By 2026 GHBA President Chris Bolio, Alair Homes
When I became President of the Greater Houston Builders Association, I understood intellectually that I was stepping into a role held by some extraordinary people. What I don’t think I fully understood was the weight of it.
For more than 85 years, generations of leaders have helped build this association while simultaneously helping build Houston. They created housing, businesses and communities. They advocated for our industry, educated generations of professionals and created a place for people across our industry to connect and grow.
When you look at it through that lens, a one-year presidency feels very short. And maybe that’s the point. None of us owns this organization. We are simply its stewards for a period of time.
My hope coming into this year wasn’t to reinvent GHBA. It was that our leadership team would leave it slightly better than we found it—to improve the culture where we could, move the organization incrementally in the right direction, and make sure the next generation inherits something as meaningful as what was handed to us.
Mostly, you just don’t want to mess up something that so many people worked so hard to create.
Building Beyond a One-Year Term
As we’ve moved through this year, I’ve thought more about what that responsibility actually means.
Some of the work is structural.
Through the organizational work we’re doing this year, including our implementation of EOS, we’re trying to create greater continuity around GHBA’s goals, values and vision.
That’s not because GHBA has lacked strong leadership. Quite the opposite. Our volunteer leadership and professional staff have historically been exceptional. And our executive leadership structure already provides meaningful continuity from one president to the next.
The opportunity we identified was to create more structure around that strength—a framework that helps staff and volunteer leadership align more quickly, work more efficiently, and maintain a tangible and measurable direction as leadership inevitably changes.
Other work is financial.
The creation of our Investment Steering Committee is an effort to think beyond today’s budget and practice responsible, long-term stewardship of the resources generations of members have entrusted to this organization. The decisions we make today should help ensure that GHBA remains financially strong and capable of fulfilling its mission well into the future.
And some of the work is cultural.
We’ve talked a lot this year about breaking down silos and creating more cross-pollination throughout GHBA. My hope is that a new member doesn’t simply find one council or committee where they belong. I want them to feel like the entire GHBA is accessible to them.
I want a new member to be able to walk into one of our events and meet developers, builders, remodelers, sales professionals and associates. I want them to quickly find the rooms and relationships that can bring value to their businesses—and, maybe more importantly, the places where they can bring value to others.
Because I’ve seen firsthand what happens when people are given that opportunity.
I’ve watched young professionals find their voice in rooms filled with people who have decades more experience. I’ve watched accomplished entrepreneurs become more confident in their ideas and what they bring to the table. I’ve watched business owners discover new ways of becoming more effective. And I’ve watched employees and employers alike find community, support and friendships that extend far beyond the walls of GHBA.
That may be one of the things this organization does best. It gives people a place to elevate themselves while elevating the people around them.
Building an Organization for Humans
That idea extends beyond professional success. One initiative particularly meaningful to me this year has been In Good Company. I would love for the program itself to continue long after my term ends, but that’s not really the measure of whether it succeeds.
Success would be an organization where supporting one another as human beings becomes as natural as supporting one another professionally.
We all know how to walk into a professional event looking successful. We dress well. We shake hands. We talk about business. We smile. But none of us has a perfect business, a perfect family, or a perfect life.
Sometimes the most valuable thing we can offer a colleague isn’t a referral or a piece of business advice. Sometimes it’s noticing that they’re having a hard day, sitting beside them and giving them permission to simply be human—to be vulnerable, supported and not judged.
GHBA will always be a professional association. That is our primary purpose. But if we’re serious about building lasting relationships, those relationships have to extend beyond business.
Protecting Something that Matters
We are operating during one of the more challenging periods our industry has faced. Cost escalation, workforce and immigration issues, enormous cultural shifts, political uncertainty and an increasingly complex business environment are testing our industry from every direction.
Twenty or thirty years from now, I want the next generation of GHBA members to inherit an association that still means something in Houston. An association that carries weight. An association that is financially strong, advocates effectively, educates its members and is willing to have meaningful conversations about difficult issues affecting our businesses, our industry and our society.
And I want it to remain a place where people can amplify their passion and their success and grow beyond their own world.
None of the ideas we’re pursuing this year belong to me. They are the next evolution of ideas that have been germinated, challenged and developed by people throughout GHBA’s history. Someone else will take them further. Some will work. Some will change. Some may eventually be replaced by better ideas. That’s exactly how it should be.
The goal isn’t to preserve GHBA exactly as it is today. The goal is to preserve what makes GHBA matter while remaining willing to challenge what we’ve always done.
If I leave anything behind, I hope it’s a little more structure to navigate the challenges ahead, a little more openness to the expertise already sitting in the room, and a willingness to entertain ideas that may initially feel uncomfortable or even a little scary.
Because stewardship isn’t about protecting an organization from change, it’s about making sure it’s strong enough to keep changing. And then handing it to the next generation to build from there.