Walls & Ceilings’ Group Publisher Jill Bloom spoke with South Valley Drywall’s President Travis Vap at this year’s BUILD23 (formerly INTEX Expo). Bloom was honored to speak to the outgoing AWCI President as his term concluded. He spoke on what his term meant and his company’s safety policy.

“It was a true honor to be the AWCI president. I would say our biggest accomplishment was our Emerging Leaders Program,” he said in regards to his time as the association’s elected official. “We graduated our first [implemented] class,” which consisted of 14 individuals. 

“We also started our second Emerging Leaders Class, which now lasts 18 months. This is a mix of contractors, manufacturers and distributors. It's a good mix,” Vap reported. After careful review of the first year of this program, AWCI tweaked and decided to extend the program from 12 to 18 months.

But the very “meat” of the discussion came about when discussing safety. For every contractor out there listening and watching, Vap shared one incredible safety idea you will not want to miss hearing about and extremely simple to implement. This is something that will bring your entire team closer and create a bond that could easily save lives: Vap shared a story about how South Valley Drywall handled an internal mistake (with potentially very dangerous consequences) and turned it around as a teachable moment that no one at this company will ever forget.

Listen to this exciting video as Vap outlines major issues—drawing on his own experiences—and the didactic moments that instructed him as he helps move his company forward.