ON THE LEVEL: Kevin Renley, president of AGC of Wisconsin, on recruitment

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Kevin Renley, president and CEO of Eau Claire-based Market & Johnson, has worked for the company for 25 years. Now, he’s also tasked with leading the Associated General Contractors of Wisconsin.

With a five-pillar plan in his pocket, Renley plans to grow the group’s success in its 100th year, focusing in large part on what he says is the industry’s biggest problem right now, recruitment.

Renley said he’s proud and honored to be selected to lead the group on the heels of the “who’s who” of the construction industry.

In January, Renley was elected 2026 president of the association, succeeding past president George Cullen of Janesville-based Cullen. Renley served as vice president in 2025.

The Daily Reporter: What’s your general vision for the future of AGC Wisconsin?

Renley: One thing that’s important is we’re coming up on the 100th anniversary we have a solid strategic plan. During my tenure as president, I want to focus on that strategic plan. It has five main pillars.

One is to advocate for the construction industry. Education is the second pillar. The third pillar is member value. Workforce is another big component. And the fifth one is the AGC brand.

TDR: Can you expand on the education, member value and workforce?

Renley: I’m proud of being at AGC. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I’ve been through many of the programs and the educational components of it. They have quite a few very good programs.

A couple that speak to me are Leadership AGC. I went through that program when I was much younger. It helps develop our youth. We’re also focusing on the ACE Academies, trying to build those throughout the state. We have a couple of them going, and we want to continue that momentum. We also have an Executive Management Program for some of the more seasoned people in the industry. And then we also focus on the field too, we have STP Programs [Supervisory Training Program].

The educational component is very strong in the AGC. We also have a program called She Builds, about bringing awareness to the industry for women.

We’ve been a member of the AGC for ever since I’ve been a part of Market & Johnson, for my 25 years. The education is there, but they also have safety services as well. They’re also strong advocates as far as legal advocacy in the Capitol goes.

As far as the workforce pillar goes, that goes back to a lot of the programs they offer. It’s about recruiting new members into the field, whether it be project managers, carpenters or masons. It raises awareness of the construction industry. Many programs are tailored toward the youth in our industry.

TDR: What issues are most impacting the industry right now?

Renley: Our industry needs to recruit more people. We’re going to have a shortage of folks. Some of what AGC does is promote construction industry apprenticeships and training programs to try to recruit new people.

The ACE Academy and the high schools have been very beneficial. It gives people many different career paths.

A lot of times when people talk about construction, they think of the brick and mortar side of things. But there’s so many different career paths in construction. You could be in the field, putting units into place, you can be a project manager, you can be an estimator, we have accountants, IT people. So, I do feel like recruitment of more people in our industry and overall awareness is a big, big thing that we’re faced against.

Technology is ever changing. It’s been very beneficial to AGC to try to stay on top of those things. We have a lot of webinars and stuff like that, where we can take some of the new technology and bring it to our members.

TDR: How do you see the commercial construction industry progressing over the next five years?

Renley: We’ve experienced some good years. I think it’s going to continue on an upward trajectory, maybe slow down just a little bit. I think the biggest impact moving forward is going to be technology in the construction industry.

TDR: What does it mean to you to be picked as AGC Wisconsin president?

Renley: To be the president of the AGC is a true honor. Coming up, we have our 100th year anniversary, it’s going to be a big celebration towards the end of the year, and I’m looking forward to that. And there’s been so many past presidents that are the who’s who of the construction industry. So, it’s a big honor for me, and something I’m very proud of.