AOBA Educational Foundation Announces New Executive Director

The Board of Directors of the AOBA Educational Foundation (AEF) is pleased to announce the hiring of Wes Huffman as its next Executive Director. Huffman started in the position in early January and is poised to lead the AEF in 2020 and beyond.

Huffman brings more than 10 years of experience of leading non-profits involved in education, workforce development, and economic development issues. He most recently was the Executive Vice President for Strategic Development at Pay Your Tuition, Inc. Wes also worked on strategic planning and communications with a variety of education and workforce development related non-profits in his numerous roles at Washington Partners, LLC, a public affairs firm specializing in education policy and association management.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Wes to the AEF team,” said AEF Chairperson Kathy Barnes. “His experience in leading non-profits and working on issues of interest to AEF, AOBA members, and the building engineers of the future will be a great asset to AEF going forward.”

“I am incredibly honored to accept the Executive Director position,” Huffman said. “Increasing the number of qualified building engineering professionals is a pure win-win for the commercial real estate industry and its prospective employees. AEF is led by an outstanding Board of Directors, and I look forward to working with them to highlight the benefits of these excellent careers and expand the talent pipeline for this important and necessary line of work.”

The AEF, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was created by members of the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA) to address the talent crisis in the commercial real estate industry by focusing on the critical need to promote careers in building operations, engineering, and maintenance. We connect job seekers, training centers, workforce development programs, and employers – all to help companies recruit, develop, train, and retain the next generation of skilled tradespeople in the Metro DC region. Our work provides long-term, tangible economic benefits and a workforce development pathway to stable, lucrative careers.