Washington, DC. At its annual conference in Portland, Oregon, held April 13-17, 2016, the National Forum for Black Public Administrators, Inc. recognized SAK Construction and Mrs. Regina Hargraves of ICMA-RC for their outstanding contributions and support of the NFBPA mission to advance excellence in public service.

Corporation of the Year
SAK Construction, headquartered in O’Fallon, Missouri is noted for its solutions to underground and pipeline challenges by renewing aging pipeline, expanding water and wastewater systems, digging new tunnels and other tunnel and boring work by drawing on state of the art technology. SAK founders and current executive leadership is Bob Affholder, Jerry Shaw, and Tom Kalishman, all known in the trenchless industry.

SAK has supported the NFBPA Executive Leadership Institute (ELI) and the Mentor Program, both financially and with in-kind resources. The ELI program launched in 1987 is an intensive professional development program for aspiring Black and other minority managers in the public sector. The Mentor Program is targeted at helping emerging leaders by providing them with mentors experienced in public administration and providing management training.

SAK has shown that they are a company about more than bricks and mortar. They hold as corporate values community involvement and helping to advance good government.

Corporate Person of the Year
Regina Hargraves is Senior Manager of Industry and Association Relations for ICMA-RC. ICMA-RC, founded in 1972, is a non-profit independent financial services corporation focusing on providing retirement plans and related services for over one million public sector participant accounts and more than 9,000 retirement plans.

ICMA-RC’s mission is to help provide retirement security for public sector employees. Ms. Hargraves represents only a professional interest, but a personal interest in learning the work of public administrators and understanding the mission of their membership organizations. By doing so, Ms. Hargraves has lent tremendous support to NFBPA.

Ms. Hargraves is quick to offer suggestions for conference programs, provide in-kind services and facilitate new partnerships for NFBPA. She shows leadership and is committed to strengthening NFBPA local chapters and aspiring young professionals.

About NFBPA
The National Forum for Black Public Administrators is dedicated to the advancement of Black public leadership in local and state government. NFBPA reaches a membership of approximately 2,500 administrators who are on the frontline working to solve pressing community and human service issues. NFBPA provides professional development programs, research and policy analysis and collegial networking. NFBPA was founded in 1983 and has 34 local chapters across the United States.