Every year, volunteer members, HBAs and their staff work tirelessly to build strong communities, strengthen the industry and give back to cities, towns and neighbourhoods across Canada. The CHBA Association Leadership Awards honour the leaders within our Association – both individuals and our local and provincial homebuilders’ associations. This year’s honours were given out during CHBA’s Home Building Week in Canada in Saint John, NB. Congratulations to the very deserving recipients, who you can learn more about on the next pages.
Member of the Year – Andy Oding
The prestigious Member of the Year award is a long-term achievement award. It was presented this year to Andy Oding, an active member in London HBA and Waterloo Region HBA (both in Ontario). Oding has volunteered many hours for the association at all three levels, and this award was given for his extensive activity at the national level.
Oding is a long-time contributor to CHBA’s committees and councils. He served as Chair of the Technical Research Committee for two years (2017 to 2019) and was a founding member of the Net Zero Council, serving as its first Chair from 2014 to 2017, and currently still participating as a member of its Management Committee. Regardless of his role, Oding is always an active participant in national committee and council meetings, providing his expertise and frequently encouraging discussion among members at the meetings and during breaks.
With 20-plus years of experience as a builder, Andy Oding is also a recognized Building Science specialist, HVAC designer, Master Energy Advisor and Net Zero Energy Advisor. With his deep understanding of our industry, Oding is a sought-after speaker and trainer, bringing real-life practicality to building science principles and its application in the field. He has been involved in various RD&D projects that have helped the continuous evolution of CHBA’s Net Zero Home Labelling Program and he continues to play a critical role in its development.
Oding is committed to ensuring the voice of our industry is clearly heard, and he represents members by working on various committees shaping the National Building Code of Canada, especially pertaining to energy efficiency in residential construction. His involvement with the association, and his dedicated work on behalf of members, is exemplary. Oding is a most deserving recipient of Member of the Year for 2024.
Executive Officer of the Year – Jason Burggraaf
The Executive Officer of the Year goes to the staff leader of a local or provincial association who has demonstrated exceptional leadership of their association, as well as the ability to work effectively with volunteer leaders to create a strong and positive voice for the housing industry, including administration, financial and human resource management, policy development and advocacy, membership development, media relations and communications. This year’s recipient was Jason Burggraaf from the Greater Ottawa HBA (GOHBA) in Ontario.
With Burggraaf at the helm, GOHBA has had three straight years of growth in its financial position and last year was able to add two new staff members to enhance the HBA’s capacity and value of service to members. Burggraaf knows that many elements go into membership growth and retention, and recognizes the importance of fostering an environment of caring among staff and members. As a result of GOHBA’s activities, membership has grown 33 per cent in the last two years.
Burggraaf has not only shown strong leadership within his association, but also among the community at large. He regularly meets with city staff, councillors and the mayor to discuss industry issues and collaborate on solutions. Due to that involvement, Burggraaf is a respected voice in the city and is invited regularly to speak at several committees, resulting in wins for the association. He recently began serving a four-year term as the residential construction industry representative on the city’s public Planning Advisory Committee, and is able to represent members in an impactful way. Furthering the presence of the association, Burggraaf is often featured on local TV and radio talking about industry issues and promoting housing affordability and supply.
Beyond his local association, Burggraaf previously took on a leadership role within the Executive Officers’ Council (EOC), which is made up of the lead staff member from each association across the country and exists so that EOs can share information and support one another to the betterment of each of their local/provincial associations. Jason served on the EOC Management Committee for several years and continues to provide support to fellow HBAs however he can, especially on governance, policy and advocacy, but also on administrative issues, including implementing the new membership database system GrowthZone, which many HBAs across the country have begun using. He is an asset not only to his own local association, but across the country.
Community Service Award – CHBA – Central Interior
The Community Service Award was given to CHBA – Central Interior (CHBA-CI), a local association based in Kamloops, BC. The members and staff are dedicated to giving back to their community, and they pair their efforts with the development of the local industry’s capacity. As part of a 33-year partnership with Thompson Rivers University, members and first-year construction, electrical, plumbing, welding and HVAC students build a Training House, which provides valuable hands-on building experience to the next generation of residential construction trades. Upon completion, the Training House is then sold to the YMCA/YWCA for their annual Dream Home Lottery fundraiser, the proceeds of which fund programs directly benefiting the entire community for a full year.
It’s a community service project that involves a large number of CHBA-CI’s membership and significant staff resources. This past year, 85 member companies from this HBA donated materials, money, labour or expertise to the project. Tools worth $10,000 were provided to all students who worked on the house, and the top five students received bursaries totalling $5,000.
In addition to benefitting students and the community, the project receives plenty of media attention, building awareness of the project’s uniqueness, innovations and importance to the area, which fosters community engagement and participation on a broad scale.
Lifetime Achievement Award
1961-2024
This year, a lifetime achievement award was presented posthumously to Kathleen Maynard, CHBA’s Senior Director of Building Innovation. Kathleen spent decades working in the housing industry and was a trailblazing and central contributor to the sector. Her husband travelled to New Brunswick to accept the honour on her behalf. Read more about Kathleen’s contributions here: chba.ca/kathleen.
HBA of the Year – Greater Ottawa HBA
The HBA of the Year Award recognizes overall excellence by an HBA in delivering a strong and positive voice for the homebuilding industry, and in supporting the business success of members and their ability to provide affordability, quality and choice in housing for consumers. This year’s recipient was the Greater Ottawa HBA (GOHBA), who introduced several new initiatives this year, including a monthly report highlighting housing activity and the role of sales in addressing affordability and supply, an online platform bringing awareness to careers possibilities in the industry, and a new series of semi-annual events promoting empowerment, diversity and the dynamic world of women leaders in their local home building community.
GOHBA is in an era of prioritizing membership growth and retention. The association gained 76 new members last year, many of which came from investing in a new social media strategy. In addition to gaining new members, the organization retained nearly all existing members – the impressive retention rate of 99.7 per cent was likely helped by the development of a four-step check-in process to welcome and retain members. Members have a lot of connection points with the association, including monthly committee and council meetings, weekly newsletters and several events, including a new Family Fun Day for members and their employees to bring their families to a local park to enjoy games and free lunch together.
A major focus of GOHBA is government advocacy, and this past year the association was instrumental in the removal of the provincial portion of HST on new purpose-built rental, in the city signing its Municipal Housing Pledge to build 15,000 new homes a year for 10 years, and several other wins with city council, including around density, brownfields and municipal application of building codes. The members and staff at GOHBA are doing great things and are very deserving of this award.
Congratulations to all of the recipients of this year’s Association Leadership Awards.
