WASHINGTON — Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) presented its Contractor of the Year award to Mark Small, senior vice president and chief financial officer, Cleveland Construction Inc., Mentor, Ohio, at the association’s national convention in San Diego. ABC presents this award each year to an ABC member who has demonstrated significant accomplishment for ABC, the merit shop, and the construction industry.

“Mark played a key role last year in helping ABC accomplish its goal of electing a free-enterprise majority to the Senate and in helping the Trimmer Education Foundation grow stronger than ever,” said Kirk Pickerel, ABC president and CEO. “His dedication and commitment to ABC over the years sets an example that all of us can appreciate, and it is with great pleasure that we name him ABC’s Contractor of the Year.”

Small served as chairman of ABC’s Government Affairs Committee in 2002, the year that the association established its No. 1 goal to be regaining a free enterprise majority in the U.S. Senate, and he played a key leadership role in the association’s government relations activities. Small also served as chairman of the Trimmer Education Foundation in 2002. Under Small's leadership, the foundation awarded a record number of student scholarships and education grants to ABC chapters.

Small started Cleveland Construction in 1980 as a family business in Mentor, Ohio. The company now has more than 1,500 employees in offices throughout the Midwest, Central, and Southeastern United States. Recognized as one of the “40 under 40 most influential business persons in 1994” by Crain’s Business Magazine, Small served as president of ABC’s Northern Ohio Chapter in 1996 and was a member of the chapter’s board of directors. He has worked on various ABC committees and was an executive committee member from 1998 to 2001.

Publication date: 03/24/2003