PAUL E. FERNANDES

Paul E. Fernandes is in his eighth year with The Edward J. Malloy Initiative for Construction Skills (formerly Construction Skills 2000), serving since 2006 as its president and CEO.  The organization provides pre-apprenticeship training to public high school youth, public housing residents and other populations to prepare them for entry into union apprenticeships in the building and construction industry.  Of the more than 1,000 individuals it has placed into union apprenticeships, 89% are African American, Hispanic, Asian and other minorities and 80% remain actively employed in the industry, including hundreds who have graduated from their apprenticeships to become journey persons with the skills to command the best wages and benefits in the industry.

Construction Skills was nationally recognized in 2006 for its record of success with a Workforce Development Award from the Construction Users Roundtable, the leading advocacy group for businesses in the United States that utilize construction services.

Mr. Fernandes is also in his fourteenth year with the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, serving since 1998 as the chief of staff for an organization consisting of local affiliates of 15 national and international unions representing 100,000 members in New York City. 

In this capacity, he has been instrumental in a number of public and private initiatives, including the rezoning of the Hudson Yards in Manhattan for 24 million square feet of new commercial office space and 13,600 housing units, siting the Croton water filtration facility in the Bronx with $220 million for local parkland improvements, cutting workers’ compensation costs by capping the wages on which premiums are based and allowing government agencies to require contractors to participate in apprenticeship training programs to promote opportunity and diversity.

Mr. Fernandes, a 1992 graduate of Rutgers College at Rutgers University, began his career working as a finance coordinator for Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign.  That was followed by an appointment as a special assistant to the United States Secretary of Labor in the White House Liaison’s office.  He later served as an aide on campaigns for governor and county executive.  Mr. Fernandes resides in Manhattan.