As Craft Pipeline Manager, James Busch will be playing a vital role in advancing career growth opportunities for our employee-owners by designing and implementing apprenticeship and workforce development programs across all of our regions.
James served in the United States Army for five years and worked as a direct support mechanic for the Federal Civilian Service. He graduated from Northern Arizona University in 2014 with a B.S. in Career & Technical Education while serving as the director of skilled trades at Central Arizona College (CAC). He played an integral role in establishing the Sundt/CAC partnership, as well as other key partnerships with Lucid Motors, Landscape Unlimited, Vulcan Material, Wilson Electric and the Pascua Yaqui tribe.
In 2021, he joined the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) as their senior workforce development manager. Now, he’s officially on board with Sundt and eager to jump into skyrocketing our workforce development programs to the next level.
What sparked your interest in teaching?
I joined the Army in 1998, right out of high school. During my five years of active duty, I started a family, got a diesel technology degree from CAC, then was deployed to Iraq in 2004. I came back home in 2006 but got called to deploy again shortly after. At that point, my son was like, “Hey, we miss you, can you get a new job where you don’t have to leave for a year at a time?” So when my enlistment was up, I left the military to find something that would allow me to spend more time with my family.
One of my old professors at CAC reached out and asked if I had any interest in teaching, so I kind of fell into it that way. It’s been an extremely rewarding career path, and I have former students constantly reaching out to me to share their accomplishments. I also met Vice President of Craft Workforce Development, Sean Ray during my time teaching. Senior Talent Development Specialist Earl Sperry was in my first apprenticeship class, and now we’re all coworkers at Sundt. That full circle moment was pretty cool.
Tell us more about what your role as Craft Pipeline Manager will entail.
I have three major focuses: 1) Apprenticeships, 2) Pre-apprenticeships and high school partnerships, and 3) Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) compliance. For the apprenticeships, I’ll be working on ensuring curriculum compliance, creating new programs and expanding the existing ones. The “pipeline” part is the pre-apprenticeship and partnerships with high schools component, getting our name out there and spreading awareness about opportunities in the industry. Finally, I’m bringing my experience in IRA compliance from NCCER to help ensure we’re meeting prevailing wage requirements.
What are the biggest challenges you’re up against, and how do you plan to tackle them?
One of the biggest challenges industry-wide is getting people to understand the value of workforce development. Many companies get swept up in the here and now of building the projects instead of considering the long-term benefits of investing in their people. Sundt looks at the big picture and understands that an investment into our people is an investment in the long-term success of the company. That’s why I’m here; I want to not only make sure our craft professionals are taken care of day-to-day, but that they also have a wealth of opportunities to build their future here at Sundt.
Visit our Skilled Workforce page to learn more about Sundt’s training and development program.