Corinna Hunt, Contributing Editor
When Mark Albert, founder and president/CEO of AGI Construction, joined the Distribution Contractors Association in 2017, he wasn’t initially sure he belonged.
“We were, at that point, certainly a much smaller company than a lot of these companies in this organization,” he said.
AGI Construction is an underground utility contractor with a focus on natural gas pipeline distribution throughout the northeast. Based in Rhode Island, the company was founded in 1988 with five employees. In the years since, it has grown to employ nearly 300 people and now works in Massachusetts, Connecticut and upstate New York, in addition to its home state.
“We’re still, in the scope of natural gas pipeline, a smaller contractor, but we’ve done all the growth organically and not through acquisitions,” Albert said. “Over the course of the years, it’s grown quite a bit — certainly since our first year.”
As it turned out, however, AGI fit in perfectly.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a multi-billion-dollar company or a much smaller company like us,” Albert said. “(The DCA is) very welcoming and it’s a great way to network with lots of people in our industry, and there are pathways to get involved up to the board level.”
Creating more pathways to involvement for the Distribution Contractors Association’s 82 contractor members and 105 associate members was a top priority for the organization this year. Underground Infrastructure spoke with Albert, the DCA’s outgoing president, to learn more about that priority and the rest of the association’s outlook from 2024.
UI: What were some of the DCA’s biggest priorities for 2024, and where do those stand now?
Albert: There have been a lot of initiatives in 2024 and one of those is restructuring our organization and the different committees. One of the things we’ve been working on is trying to get more people involved and giving people a pathway to be involved. So many of the DCA’s members were looking for a clear pathway into the leadership of the organization. The new committee structure has two co-chairs, a secretary and up to 20 team members on each. That gives the ability for a pathway for people to, if you will, be more involved and move up – have a pathway to be in leadership at the board level. That’s been one of the bigger initiatives for 2024, for sure.
UI: The DCA changes presidents each year. Does leadership of the committees change over from year to year as well, and is that one of the ways more people can get involved in leadership positions?
Albert: That’s the intent, but at the committee level, the commitment is typically two years. It is a shorter time, and the presidency – the way it’s structured is that you spend a year as secretary, a year as vice president, a year as president and then a year as immediate past president, so it’s more than a one-year commitment – is just one year.
UI: You’ll spend the next year in the position of immediate past president, but after that, would you like to get involved again at the committee level?
Albert: It’s certainly possible. I don’t know if it would be at a committee level or another level within the organization of the immediate past presidents. I would like to stay involved, certainly, in some way, shape or form, because it’s been a good journey. It’s a great organization and I certainly want to stay committed to it and involved in it, absolutely.
UI: Aside from creating pathways and possibilities for more people to get involved, have there been other priorities in focus throughout the past year?
Albert: The Innovation and Technology Committee was created in 2024 through the leadership of the board which is, in my humble opinion, a fantastic board. It has a lot of new people who have been extremely energetic and very interested in being involved and in helping bring the organization further into the 21st century. The committee was created to work with members looking to find and implement the newest and best technologies to improve our industry and our organization.
UI: What challenges would you say the DCA has encountered throughout the past year?
Albert: With politics, there’s been a lot of people worrying about our industry, and the challenge is working to reassure everybody – not only in the DCA but in the industry – that we have a great future, a long future, and that the natural gas industry is healthy and strong.
The DCA is an excellent platform that brings together companies like AGI Construction and many others to collaborate with committees, such as the Government Relations Committee. Additionally, our fly-in events see over 20 participants traveling to Washington, D.C. to meet with various members of Congress and address our concerns and issues. Things like that are instrumental to help get our message out, and we wouldn’t be able to do that without some of the members in our organization. Eben Wyman, our representative in Washington, D.C., has been amazing at putting things like those fly-ins together and getting us meetings with the Senate and Congress. Having the ability to talk directly with at least the people who work with the congressmen, it’s been really powerful.
UI: What would you say the DCA is looking forward to in 2025?
Albert: Bringing more people and more companies into the organization and looking to continue with the next generation and the next group of leadership. We talk very much about making sure that we work to get the next generation of leadership in the DCA and in our industry. That’s probably one of the biggest things that we talk about, is to develop and bring in and work together to expand our organization and to bring in the next level.
With these initiatives, our association and industry will move forward as recognized leaders in the natural gas pipeline sector.
UI: From a personal, as well as a business standpoint, what are you most looking forward to in 2025?
Albert: We’ve actually expanded our company. I believe this year we’ll have somewhere between 15- and 20-percent growth, which is very significant. Those contracts that we’re currently working to close and have closed are multi-year and have the opportunity to grow in our region and build relationships with our current members of the utilities. We’re very blessed that the opportunity is there in our industry to continue our growth, particularly in Massachusetts. There’s a tremendous amount of work for many years to come in that area.
UI: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
Albert: The DCA is an amazing organization, and we welcome people interested in our industry and interested in networking with all of the various companies and people in our industry. I can tell you, when I came in years ago, I was very active … and in eight short years went from brand-new to being president of the DCA. It’s that kind of organization. If you are willing to get involved, you can move into the board level and move up to even the presidency, in a short amount of time, in general. It really, truly, is a collaborative organization, and I’ve learned a lot. The DCA has done a lot for me over the course of the last decade. UI
