January 2019 Edition

Dear ASA Members,

Last month, after an exhaustive, six-month search, the ASA Search Committee—composed of the ASA Executive Committee members—named government relations expert Michael T. Oscar as its director of government relations, effective immediately. I cannot emphasize enough how excited the ASA Board of Directors is about Mike and his team from Gray & Oscar, LLC, a government relations consulting firm with offices in Alexandria, Va., and Philadelphia, Pa., where Mike is managing partner. The Gray & Oscar team includes Timothy Ward, ASA government relations communications director, and Shannon Oscar, ASA task force director.

Mike will lead ASA’s government and industry advocacy programs, including federal legislation, government regulations, and industry collaboration and coalitions. Of course, Mike will have big shoes to fill, but we are confident that Mike and his team will successfully execute our strategic legislative action plan and accomplish our advocacy goals, including cultivating and establishing new industry alliances.

Mike has nearly 20 years of experience in government affairs and 12 years of service on Congressional staff. During his tenure on Capitol Hill, he worked in both Republican and Democratic offices in the U.S. House and Senate, giving him rare institutional knowledge of both chambers and caucuses. His bipartisan experience in Congress has equipped him with a unique set of contacts and networks to access on behalf of ASA.

In both public and private practice, Mike has been deeply involved in key construction subcontractor issues, including prompt payment, the mechanic’s lien law, government procurement, funding for apprenticeship training programs, public-private partnerships, and worker misclassification. His regulatory experience spans multiple federal and state agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (lead paint remediation), International Trade Commission (tariff), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (workforce safety and silica and beryllium exposure limits), and the U.S. Department of Labor (bid solicitations, worker misclassification, overtime regulations and National Labor Relations Board rulings), Commerce (economic development), and Agriculture (risk management and international trade). And, as a representative for a national construction trade association, Mike successfully spearheaded an effort to secure a U.S. Court of International Trade decision regarding aluminum extrusions for curtainwall units.

At Gray & Oscar, Mike has represented major construction trade associations for over a decade. The Gray & Oscar team has broad and extensive background in local, state and federal government, as well as judicial and executive branch and political and non-profit campaign experience.

I am also excited about Mike’s successful track-record on implementing ASA priorities at the state level. In Pennsylvania, for example, Mike was instrumental in developing a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers to implement the state’s prompt pay law, as well as an update to the mechanic’s lien law. The Pennsylvania Prompt Pay law was enacted under divided government with overwhelming bipartisan majorities.

ASA is charting a new path into the future, and it’s an exciting time for ASA. We have an entire team devoted not only to our advocacy and industry initiatives, but also our growing Chapter Network. Mike and his team will be a tremendous resource and advocacy coach for our 30-plus chapters across the country, and he will work closely with our chapters to establish and maintain effective grassroots advocacy programs.

Please join me in welcoming Mike, Tim and Shannon to our Association!

Best Regards,

Courtney Little

2018-19 President

American Subcontractors Association