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Profile Michele Haines set out in life to lend a helping hand. Now in the building trade, she does just that



Michele Haines Set Out in Life to Lend a Helping Hand. In Building Trade, She Does Just That

riginally, Michele Haines didn’t look to construction as a career choice. But now it’s her job to encourage other women looking to get into that career, as well.

Haines, 48, is the equal employment opportunity coordinator for Turner Construction Co.-San Diego. As such, she helps women and minorities, many of whom are underrepresented in construction, enter that field.

She also is the historically underutilized business enterprise coordinator for Turner. In that position, she does outreach to contractors owned by women, minorities or disabled veterans to bid on Turner’s projects, such as construction on the San Diego Convention Center.

Haines works with several organizations in that capacity, including the Black Contractors Association, the Latino Builders Industry Association, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the San Diego Disabled Veterans Enterprise Network.

Haines also serves on the board of the YWCA. There she recently unveiled a program to encourage women who come from abusive environments to enter the field of construction.


Working With Battered Women

“We’re working with women who are in ‘transitional housing’ with the YWCA,” she says. “These are the ones who have already gone through the different levels of the battered women’s shelter, and they’re ready to move on, to gain employment. That’s where we come in.”

Haines conducts informal presentations where the women can learn about assuming nontraditional roles and entering construction apprenticeship programs. There have been only two meetings held so far, but one woman already has been placed in a drywall apprenticeship, she said.

On top of that, Haines is the co-founder and club manager of the Women in Construction Club. Haines described the gathering as an “extremely informal” bimonthly gathering of women who work on construction sites, or who serve as construction executives.

“It’s a way for women to come in off the job site, just to come in, put your feet up, and talk,” she said. “I like the expression ‘coffee klatch,’ because it’s a way for women to get together.”

Each meeting has a guest speaker who addresses issues concerning women in construction , such as finances, maintaining upper body strength, or finding one’s niche as a woman-owned business.

Some gatherings, however, have been more light-hearted. When a caterer was invited to speak, the topic of conversation was favorite recipes, Haines said.


Studied Psychology

All this is a far cry from what Haines originally wanted to do , work with autistic children. But while going to college at Ohio University, she came to discover how much work that was and realized that it wasn’t for her. When she got her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1975, she decided that was enough.

After graduation, she married Jim Haines. She then worked in several temporary positions.

“I was an assistant planner for the county,” she says. “I also worked for the adult parole authority, where I actually had to interview men who had just been bound over from the grand jury. My job was to do the initial interview with them and find out why they were sitting in jail. I didn’t stay at that job very long.”

Then, in 1979, Haines landed a job with the housing authority in Ohio, where she served as the initial person housing applicants would meet.

Haines led them through the process. More than that, however, her job was to reassure applicants that everything would be all right.


Housing The Needy

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“There were a lot of people who were coming in and needing housing at the time, whether they were elderly, or a family. And the way the economy was going back then, there were a lot of people who were used to having money, who were actually having to come in and apply for public housing,” she says. “Just trying to keep them sane , it was tough for those families.”

In 1983, she came to San Diego, getting a position with the local housing commission. Her job required her to oversee the 189 multi-family, low-income housing units that were being built throughout San Diego County at the time.

She quickly discovered how much she enjoyed working on construction sites. Haines was let go from the city in 1986 because of budget cuts. Over the next 10 years, she worked for several construction companies, usually out in the field. By 1996, she was working at M.H. Golden as the equal-opportunity program administrator.

In 1996, Golden closed. Since the Convention Center expansion was originally a joint venture between Golden and Turner, Turner hired her to take on the same equal-opportunity job.

She’s been with Turner ever since.


‘Extremely Pleased’

Ron Rudolph, project director for Turner, says Haines was a natural to be hired over from Golden. He is “extremely pleased” with the work she’s done.

“She has been able to handle all inquiries and the reporting procedures that are required by the city of San Diego, which are extensive, and balance that well with the purchasing efforts of our subcontracts,” Rudolph says.

Haines also handles all the vendors and subcontractors on the Convention Center project , about 165 of them, Rudolph says.

“She follows through with all the administrative needs performance bonds if they’re required, all the standard contracting issues, as well as the fact that she handles all our EEO (equal employment opportunity) and HUBE (historically underutilized business enterprise) efforts, as well as the human resources portion of our project,” he said. “She has a great rapport with the people on the project team, the city staff and all the contractors.”

Jose Mireles, the executive director of the Latino Builders Industry Association, agrees.

“She has set the stage for how to do outreach in the diversity community,” he says. “She really has explored and been innovative in the way she reaches out to the various groups.”

Mireles was particularly appreciative of the way Haines was able to go beyond her job description in reaching out in assisting Latino workers.


‘Takes Them By The Hand’

“They’ve been able to do hands-on. The contractors come in to Turner, and she takes them by the hand, and makes sure that they understand all that it takes to build the Convention Center,” he says. “She’s done an extraordinary job.”

That hands-on extends to making sure the contractors understand how to do business with Turner on the Convention Center project, helping make sure Latino workers have a genuine opportunity to do real work on the site there, Mireles says.

Mireles says about 40 percent of the people working on the Convention Center are Latinos, and Haines deserves much of the credit.

“A lot of it is a result of her effort to work with various organizations like ours that have given us the confidence that they will take care of their contractors , that once we send them over to Turner, they will be in good hands,” Mireles says.

Turner stands out as a company that works to be inclusive, he adds.

“A company like Turner has been a good partner for the Latino community, and I look forward to building other projects with them in San Diego,” Mireles says.

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