CEO Dennis Mikula Jr. brings LICA's voice to the inaugural NATP
On August 19, LICA CEO Dennis Mikula Jr. represented the association at the inaugural North American Trade Parliament (NATP) in Oakland, California.
The North American Trade Parliament was created to take real business and industry concerns across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and move them beyond discussion. Participants can bring issues forward, help shape recommendations, and present them to the appropriate government authorities.
LICA's place in that process is the contractor side of the equation. The invitation specifically recognized the practical industry experience LICA members bring and their understanding of the challenges affecting land improvement contractors. That gives LICA a chance to bring the people who actually build the work into those conversations earlier.
Dennis participated in the International Trade Luncheon panel, "From Reshoring to Regionalization: Building North America's Next Industrial Platform," alongside business leaders representing perspectives from the United States, Canada and Mexico.
"Thank you, Dennis Mikula, Jr., for being part of this important inaugural moment. I truly appreciate your participation as the official delegate at the NATP for the Land Improvement Contractors of America (LICA) and your commitment to strengthening the relationships that bring our North American business communities closer together." - Victor Rosales, President of the North American Trade Parliament.
The discussion focused on what it will take to turn reshoring and nearshoring opportunities into actual factories, infrastructure projects, stronger supply chains, and jobs across North America.
For LICA, that conversation starts well before construction begins.
Industrial investment may determine where a new facility is planned, but the site still has to be ready. Land has to be prepared. Earth has to be moved. Water has to be managed. Long before a product comes off an assembly line, contractors are doing the work that makes the project possible.
As Dennis put it during the discussion, "Trade agreements create opportunity. Investment creates plans. But ultimately, somebody has to build it."
One of Dennis' main points during the panel was that contractors should be part of these conversations earlier.
Too often, contractors enter the picture once a project has already been planned and is ready to bid. By then, many of the decisions affecting site readiness and infrastructure needs have already been made.
The people who build these projects bring practical experience that can help identify challenges before they become problems. Bringing contractors into the planning process earlier gives those shaping a project a better understanding of what it will actually take to move it from an announcement to construction.
That idea also shaped Dennis' recommendation to the NATP.
When asked what initiative the NATP should consider advancing, Dennis proposed a North American Industrial Infrastructure & Site Readiness Initiative that would bring contractors into the conversation earlier to help identify infrastructure needs, improve site readiness, and strengthen the workforce needed to build future projects.
The idea is simple: get the people who build the work involved sooner.
For LICA, the opportunity is less about being in another room and more about being in the right room earlier.
The work LICA contractors do is tied directly to the projects being discussed long before equipment ever arrives on site. Participating in conversations like these gives LICA a chance to make sure the people planning future investment understand what it takes to turn those plans into actual construction.
It also puts the contractor perspective into the conversation before the dirt starts moving.
And that is exactly where LICA should be.