July 11, 2011
Nation's Building News

The Official Online Newspaper of NAHB

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Workforce Development
HBI CEO Fred Humphreys to Retire After 40 Years in Workforce Development for Housing
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Fred Humphreys

Fred Humphreys, president and chief executive officer of the Home Builders Institute (HBI), the workforce development arm of NAHB, will retire on Dec. 31 after more than 40 years providing training, mentoring, curriculum development and job placement services in support of the housing industry.

Humphreys began his career in 1970 with NAHB’s Manpower Development & Training Department, the precursor of HBI, helping local home builders associations establish pre-apprenticeship training programs in carpentry and initiating standards for residential construction apprenticeship programs.

In 1981, Humphreys began working with the HBI Job Corps program, where he hired and supervised regional program managers for HBI’s growing Job Corps network. He also participated in U.S. Department of Defense job fairs for returning Vietnam-era veterans, which were held on military bases throughout Europe.

In 2000, Humphreys was named HBI’s president and CEO.

“Since he assumed the role of president and chief executive officer, Fred has increased funding for HBI programs by more than 35%, established numerous apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship training programs and developed important curricula and standards to ensure that our industry has a pipeline of skilled workers for many years to come,” said HBI Board of Trustees Chairman Donald L. Pratt. “In fact, Fred was instrumental in the creation of HBI’s Residential Construction Academy series of textbooks based on those curricula and standards.”

In addition to his work at HBI, Humphreys currently represents the home building industry on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship, which has a mission to develop and promote apprenticeship programs, safeguard the economic security of apprentices and formulate and promote labor standards for registered apprenticeships.

He also served on the board of directors of the American Council for Construction Education, a private, non-profit corporation that is an advocate of quality construction education programs.

HBI has begun a search for Humphrey’s successor and expects to name a new president by Dec. 1.

 

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