Retirements bring change to QC union construction industry

Steven P. Tondi and Alan Anderson, longtime labor-management leaders in the Quad Cities construction trades industry, recently retired after a combined 72 years of service.

Steven Tondi

Mr. Tondi retired on Dec. 31 as president/CEO of the Associated General Contractors of the Quad Cities (AGCQC), Quad City Builders (QCB), and the Quad City Construction Industry Advancement Trust (QCCIAT.) He served in that position since May 1995. 

As an AGCQC leader, Tondi managed community, industry, and labor relations. He negotiated 83 collective bargaining agreements and served as a management trustee on nine Employee Retirement Income Security Act Trusts. He also served as co-chair of the Illowa Construction Labor & Management Council throughout his tenure.

Mr. Tondi came to the Quad Cities from Springfield, Illinois, where he served as director of the Department of General Support in the Illinois Attorney General’s office from 1983-1995. Before that he was an administrative manager in the Office of the Illinois Secretary of State.

Alan Anderson

Mr. Anderson served as executive manager of the Quad Cities National Electrical Contractors Association (QCNECA) from 2011 through his retirement late last fall.

He started his career in the trades as an Apprentice Electrician following his graduation from Moline High School in 1977. He was a proud member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 145 throughout his career. Anderson served as executive director of the Illowa Construction Labor and Management Council from 2000 through 2006 and was an assistant business ggent with Local 145 from 2006-2011.

In the wake of the retirements, P.J. Foley has been appointed president/CEO of the AGCQC, Quad City Builders (QCB), and Quad City Construction Industry Advancement Trust (QCCIAT), and Brandon Currie is the new executive manager of QCNECA.

P.J. Foley

Mr. Foley served as vice president of those organizations from April of last year through the end of 2022. He previously was the executive director of the Illowa Construction Labor & Management Council from 2018 through March.

Mr. Foley came to the construction industry after serving from 2007-2017 as director of government affairs at his alma mater, St. Ambrose University. He is a former alderman for the City of Rock Island and serves on multiple civic boards across the area.

Brandon Currie

Mr. Currie joined IBEW Local 34 in central Illinois in 2007 as an Inside Wireman Apprentice. After completing his apprenticeship, he taught at the Peoria Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Center. He was appointed director of the Training Center in 2013 and served in that capacity until he was appointed to the QCNECA position in October of 2022.

In addition, Craig DeVrieze was hired in July of 2022 to assume the position of executive director of the Illowa Construction Labor & Management Council.

Craig DeVrieze

 

Mr. DeVrieze served in the Communications and Marketing Office at St. Ambrose from 2011-2022, including as director of communications from 2018-2022. He was a sports and news reporter at the Quad-City Times and Dispatch-Argus from 1983 through 2011.

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