Spotlight On: Marissa Bankert, President & CEO, ABC Eastern Pennsylvania
Key points:
- • Construction faces a skilled-labor shortage exceeding 300,000 workers.
- • Data centers and Lehigh Valley investments are expanding contractor opportunities.
- • Apprenticeship ratio reform is ABC Eastern Pennsylvania’s top policy priority.
November 2026 — Marissa Bankert, president & CEO of trade association ABC Eastern Pennsylvania, spoke with Invest: about the skilled-labor shortage, safety and apprenticeship programs, and the expanding construction opportunities across the region. “At any age, opportunity exists for you in construction,” Bankert said.
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What has the past year revealed about construction in eastern Pennsylvania?
It has been a transformative year for our chapter, and that says a great deal about the region. We’ve focused on workforce development and growing the skilled trades because those are critical for both our members and eastern Pennsylvania. The industry is working to transform itself and identify solutions while the region sees new manufacturing facilities, data centers, and general construction. Those different project types intensify the need for a capable workforce and strong member services. We’ve strengthened our operations so we can provide the best possible support across our entire territory.
How are members benefiting from the OSHA alliance and ABC’s safety programs?
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s alliance gives our members in the construction industry a seat at the table. It allows us to speak directly and candidly with an agency that shares our commitment to safety and to explain what it takes to translate rules into day-to-day operations.
We also offer STEP, a self-assessment tool for contractor members. We encourage companies to approach it from the top down, involving field employees in safety initiatives. Companies can use the assessment in the way that best fits their business, but participation throughout the organization makes the review more useful. The process helps identify gaps in safety programming, after which members can use ABC’s services to help ensure that everyone arrives at and leaves a job site safely.
How are apprenticeship requirements affecting contractors?
We operate state-approved apprenticeships across 10 programs, giving members a range of training options. We also address the current requirements through advocacy, working to ensure that regulatory oversight is fair and supports open competition rather than simply imposing an unnecessary burden.
We strongly believe in apprenticeship and safe training, and our policymakers and legislators need to understand the consequences of current requirements. ABC educates public officials as well as members about their responsibilities and rights so that policy and implementation remain grounded in how construction actually works.
How is the skilled-labor gap affecting the region, and what solutions are working?
The central question is how to supply skilled workers for the many projects coming to eastern Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. We partner with secondary schools, career and technical education providers, community colleges, and community-based groups that are invested in the individual places we serve. Those relationships help people understand that apprenticeship is available. It is an established model, but it isn’t as well known as it should be. Parents and educators are increasingly recognizing skilled trades as a real career path.
ABC regularly connects prospective apprentices directly with employers, and we make those employer connections every week. We also plan to offer a pre-apprenticeship boot camp so participants can experience the work and decide whether the skilled trades are right for them. That helps individuals make informed choices and gives employers candidates who are genuinely committed to a long-term construction career.
Which trends are shaping project demand and contractor confidence?
Philadelphia has long been distinguished by medicine, pharmaceuticals, research, and educational institutions. Those sectors remain important, but new opportunities are expanding across the market. Our contractors are looking for ways to diversify, and ABC helps them build relationships with developers, owners, and other partners. Those connections help contractors identify the people they need to know as they pursue new work.
Data centers are a major opportunity, although they are controversial. Their construction volume means we have to help members understand the work, develop the workforce, and obtain the technology and resources needed to bid and execute effectively. The market also extends beyond the city into the Lehigh Valley, where major investments by companies such as Eli Lilly and Chobani can create opportunities throughout the construction and supplier chain, not only in the initial build-out. Members should consider how to participate in the full chain created by those investments.
How can contractors improve job-site safety and workforce recruitment?
Technology is the new frontier in job-site safety. Our contractors are using tools that can identify risks before someone is hurt. Technology still has to be paired with honest daily conversations because people are imperfect and do not always make the best decision. Those conversations have to happen on the job site every day. Treating workers as human beings rather than productivity machines is essential to building a durable safety culture.
Workforce recruitment also needs a new approach. The industry has advertised itself much the same way for 35 years, and the skilled-labor shortage exceeds 300,000 people. Construction shapes where society works, lives, and plays, and the industry must communicate that value. Contractors need to improve how they attract and retain talent and help people feel proud of themselves and the industry. That is particularly important for people who may not have considered the field, including women and other marginalized groups.
What opportunities surround energy, industrial, and data center projects?
The opportunity extends beyond constructing the facility itself. Contractors should consider where components are manufactured, what equipment is required, and which supporting services are needed. They also have the chance to bid for and deliver the primary construction work, but the broader ecosystem matters. Even companies that do not win the main building contract can participate in transportation infrastructure, safety systems, security, and other needs created by a large project.
These facilities also require continuing maintenance, repairs, resources, and equipment. That creates a long-term market around major energy, industrial, and data center investments, and we want members to recognize the full scope of that demand.
What public policy change matters most over the next two to three years?
Our No. 1 priority is apprenticeship ratio reform in Pennsylvania. The basic goal is to ensure that anyone who wants to work in an apprenticeable trade has the opportunity to do so. An old state law prevents that from happening, so reform is important to unlocking more pathways, especially in the skilled trades where the labor gap is so large. The issue may sound technical, but its practical effect is whether willing people can enter these careers.
We’re educating legislators, policymakers, and the public while ensuring members are prepared to support a larger workforce. Policy must enable access, and employers must invest in education and provide real career paths. Both sides of that equation are necessary.
What should people understand about construction as a career?
Post-secondary education can take many valid forms, including apprenticeship, college, university, and military training. We need to communicate that to young people and to adults considering a change. Educators are increasingly acknowledging these options, and that creates an opening to present construction as a serious pathway. Someone can already have a degree and still enter an apprenticeable trade without taking on more education debt.
Construction can change the direction of a person’s life while allowing that person to help create the places society depends on. Apprenticeship offers education without adding the same kind of debt burden, and it can open a different future for someone ready to make a change. At any age, opportunity exists for you in construction.
Want more? Read the Invest: Philadelphia report.
