Building careers, changing lives: Boyd Worsham’s mission at NCCER

From carpenter apprentice to CEO, Boyd Worsham’s career began in a high school carpentry program in Clay County, Florida, where he’s still based today.

"I’m just really fortunate when somebody figures out what they want to do when they’re young," Worsham said. "I knew I wanted to run construction projects."

That clarity of purpose led him through 38 years with The Haskell Co., working his way from carpenter apprentice through superintendent to VP of construction support. Seven years ago, he took over as president and CEO with the NCCER, bringing a field operator’s perspective to an organization that trains about 350,000 people annually.

"I never left to go to another contractor because I was too embedded where I was happy," Worsham said. "But I thought this could be a really great way to finish a career by giving back to the industry."

From the field to the front office

Worsham’s trajectory started with recognition. At his high school carpentry program’s awards ceremony, he won the outstanding student award. The guest speaker was Preston Haskell, who owned The Haskell Co.

"Mr. Haskell came over to me after and said, ’You’re going to need a job after you graduate high school," Worsham recalled. "I said I’d really like to work for your company. He said, ’What kind of job do you want?’ I said, ’Your job.’ He said, ’Come try."

Worsham tried for nearly four decades, moving through the ranks to become the company’s first employee with "safety" in their title, then eventually overseeing all field operations. The experience taught him something critical that now shapes his leadership at NCCER.

"My job was making sure what got sold got executed," he said. "I touched all aspects of a project. At the time, you don’t even realize how much you’re learning. It’s when you start putting it to use that you realize how lucky you’ve been."

The NCCER mission

Founded 30 years ago, NCCER has evolved into a labor-neutral non-profit organization focused on one thing: improving lives through construction education.

"We realize that we are in service to the industry," Worsham said. "How do we help the industry grow? How do we help people involved in the industry grow professionally and make sure they have a structured way to improve their lives through their jobs?"

The numbers tell the story of NCCER’s reach. About 2,500 high schools use NCCER materials. Some 500 correctional institutions use NCCER to help incarcerated people prepare for productive careers after release. About 500 community colleges deliver NCCER training. Most major contractors in heavy industrial and commercial construction use NCCER to train and develop their teams.

"People usually say vocational education, shop classes aren’t in schools anymore," Worsham said. "They actually are. What we don’t do as an industry is connect with those programs like we should. We’re not getting those students pulled into our industry, which means shame on us."

Solving the skills gap

Ask Worsham about the skilled labor shortage and he’s direct about whose fault it is.

"The shortage has gone on for a long time. That’s absolutely our fault as an industry," he said. "This industry solves every supply chain issue it has but this one. We start getting serious about solving this one when every other industry has the same problem and they’re getting serious about it. We wait for the worst time to do it."

His solution focuses on awareness rather than perception. "People will not choose us if they do not know us," Worsham said. "Yet we assume as an industry that everybody knows and understands us, and they simply don’t. What do they know of us? A road job when they’re stuck in traffic, buildings being built in their areas, and maybe cranes being run on job sites near them."

But there’s another problem he’s trying to combat. Too many people in the industry still talk to students about construction as a craftonly career.

"My carpentry instructor told me he was going to teach me everything about carpentry so that I would be successful in the business of construction," Worsham said. "It never occurred to me that I would only be a carpenter. The craft is the entry point, and then we get to do whatever we’re skilled at and capable of doing."

He wants students, parents and mid-career professionals to understand that progression happens rapidly for those who show initiative. But the industry has to do its part.

"Only about 23% of students in this country that go through construction-related career technical education programs go to industry when they leave school," Worsham said. "You know why? Because we, as industry, have not connected. We haven’t gone in and said, ’Let me tell you about the opportunities in my organization."

The 90-day challenge

When companies do bring in new workers, Worsham emphasizes the importance of those first three months.

"It can be intimidating when you go from high school and they throw you on some big project," he said. "We know if we can get them past 90 days, we can probably keep them. We as industry have to unite and solve our supply chain problem of people."

He shared a story from his time at Haskell that illustrates the point. At an annual banquet for local high school students, a young man approached him with his mother.

"He said he really wanted to work for our company but didn’t want to travel," Worsham recalled. "I said, ’What program are you in?’ He said carpentry. I said, ’Can you read a framing square? Do you know how to read a tape measure?’ The tape measure is the universal tool of our industry."

Worsham put him to work in the company’s steel fabrication shop. That was 20 years ago. The young man just took over as superintendent of the largest steel fabrication shop in Northeast Florida and South Georgia.

"It was all because of a 10-minute conversation and the willingness and courage to take a risk on somebody and give them a chance," Worsham said.

Technology and training

NCCER is leveraging technology to meet learners where they are, from AI-powered translations to digital delivery methods that go beyond the traditional apprenticeship model of classroom time twice a week for three or four years.

"We have to meet the learner where they’re at if we really want to be successful," Worsham said. "If people don’t succeed fairly quickly, they will give up on the industry."

But he’s measured about AI’s role. "The training is there, and the people learn it. The company has to support it and everybody has to execute on it. You have to make it the priority it deserves to be because the alternative is not acceptable. People can’t get hurt going to work."

People over projects

Worsham keeps a note on top of his whiteboard at NCCER headquarters in Florida: "Making construction the industry and career choice for all."

"At the end of the day, it’s still about people," he said. "We are a people industry, and that is what makes those of us in it love it. Think of the life-changing jobs we can give people. People need us more than we need them. We just don’t understand that."

His biggest lesson learned from his construction days? The wake he left behind.

"I came from this world of running big projects, making stuff happen, never missing a date," he said. "But I left quite a wake when I did that. I wasn’t wise enough at the time to recognize I could have done it in a way that was better for the people around me."

These days, he thinks about impact differently. "There’s nothing anybody builds today that will truly be their legacy other than people. Projects are not a legacy. People are the only legacy that will matter."

He leads a team of 140 at NCCER, many with advanced degrees, and finds fulfillment in giving them direction they can trust.

"They need me to lead and point the direction," Worsham said. "My day will end here and somebody will come in who will be good at it. I hope one of these folks that’s here now as a young person sits in this corner office as the CEO one day. And I hope they think that Boyd Worsham was a good guy and he positioned the organization for success."

For someone who still identifies first and foremost as a carpenter, that’s a legacy worth building.

For more information, visit nccer.org.

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