focused private equity firm Building Industry Partners (BIP).

Through the partnership, the two organizations will work to “positively impact industry workers, their families, and the industry at large.” Both organizations share an interest in promoting career development in the industry while building and fortifying a pipeline of talent for the future health of the industry.

Together, BIP and BTF will work to attract, develop, and retain talent to and within the U.S. residential building industry and enable businesses to become “employers of choice,” according to a news release. The two organizations plan to co-sponsor initiatives designed to drive workforce development at the local level, to connect and lead their networks to focus on solutions for workforce challenges, to engage in research about human capital management practices, and to aid the industry in increasing the workforce value proposition on a larger scale.

“We are thrilled to join forces with BTF and have this chance to make an impact in both the short and long term,” says BIP founder and managing partner Matt Ogden. “As BTF has demonstrated, creating job opportunities and carving career pathways for those who may be considered ‘unemployable’ in the industry can make an immediate, life-changing difference for individuals and their families. Having a secure job and source of income has a measurable impact on financial wellness, which has been proven to be linked to both physical and emotional health.”

In 2020, BIP began to champion broad-based employee ownership at its portfolio of companies, which includes West Coast Lumber Supply, Southeast Building Supply Interest, and North American Specialty Laminations, to elevate the industry’s employee value proposition. The firm is in the process of introducing a variety of human capital management practices, including employee financial literacy education, career path information, and job training.

“BTF’s mission is wholly aligned with BIP’s newly evolved purpose and ‘people first’ management philosophy, making this relationship such an easy, organic fit,” says BIP partner Stu Kliman.

As part of the relationship between the organizations, Ogden and Kliman will serve on BTF’s advisory council and BTF CEO Branka Minic will serve on BIP’s advisory council.

“BIP’s pioneering spirit, its coast-to-coast presence, its leadership across multiple verticals within the industry, and, most importantly, its true appreciation for—and commitment to—the people of the building industry, make it an ideal partner for BTF,” says Minic. “Having BIP’s support—and particularly Matt and Stu’s thought leadership, deep marco-level industry knowledge, and extensive networks to help propel BTF’s mission—is invaluable, especially during such a critical time for the industry.”

BTF is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the education, training, and career progression of young people and people from underrepresented groups in residential construction. The partnership with BIP comes as the construction industry faces a worker labor shortage of more than 500,000 and attrition as large segments of the workforce near retirement age. Projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and analysis by the NAHB show the sector needs to add approximately 740,000 workers per year during the coming decade to sustain itself.