Members of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) elected four Senior Officers to top leadership positions within the federation during the association‚Äôs International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas.
With more than 800 affiliated state and local home builders associations (HBAs) and more than 200,000 members across the country, NAHB is the “voice of the housing industry,” representing the interests of the nation’s housing professionals through advocacy, education and research.
Taking the helm as NAHB’s Chairman of the Board this year is Joe Robson, a Tulsa, Okla.-based home builder. A leader in the Tulsa area home building and development industries for more than 25 years, he is the founder and president of The Robson Companies Inc., developers of residential communities and commercial properties.
“We look forward to working with the Obama Administration and the new Congress to develop policies that will help families facing foreclosure, stabilize home prices and put America’s home builders back to work as the engine of the economy,” Robson says. “NAHB will be pushing very hard for an economic stimulus package that recognizes the important role that residential construction plays in generating economic activity and jobs.”
Also moving up on the association’s leadership ladder during NAHB’s Las Vegas board meeting was Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based home builder Bob Jones, who was elected to be NAHB’s First Vice Chairman of the Board. As president of Robert R. Jones Homes, he specializes in land development and the design and construction of single-family luxury homes throughout metropolitan Detroit. During Jones’s 35-year career, he has earned a reputation for excellence and established a continuing commitment to the home building industry across the local, state and national levels.
Reno, Nev.-based builder Bob Nielsen was elected to the post of 2009 Second Vice Chairman. Nielsen has over 25 years of experience in the industry and has overseen the development of more than 45 new home communities housing more than 4,500 families. He is president of Shelter Properties, a building and development company headquartered in northern Nevada that has constructed communities across the state and in California.
Barry Rutenberg, a Gainesville, Fla.-based home builder, joined the NAHB leadership ladder with his election to the post of Third Vice Chairman. Rutenberg is president of Barry Rutenberg and Associates, Inc. in Gainesville. He has more than 30 years of experience in the housing industry and has overseen the development of more than a dozen communities and 1,000 homes in the Gainesville area.
Former NAHB Chairman of the Board Sandy Dunn, from Point Pleasant, W.Va., remains on the leadership ladder as Immediate Past Chairman. Dunn is a second-generation West Virginia home builder who has provided affordable housing to Mountain State residents for more than three decades. She is president of Point Pleasant, W. Va.-based B.J. Builders, Inc., a company founded by her father in 1953 that specializes in single-family, entry-level homes.
Rounding out the association’s leadership is NAHB Executive Vice President and CEO Jerry Howard, from Washington, D.C. Howard heads up a professional staff of more than 300 working out of the National Housing Center in Washington. After previously serving as the association’s chief tax counsel, Howard was promoted to EVP/CEO in February of 2001.
The National Association of Home Builders is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing more than 200,000 members involved in home building, remodeling, multifamily construction, property management, subcontracting, design, housing finance, building product manufacturing and other aspects of residential and light commercial construction. Visit nahb.org for more information.