Associated General Contractors of Alaska pose with state Department of Transportation & Public Facilities officials as Governor Mike Dunleavy signs into law House Bill 160, establishing the Construction Manager General Contractor, or CMGC, procurement method for use by the Department of Transportation & Public Facilities, a bill that AGC of Alaska president Sarah Lefebvre worked to promote.
hen Sarah Lefebvre began working at Exclusive Landscaping and Paving in 1998, then-corporate president and principal owner Phil Anderson was serving on the Associated General Contractors of Alaska board of directors.
Impressed with how quickly his newly-hired bookkeeper learned about the varied aspects of the company, and the zeal with which she took on new tasks, Anderson encouraged her to think about joining the board.
“That planted the seed,” Lefebvre says nearly twenty-five years later, “and he mentored me all those years.”
Encouragement Drove Career Choices
Lefebvre, whose term as board president recently ended, says that long-ago suggestion from Anderson provided the direction for her subsequent career.
“It kind of became a goal at that point. Someone dangles something in front of you that you wouldn’t have thought about, and you decide, ‘I could do that. I’m going to do that. That is my goal.’ So, I managed my career in construction in such a way as to be involved in AGC on a level that meant I was on everybody’s radar, so I could ultimately get to that seat and have the knowledge to do it successfully,” Lefevbre says.
AGC of Alaska has a rolling board where members first join as contractor-at-large, then work their way through the secretary, treasurer, and vice-president seats, spending a year in each before moving into the next position while preparing for a term as president. For Lefebvre, her time on the board was the culmination of decades of work expanding her knowledge and skills.
Lefebvre grew up in Montana and came to Fairbanks as a 19-year-old military wife.
Sarah Lefebvre shows off her catch during a 2021 fishing trip on the Nushagak River, part of a trip organized for Associated General Contractors of Alaska women.
“I hated it,” she said of her initial reaction to the Golden Heart City, and when her marriage ended, she had the option of going home. However, in her short time in Alaska, her opinion had taken a 180-degree turn. “I had developed this independence that, if I had stayed in Montana near my parents, it wouldn’t have developed,” she recalls.
Her previous jobs included working in a furniture store and for a certified public accounting firm. In both positions she took home trade journals and magazines that the companies received and read them cover-to-cover, seeking to learn as much as she could about the field she was working in. Wherever she worked, she says, she strove to make herself invaluable.
“I absorbed a lot of information, asked a lot of questions. I was very proactive in immersing myself in the industry and in the roles that I had there,” she says.
It’s a habit she brought with her to Exclusive Paving, and it prompted Anderson to immediately realize he had an unusually motivated employee. He responded by providing her with numerous challenging projects that allowed her to develop new skills.
Whenever Anderson assigned her a task that tested her abilities, Lefebvre says, he would always tell her, “the rope’s going to get really tight on your neck, but I’ll never let it yank.”
“That was how I learned,” she says now.
Above: Sarah Lefebvre borrows the crown of a former Miss Alaska at an Associated General Contractors of Alaska golf tournament.
Top right: Associated General Contractors of Alaska Executive Director Alicia Amberg, AGC of Alaska 2022 President Sarah Lefebvre, and then-Executive Board Vice President Brian Midyett attended the AGC National Chapter Leadership Conference in Washington D.C. in September.
Right: Being the Associated General Contractors of Alaska President brings many new experiences. Sarah Lefebvre attended the AGC National Convention earlier this year and had a chance to race armadillos. She won!
One area she focused on was getting more young people interested in construction as a career. Towards this end, the board created a new position at AGC, titled workforce development coordinator. Ruby Oatman was hired for the job, and Lefebvre describes her as an “amazing, dynamic young woman.”
Getting more women involved is important to Lefebvre. She says the Alaska AGC board is unique by national standards both for the number of women who sit on it and because nearly all of its members are younger than fifty.
“We didn’t need a diversity and inclusion system to get there,” she says. “We got there organically, which to me is the best way to get there.”
Lefebvre credits her successes with AGC and Exclusive Paving to “the school of Phil Anderson.” Though now a retired snowbird, Anderson remains a life member on the board, and he came back to Alaska last winter so he could nominate Lefebvre as president.
Reflecting on all he’s done for her and where his guidance helped take her, she concludes, “It still brings me to tears.”